I wish people did not spend their own money on start-ups, it's so sad :(. Learn from Silicon Valley.
Show HN: Slack Meets GitHub Issues
41–50 of 164 posts
Re: Show HN: Slack Meets GitHub Issues
#42Holy crap! I wasn't going to come back here until tomorrow at the earliest, then my own post popped up in my Feedly! Surreal. Thanks for all the feedback!!! I'm still reading, but here are some quick responses from what I have seen so far. 1. I will update the openloopz.com asap - oversight on my part. Not sure how I missed that tbh. 2. The word "openloopz" was coined about 7 years ago when I first started working on…
I really like the concept and a bunch of the features but echo other thoughts.
Also, plzplzplzzplz don't keep something a bunch of people have said they dislike because it came about years ago and you're attached to it.
Re: Show HN: Slack Meets GitHub Issues
#43Unfiltered First impressions: Your medium article is 50X better than your website. Your website is useless for promoting your product. I don't like the headline font for your site, the lack of screenshots, basically the lack of focus on a product that will live or die on its usability and interface. I'm not a fan of the Z in openloopz. Combined with the comic sansy looking headline font it doesn't feel polished. The…
The Z thing is killer. It puts you in company with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsez , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bratz , and numberless rappers, none of which make a professional impression.
While the name is not perfect, I don't believe it is as dramatic as you are making it out to be
Re: Show HN: Slack Meets GitHub Issues
#44Can you add the explanations on medium to your website. Currently, I have no idea what a loop is based on your website
Re: Show HN: Slack Meets GitHub Issues
#45Can someone explain to me the apparently common obsession with creating to-do lists and chat programs? I can't figure out why so many people devote this much of their time to building to-do lists.
Re: Show HN: Slack Meets GitHub Issues
#46Unfiltered First impressions: Your medium article is 50X better than your website. Your website is useless for promoting your product. I don't like the headline font for your site, the lack of screenshots, basically the lack of focus on a product that will live or die on its usability and interface. I'm not a fan of the Z in openloopz. Combined with the comic sansy looking headline font it doesn't feel polished. The…
Wow, this is fantastic feedback, thank you for taking the time to write it.
Apologies if my post came across as personal suffering - I certainly don't want any pity! I didn't intend for it to be too negative - I was just being honest and got a bit carried away! This has been a very, very hard slog and I realise most people on here are going through the same thing. I would never write something like this on a more mainstream site - it was written for hackers in the same position as me so I felt I could afford to be more down to earth. Having said that, I take your point - it was probably too much for a "Show HN" where the main focus is to sell the app.
I agree with everything you say about the word "loop" and me being "too close to the product" and not knowing how to sell it. I will spend as much time as I can going following this and all the other advice on here to learn how to sell this thing. It's all new to me, but I am determined to learn it all.
Thanks again, excellent feedback.
Re: Show HN: Slack Meets GitHub Issues
#47First off, congrats on shipping! That's a big step.
As others have suggested, I think you need some serious help with positioning and messaging. I showed up to your site wanting to try it just because it was new (early adopter stereotype), but I couldn't tell what it is.
The Medium article is better, but I think you'd be well served to partner with someone who is really good at branding and messaging. This isn't just about window dressing, it goes a bit deeper than that.
For example: you need to show me one painful problem your product solves within 2 seconds of me coming to your homepage. When in consumer mode, I don't really care if you're solving ten painful problems - just show me one very clearly and I'm almost sure to kick the tires on the product. A strong branding & messaging partner will intuitively know how to help you do this for your product, in addition to providing a more user-level view on how to talk about it.
I think you have an interesting idea here after reading the Medium post. If you can help me use Slack as a to do list and you're solving that single problem really well, that's definitely something I'd pay a monthly fee for.
That said, while I would gladly pay SaaS-level monthly fees for sexy todo integration in Slack, if you make me learn an entirely new vocabulary to do it (loops and whatnot), this cost alone immediately prices out my interest.
Re: Show HN: Slack Meets GitHub Issues
#48Take the "How it works" section of your Medium post - _Particularly_ the excellent screen caps - condense the text, and then make this your homepage.
Reading takes more time for me to understand what your product does than looking at pictures.
Re: Show HN: Slack Meets GitHub Issues
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Z thing is killer. It puts you in company with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsez , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bratz , and numberless rappers, none of which make a professional impression.
While the name is not perfect, I don't believe it is as dramatic as you are making it out to be http://www.fogcreek.com/fogbugz
If you're Joel Spolsky you can release a piece of software with any name you care to choose and people will still take it seriously because you have earned the respect of your peers. Other people who don't have decades of experience producing exceptional software don't have the same luxury.
Fogbugz is a terrible name and if an unknown developer had released it there's a good chance too few people would have looked at it for it to get the necessary traction it needed to succeed. It really isn't an example of something people should follow.
Re: Show HN: Slack Meets GitHub Issues
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Harsh, but pretty good feedback.
I hope whenever I submit something to HN that 1) someone cares enough to be this critical\constructive and 2) I am adult enough not to take it on the chin and not get sulky. I'm most worried about #2
I am the OP and I would hate it if I had a few "this is cool" comments and no constructive criticism. I really appreciate it. When I first read some of the harsher feedback on here, it did feel like a punch in the face - I won't lie ;-) But then I took a deep breath and read it again objectively and actually tried to take it in. And 99% of what's here is excellent feedback. I wasn't expecting any responses, honestly - I can't believe it! ;-)