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I dropped over 40 grand when I could have spent $100

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Re: I dropped over 40 grand when I could have spent $100

#91

Post by stan_rogers »

PaulHoule wrote: post #81
larrys wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"She told me she did sell a wool sweater to somebody who went home and washed in hot, it shrank, and then heard no ends of complaints about it, so she resolved to never sell wool sweaters unless they are specially commissioned." n=1 there then, right? Perhaps she was a bit to hasty based on that single data point? One of the things luxury brands do is bake into their costs margin to account for customers like this. O…

I think I'm also unusually snobbish about materials. If you go to a crafts store they usually have a big section of wall devoted to acrylic yarn. You might find one or two kinds of wool yarn and maybe a blend, but it's pretty clear that grandmothers who knit stuff for their grandkids value 20 hours of their time less than the $10 or so difference in the price of the materials.

Acrylics don't cause itching (unless you let them get filthy, at which point the filth may cause itching) and can be cleansed of the latest plague the kids brings home from school/day care. Wool, not so much. And it sure sounds like the value of the gift is in the work rather than the materials to me.

Re: I dropped over 40 grand when I could have spent $100

#92

Post by throwaway1980 »

edw519 wrote: post #41

The target audience for Rewire Attire, the high end fashion marketplace, was women with enough money ... Whenever I read "target audience" and "with enough money" in the same sentence, I run the other way. My experience with prospects "with enough money": - there are far less of them than everyone else - many of them didn't earn it themselves, so... - they really don't really understand the concept of "value" - they…

> I'd love to learn how to better communicate in writing on-line

Replying to people instead of editing your post helps.

Re: I dropped over 40 grand when I could have spent $100

#93

Post by nostrademons »

chc wrote: post #46
diego wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One data point is not generalizable. I was very successful building enterprise products, and I never figured out how to build anything for the masses. I disagree strongly with your conclusion. If anything, save yourself some agony by building something for a market that you know well, and are interested in.

This is what I hear from everyone besides Ed that I've ever heard on the subject: It's easier to make money with a product that appeals to a few rich people than with one that depends on large numbers of average people buying in.

Usually what I've seen is that successful products are often ones that let average people become richer. ViaWeb, DropBox, AirBnB, AdSense, AdWords, EBay, Etsy, Kickstarter, Google Apps - these are all B2B2C products that let ordinary people make some small amount of money doing things that are quite within their grasp.

Re: I dropped over 40 grand when I could have spent $100

#94

Post by pseut »

larrys wrote: post #76
PaulHoule wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High end consumers are often jerks, but so are some people who sell to them. I know a woman who makes hand-knit sweaters for about $250. She makes them out of acrylic yarn, which shocks me. If I'm going to spend a lot for clothes I'm going to want a nice material, like wool. Particularly when you consider the cost of the labor, the extra cost of the wool is nothing. She told me she did sell a wool sweater to somebody…

"She told me she did sell a wool sweater to somebody who went home and washed in hot, it shrank, and then heard no ends of complaints about it, so she resolved to never sell wool sweaters unless they are specially commissioned." n=1 there then, right? Perhaps she was a bit to hasty based on that single data point? One of the things luxury brands do is bake into their costs margin to account for customers like this. O…

Or they price discriminate, by selling the wool sweater at a high markup to customers who self identify as especially interested in handmade wool sweaters while advertising the cheaper acrylic sweater to everyone else.

Re: I dropped over 40 grand when I could have spent $100

#95

Post by timborden »

jfarmer wrote: post #58

I don't buy this. There's something about the article that annoys me, too. I can't quite put my finger on it. I think it's because it has a linkbaity title, a tone of confidence, but is filled with weird stuff. Disclaimer: I co-founded Everlane ( http://everlane.com ), although I left to start Dev Bootcamp ( http://devbootcamp.com ) last January. I'm just speaking for myself. First, look at the error bars. 100.0% (+0…

You're right, there was more to the decision to pull the plug. Credibility was something that we thought and worked hard on. If you're credible with your shoppers, they'll trust you more. I still believe that data can improve fit, but it may be better suited for a company like Everlane (that makes their own product) than Rewire Attire (that retails product). The truth is, the survey was the nail in the coffin. The suggestion of the blog post is that I might have saved myself a lot of money had I done the survey early. The unspoken question is, would I have proceeded with the business had I known earlier? Is it an obstacle that I could overcome? Who knows. Do I regret the experience....never.

