Why being invited to try Circle made me think about a whole load of other stuff
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Re: Why being invited to try Circle made me think about a whole load of other stuff
#2Why did you decide to call it LampNote? Seems pretty hard for someone to guess what the app is about with that name.
Re: Why being invited to try Circle made me think about a whole load of other stuff
#3Really interesting read, it's a weird feeling to 1) to see a very similar startup in the same space make "evil" choices you turned down and 2) frustratingly see them be more successful than you. I'm working on a startup in Vermont, which has a similar amount of startup acclaim as Huddersfield, competing in a space where there's about 2 million Y-Combinator-backed, ex-Googler, triple Stanford-Harvard-MIT dropout founded Silicon Valley startups with tons of money that want to build something viral that at least pulls a ton of user's data.
I would be interested to hear more of your takeaways, like what you would do differently and if you think you do have a shot at going against those well-funded giants.
Re: Why being invited to try Circle made me think about a whole load of other stuff
#4I think the biggest problem I am reading here is the author making a bunch of assumptions about what the app does or doesn't do without even trying it out at all.
Re: Why being invited to try Circle made me think about a whole load of other stuff
#5Why did you decide to call it LampNote? Seems pretty hard for someone to guess what the app is about with that name.
LampNote initially started life as a hackday project using data provided by Manchester City Council. The data available for the hackday included planning notices which, in the UK, are still publicised by sticking pieces of paper onto lampposts.
Maybe it's an easier correlation to someone in the UK?
Re: Why being invited to try Circle made me think about a whole load of other stuff
#6I think the biggest problem I am reading here is the author making a bunch of assumptions about what the app does or doesn't do without even trying it out at all.
This morning I spoke to someone who had installed it; it had SMSd everyone in her contacts, and she was understandably not too happy. It's not just an assumption that they're misusing permissions.
You are asking the author to assume that apps that ask for broad permissions are trustworthy. There have been far too many counterexamples for that position to be tenable.
Re: Why being invited to try Circle made me think about a whole load of other stuff
#7Why did you decide to call it LampNote? Seems pretty hard for someone to guess what the app is about with that name.
The race to register something more understandable like cafecorkboard.com in 3.. 2..1..
Re: Why being invited to try Circle made me think about a whole load of other stuff
#8Why did you decide to call it LampNote? Seems pretty hard for someone to guess what the app is about with that name.
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Re: Why being invited to try Circle made me think about a whole load of other stuff
#9Why did you decide to call it LampNote? Seems pretty hard for someone to guess what the app is about with that name.
You know. How people post local notices on a lamp post? For like, missing cats. You see it often on college campuses.
Maybe it could have been called cafecorkboard.com like the other post here, or telephonepolenotes.com
Re: Why being invited to try Circle made me think about a whole load of other stuff
#10Really interesting read, it's a weird feeling to 1) to see a very similar startup in the same space make "evil" choices you turned down and 2) frustratingly see them be more successful than you. I'm working on a startup in Vermont, which has a similar amount of startup acclaim as Huddersfield, competing in a space where there's about 2 million Y-Combinator-backed, ex-Googler, triple Stanford-Harvard-MIT dropout found…
Things I would do differently... I think my product is too clearly the work of an idealistic technical person, and is slightly dated in the way it just expects people to join in because it will be useful if everyone used it. It's completely different from Circle in every way, not just when it comes to things that can be considered "evil". For example I've purposefully made choices like "it shouldn't need a dedicated mobile app", or "users shouldn't have to register to see content" from a purely functional perspective.
I did always view the idea as quite risky and I probably wouldn't have gone for it as a "pure startup". In this case I felt it was ok to do it as it could bump start my web dev business.
Good luck with your venture. I don't think being in Huddersfield is ultimately the reason why people haven't taken to LampNote. It was just difficult to get any local hype initially, and that certainly slowed me down