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Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

heapanalytics.com

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Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#141

Post by foobarqux »

saosebastiao wrote: post #110
raviparikh wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a really good point - blind data analysis without any notion of multiple hypothesis testing leads to false positives. This XKCD is a great illustration of that: http://xkcd.com/882/ This is something we're thinking about and are definitely conscious of.

Not just false positives in a confirm/deny scenario. It can also lead to overfitting in a modeling scenario. I once created a model that showed very strongly that US/China exchange rates were a driver of revenue. This model was intuitive based on the market dynamics as we understood them, and they helped provide a strong predictive power which helped reduce operational costs. Over time, this model began to be taken a…

What was the actual underlying correlation?

Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#142

Post by bertomartin »

Great technology, but you guys will know a lot about my business and my users and I'd like to be convinced that you won't do ill with this data...not that I don't trust you, but it would be more comforting if you made your policy towards the information you collect more up-front and clear. But great job.

Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#143

Post by jdlshore »

codegeek wrote: post #10

The demo page ( https://heapanalytics.com/dashboard/demo ) fails in IE8. Is it just me or IE8 is just not considered by web startups anymore ? Sorry to deviate a little but every time I try to look at a "Show HN" in IE8 (work computer), it fails for about 85% of the time. I could understand that some startups heavily depend on latest browsers but what about others ?

This is a deal-breaker for me. I'm very interested in Heap, but an analytics tool that ignores (or breaks) a non-trivial percentage of my users is a non-starter.

I mention this because it looks like Heap devs are monitoring this thread--Heap addresses real problem for me that I'm willing to pay money to solve. Codegeek's post literally stopped the sale.

Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#144

Post by vyrotek »

matm wrote: post #139
vyrotek wrote: post #123

Looks great! I'm mostly intrigued by the ad-hoc Group By query functionality. Traditionally that's an indicator of some sort of relational database on the backend, but is that the case here? On the other hand, the dynamic nature of the data makes me inclined to think that they're using MongoDB or something similar. In the past I've had to create similar systems but we denormalized the data coming in based on pre-defi…

We initially tried to build this on Mongo, and it was a huge pain. I'll need to elaborate on why at some point, but the very ad-hoc nature of all our querying precludes any non-relational database from being our store (at least any that I'm aware of).

It sounds like you and I had very similar experience. :) Please do share and elaborate some time.

For my past implementation of a similar data-store we had some different requirements that let us cut a few corners. But, if I were to take another stab at it with your requirements then I would try a new approach.

I think I would use a single table to represent the 'event' itself and have that table be essentially owned by the customer. This table could be put on a specific shard set aside for each customer or you could just name it "{customerId}_{eventName}" and have a lot of tables. Then each event coming in would potentially perform an 'alter' on the table in order to make sure all custom properties have a column.

Are there any downsides to this approach I'm not considering?

Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#146

Post by stevoyoung »

pc86 wrote: post #52
DodgyEggplant wrote: post #12

Poor man's analytics: events, client side, server side, whatever. Set up a separate DB with one big table, many columns for properties. One server call to write an event (a row), one ajax call to write from the client, throw it wherever you need. A bit of good old simple SQL for queries and reporting, and you are done.

I've often wondered about the efficacy of having a simple catch-all script that just tracks everything a user does on the site. I would think it would pound the database relentlessly under even modest load.

Clickish can do this with GA is you wanted. It's also intelligent with how it routes request back to GA. http://www.clickish.org

Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#147

Post by icebraining »

emmett wrote: post #128
huhtenberg wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why should you have the choice to object? What? Are you asking me to justify having an option of being able to object? That's a bit too meta, with today being Friday and all.

You can't opt-out of server-side tracking. They could easily architect the app to require a round-trip to the server on every call (this is how typical early web apps worked). In that case you really don't have an option to object. Does that bother you too? (A service recording your usage of it) Why is measuring on the client-side different from measuring on the server-side?

The difference is that server-side tracking doesn't track my clicks, scrolling, mouse moves or if I mistakingly type or paste some personal data (e.g. password) into some text field.

Server-side tracking is much more controllable in what and when the information is sent, instead of essentially having Telescreen[1] websites.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescreen

Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#148

Post by spyder »

nostromo wrote: post #124

Why do a HN launch with "request an invite"? This seems like a common anti-pattern.

Especially when there are better and a little cheaper alternatives. For example I don't see mouse move and scroll events in their demo so it's not "capture everything". For example http://clicktale.com or http://mouseflow.com can record mouse movements too and has better visualization using heatmaps instead just the list of elements clicked.

Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#149

Post by nostromo »

matm wrote: post #127
nostromo wrote: post #124

Why do a HN launch with "request an invite"? This seems like a common anti-pattern.

Our thinking is that it's an efficient way to grow responsibly while still gathering user feedback early and often. We tried to include as much tangible product as is possible with an invite-only product.

No worries, it's a cool looking product and I'm sure you'll do well. :)

My reaction anymore to consumer "sign-up required" sites or saas "request an invite" products is usually to close the tab, even if my interest is piqued.

I do believe that this used to be a powerful design pattern (Gmail, and as pointed out elsewhere Dropbox) but its prevalence has also become its undoing for me personally.

Start up founders often worry about becoming too popular too quickly -- when usually they should be worried about not becoming popular fast enough.

Re: Show HN: Heap is a new approach to analytics. Just capture everything

#150

Post by tommoor »

Interesting pricing model, it's actually kind of nice to see it segmented by user instead of events - definitely a case of putting the more useful information for the customer first rather than just using events.

My first impression is that it would be a bargain for some businesses (low number of users / high value) and far too expensive for large consumer sites with low user value, I guess this is the case for most analytics providers though.

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