11–20 of 28 posts
Business model: cover the cost (a loss) of sending SMS, and sell advertising once it is big enough.
Not really. We don't believe ads are the best way to monetize. And anyways, why create a beautiful UX and then plaster ads on it? We'll start looking at that once we hit a certain critical mass, but in much smarter ways. Right now, all focus is on growth and engagement. PS: I'm the growth hacker at hike.
Business model: cover the cost (a loss) of sending SMS, and sell advertising once it is big enough.
Whatsapp was created because telecom operators have crazy pricing for SMS (5000% profit margin last time I heard). So, people saved on money and limitations (India has a 100 message limit/day) with their data pack. Hike wants to create an app that goes back to the SMS model where they pay the charges, not the users. They use a mass SMS gateway which is much cheaper. Using mass gateway also means the users must opt ou…
Hence, if we are to achieve our goal of enabling universal communication among all our users, we have to offer SMS as a fallback channel.
And it also gives us a massive differentiating edge over other apps, so why not.
The whole "users opting out of the DND registry" is something that's controlled by TRAI, the Telecom regulatory body of India. We have no control over it.
It's not the ideal flow we'd like to offer users, but we've to work with what we have.
We're funded by the group which also backs a large telco in India, but we're separate companies.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Growth hacker, eh? Tell me one thing: how do plan to recover the cost of sending the sms? You cant really call it growth when you are losing money on every user.
Well, to enter and grow so fast in such a competitive space, you've to differentiate yourself from your competition. Our differentiators are: 1. A beautiful UX/design 2. The ability to message everyone through hike/SMS #1 works everywhere and has driven growth for us globally. #2 combined with #1 gives us a compelling proposition for Indian users, the first market we intend to dominate. It's very powerful for a marke…
Whatsapp doesn't do sms. Users who receive hike signed smses might eventually move on to hike. So eventually more users will mean less costs for hike. That sounds like a viable business model.
The sms differentiator is good. All hike has to do is bear the costs of smses until most users are on hike and hope that the competition does not start offering the same service. Do you have any patents which can help you?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, to enter and grow so fast in such a competitive space, you've to differentiate yourself from your competition. Our differentiators are: 1. A beautiful UX/design 2. The ability to message everyone through hike/SMS #1 works everywhere and has driven growth for us globally. #2 combined with #1 gives us a compelling proposition for Indian users, the first market we intend to dominate. It's very powerful for a marke…
All the best! Whatsapp doesn't do sms. Users who receive hike signed smses might eventually move on to hike. So eventually more users will mean less costs for hike. That sounds like a viable business model. The sms differentiator is good. All hike has to do is bear the costs of smses until most users are on hike and hope that the competition does not start offering the same service. Do you have any patents which can…
We do have a pending patent application for the same.
No offence with them but I've been spammed like anything by them. It has happened with lot of my friends. When they install app, it sends texts to ALL contacts without permission prompting to install the app!
And this has been #1 reason I did not install it.
And all this with spamming! No offence with them but I've been spammed like anything by them. It has happened with lot of my friends. When they install app, it sends texts to ALL contacts without permission prompting to install the app! And this has been #1 reason I did not install it.
And all this with spamming! No offence with them but I've been spammed like anything by them. It has happened with lot of my friends. When they install app, it sends texts to ALL contacts without permission prompting to install the app! And this has been #1 reason I did not install it.
What makes it more shady is that they are funded by Bharti Softbank. Bharti manages Airtel, one of the big telcos in India. So maybe, they want more people to use Hike and maybe sell over some data to Airtel. Since they are spamming, their privacy policy needs to be combed over too. Also, the article looks like a PR piece for SF expansion, and to generate American funds.
However, I don't think they will get much users. Most of people around me are entrenched in WhatsApp and those who want to try something new get Cubie(I use it as well, it does not spam!)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Growth hacker, eh? Tell me one thing: how do plan to recover the cost of sending the sms? You cant really call it growth when you are losing money on every user.
Well, to enter and grow so fast in such a competitive space, you've to differentiate yourself from your competition. Our differentiators are: 1. A beautiful UX/design 2. The ability to message everyone through hike/SMS #1 works everywhere and has driven growth for us globally. #2 combined with #1 gives us a compelling proposition for Indian users, the first market we intend to dominate. It's very powerful for a marke…
Anyhow, I'm just talking business. I wish your team good luck. I really want India to move forward in tech. This might help achieve that.
And all this with spamming! No offence with them but I've been spammed like anything by them. It has happened with lot of my friends. When they install app, it sends texts to ALL contacts without permission prompting to install the app! And this has been #1 reason I did not install it.
Business model: cover the cost (a loss) of sending SMS, and sell advertising once it is big enough.
Short answer: No. We won't monetize through ads
(Creator @hikeapp)