Re: I dropped over 40 grand when I could have spent $100

#96

Post by timborden »

ericabiz wrote: post #64
timborden wrote: post #32

Wow...thanks for all the comments. I've been a causal reader of Hacker News, but this was my first post. I'm really impressed all the comments. Lots of great questions/comments. There was one thing I neglected to mention in the blog post, that I should mention now. We ran a contest (prior to the survey) that required contestants to submit their body measurements. We wanted shoppers to see the power of submitting thei…

Hi Tim--thanks for replying! To show my full hand, I'm the business/marketing co-founder/CEO at a software company--though I have a strong tech background, I chose to go into the marketing side because I love psychology and analytics so much. (I'm running an analytics startup.) I'm also a woman who's been known to drop some serious coin on clothes, and finally, I've previously stated publicly that I believe the futur…

Awesome...thanks for the advice

Re: I dropped over 40 grand when I could have spent $100

#97

Post by timborden »

in2liberty wrote: post #80
timborden wrote: post #32

Wow...thanks for all the comments. I've been a causal reader of Hacker News, but this was my first post. I'm really impressed all the comments. Lots of great questions/comments. There was one thing I neglected to mention in the blog post, that I should mention now. We ran a contest (prior to the survey) that required contestants to submit their body measurements. We wanted shoppers to see the power of submitting thei…

why not simply reverse it, like they do in the sale of used Levis and suits? Force the high end designers to measure everything thigh hips, waist, shoulder width, etc. Then let people sort down based on drop down settings THEN suggest others that fit the settings they used. Don't actually ASK for their measurements.

Clever suggestion...thanks

Re: I dropped over 40 grand when I could have spent $100

#98

Post by Evbn »

nostrademons wrote: post #93
chc wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I hear from everyone besides Ed that I've ever heard on the subject: It's easier to make money with a product that appeals to a few rich people than with one that depends on large numbers of average people buying in.

Usually what I've seen is that successful products are often ones that let average people become richer. ViaWeb, DropBox, AirBnB, AdSense, AdWords, EBay, Etsy, Kickstarter, Google Apps - these are all B2B2C products that let ordinary people make some small amount of money doing things that are quite within their grasp.

Goes all the way back to Levi's selling supplies to gold rushed.

Re: I dropped over 40 grand when I could have spent $100

#99

Post by Evbn »

PaulHoule wrote: post #52
edw519 wrote: post #41

The target audience for Rewire Attire, the high end fashion marketplace, was women with enough money ... Whenever I read "target audience" and "with enough money" in the same sentence, I run the other way. My experience with prospects "with enough money": - there are far less of them than everyone else - many of them didn't earn it themselves, so... - they really don't really understand the concept of "value" - they…

High end consumers are often jerks, but so are some people who sell to them. I know a woman who makes hand-knit sweaters for about $250. She makes them out of acrylic yarn, which shocks me. If I'm going to spend a lot for clothes I'm going to want a nice material, like wool. Particularly when you consider the cost of the labor, the extra cost of the wool is nothing. She told me she did sell a wool sweater to somebody…

Your example is someone who doesn't sell something you in particular want unless you ask for it, at which point she will, and that makes her a "jerk"?

Re: I dropped over 40 grand when I could have spent $100

#100

Post by Evbn »

pseut wrote: post #94
larrys wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"She told me she did sell a wool sweater to somebody who went home and washed in hot, it shrank, and then heard no ends of complaints about it, so she resolved to never sell wool sweaters unless they are specially commissioned." n=1 there then, right? Perhaps she was a bit to hasty based on that single data point? One of the things luxury brands do is bake into their costs margin to account for customers like this. O…

Or they price discriminate, by selling the wool sweater at a high markup to customers who self identify as especially interested in handmade wool sweaters while advertising the cheaper acrylic sweater to everyone else.

Exactly. Wool for a textilephiles, gold cables for the audiophiles.. selling to snobs is good business.
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