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Show HN: Finally opening signup on my education for business startup, Learndot

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Show HN: Finally opening signup on my education for business startup, Learndot

#1

Post by paulitex »

HN,

I've been mostly lurking, semi-active on HN for over 4 years. For most of that time, I've been working on my startup, Learndot. I have always wanted to do a "Show HN" post, but I never thought it was ready.

We've now finally launched web signup and using a freemium business model. I feel I can now post and offer something to the community (a new app to try out) and hopefully get good quality feedback.

Here's the site: http://www.learndot.com

Would appreciate any or all thoughts: From pricing/positioning, to design/performance.

The app is written in Sproutcore and backed by an API written in Scala.

Thanks so much,

Paul

Re: Show HN: Finally opening signup on my education for business startup, Learndot

#3

Post by cooperadymas »

Just a few initial thoughts, not having dug in too deep.

The site looks great, aesthetically. But I wasn't sure exactly what your product was until I scrolled down quite a ways on the homepage. "Make learning a competitive advantage" is a good tagline, but not great for being the only text I immediately see on your homepage. Something based on the "platform for customer, partner, and team training" would serve better.

I'm not certain who your target market is, and I don't know enough about the product to really say, but there is a large gap between $0 for your smallest plan and $250/mo for the next plan. Keep reading and you can get the $10/mo/learner with the free plan (at which point it's no longer free), but my immediate reaction is the large price gap.

Re: Show HN: Finally opening signup on my education for business startup, Learndot

#4

Post by orangethirty »

Your landing page structure needs work. I didn't learn what it was until I made an effort to find out. Others don't usually do that. Plus, this is a B2B product. Why not get their feedback and close a few sales at the same time?

Re: Show HN: Finally opening signup on my education for business startup, Learndot

#5

Post by paulitex »

orangethirty wrote: post #4

Your landing page structure needs work. I didn't learn what it was until I made an effort to find out. Others don't usually do that. Plus, this is a B2B product. Why not get their feedback and close a few sales at the same time?

Thanks – that's similar to what cooperadymas was saying.

Who did you mean by "their"? We are soliciting feedback on our more B2B channels too. But I'm posting here because a) it's a startup and HN likes startups and b) I like HN and wanted to share. :)

Re: Show HN: Finally opening signup on my education for business startup, Learndot

#6

Post by daspianist »

cooperadymas wrote: post #3

Just a few initial thoughts, not having dug in too deep. The site looks great, aesthetically. But I wasn't sure exactly what your product was until I scrolled down quite a ways on the homepage. "Make learning a competitive advantage" is a good tagline, but not great for being the only text I immediately see on your homepage. Something based on the "platform for customer, partner, and team training" would serve better…

I would also echo this: "Make learning a competitive advantage" is vague. It was only until I clicked on "customers" that I got a rough sense of what your product is trying to accomplish.

Also, the "see pricing and plans" button doesn't need to be up on top with your tag line (because its likely that users won't know about your product from the current tagline alone). This should be somewhere down the bottom after someone has gotten a sense of what your product does.

In fact, I think you already wrote your most powerful tagline: "We’ll be the software behind https://learn.MY-COMPANY.com. Just put that up top.

I just concentrated on the front page. The color scheme is quite pleasing :)

Re: Show HN: Finally opening signup on my education for business startup, Learndot

#7

Post by orangethirty »

paulitex wrote: post #5
orangethirty wrote: post #4

Your landing page structure needs work. I didn't learn what it was until I made an effort to find out. Others don't usually do that. Plus, this is a B2B product. Why not get their feedback and close a few sales at the same time?

Thanks – that's similar to what cooperadymas was saying. Who did you mean by "their"? We are soliciting feedback on our more B2B channels too. But I'm posting here because a) it's a startup and HN likes startups and b) I like HN and wanted to share. :)

* We are soliciting feedback on our more B2B channels too.*

I'm sorry, but I don't understand this sentence. Do you mean that you are getting feedback from prospects? Or getting feedback from other businesses (that are not prospects)?

By their, I mean businesses who might actually buy your product. That's the only feedback you should really pay attention to. Asking for opinions on HN is good, but ultimately, less valuable than trying to make a sale with a real prospect.

Re: Show HN: Finally opening signup on my education for business startup, Learndot

#8

Post by paulitex »

orangethirty wrote: post #7
paulitex wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks – that's similar to what cooperadymas was saying. Who did you mean by "their"? We are soliciting feedback on our more B2B channels too. But I'm posting here because a) it's a startup and HN likes startups and b) I like HN and wanted to share. :)

* We are soliciting feedback on our more B2B channels too.* I'm sorry, but I don't understand this sentence. Do you mean that you are getting feedback from prospects? Or getting feedback from other businesses (that are not prospects)? By their , I mean businesses who might actually buy your product. That's the only feedback you should really pay attention to. Asking for opinions on HN is good, but ultimately, less va…

Yes, prospects. Mailing lists, relevant LinkedIn groups, etc.

I generally agree with you, but I think this community has an eye for detail we might not find in other groups.

Re: Show HN: Finally opening signup on my education for business startup, Learndot

#9

Post by paulitex »

daspianist wrote: post #6
cooperadymas wrote: post #3

Just a few initial thoughts, not having dug in too deep. The site looks great, aesthetically. But I wasn't sure exactly what your product was until I scrolled down quite a ways on the homepage. "Make learning a competitive advantage" is a good tagline, but not great for being the only text I immediately see on your homepage. Something based on the "platform for customer, partner, and team training" would serve better…

I would also echo this: "Make learning a competitive advantage" is vague. It was only until I clicked on "customers" that I got a rough sense of what your product is trying to accomplish. Also, the "see pricing and plans" button doesn't need to be up on top with your tag line (because its likely that users won't know about your product from the current tagline alone). This should be somewhere down the bottom after so…

Thanks! Definitely sounds like we need to tighten up the message.

This is great. :)

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