Show HN: FoundersKit – $6k of discounts for the best startup tools for only $39

https://founderskit.co/?ref=hackernews

by fredrivett • 11 years ago

22 11 11 years ago

founderskit.co

danielkempe• 11 years ago

Great selection of deals!! Awesome man!

fredrivett4• 11 years ago

Thanks man! We're really excited by the partners we've got on board so far, plus those that are in the pipeline :)

fredrivett4• 11 years ago

Hey all!

Dylan, Mike and I have been working on this project for a few months and are super excited to finally release it into the wild!

FoundersKit is a bundle of the best tools & services to help founders launch and build startups. The bundle consists of 68 deals which are valued at $6,268. We've kept the bar really high, only including tools & services we really recommend.

We'll be adding deals to the site as we go (with lots already in the pipeline) to keep the bundle slowly growing. The membership is valid for one years access to all the discounts.

Let us know if you have any questions or feedback. We’ll be around all day!

brandonlipman• 11 years ago

Really like the collection. I saw this the other day when you posted it on Product Hunt. http://www.producthunt.com/tech/founderskit

fredrivett4• 11 years ago

Hey Brandon, thanks for the kind words :)

eonw• 11 years ago

arent you getting paid for these referrals? Why would an end user pay you for these free trials? i think you'd be better off to just list them with affiliate links and call it a day. buying discounts doesnt make any sense to me... but good luck with it.

pki2• 11 years ago

this is pretty much my thought, a lot of these are offered anyway, and often for completely free.. why pay $39 for a bunch of affiliate links?

fredrivett4• 11 years ago

Hey eonw & pki. Great questions!

For us we had a few options when looking at creating FoundersKit. There are a few really important factors in our decision.

1) We didn't want to be just another deals site that has any company offering a deal. We wanted to keep a really high level of curation so our members can know that the tools listed are high quality. Deal sites that include any company offering a discount end up causing work for the user to try and dissect which tools & services are any good. 2) By charging a small fee for a years access to all the deals (including those added after becoming a member) we can get a much better deal from our partners that other open deal sites cannot get. Companies aren't willing to give out lifetime discounts in the public but quite a few of our partners have offered discounts like this and lots of others have offered discounts above and beyond those circulated elsewhere. Literally 15 minutes ago I just got confirmation of another great tool (one I intend to use myself soon) that will be joining FoundersKit and offering a 25% off lifetime discount. These are the sort of deals we're looking for. 3) This method means our partners know that the customers using the discount codes are high quality and not just looking for a free ride. At the very least it shows that they're willing to pay when they see something they want (which not all customers are).

Ultimately our vision is to make a Founders life easier. To collect all the best tools & services in one place, with great discounts & savings to try them out. Forgetting the unique discounts we offer, we think the time & effort this bundle saves Founders is worth the money.

Really appreciate your feedback on this though, if you have any other thoughts please don't hesitate to let me know!

mynameisntbob• 11 years ago

You have a great point. However, we are NOT using affiliate links, and we are NOT collecting any commission at all.

Every deal on FoundersKit is a unique partnership between us and the specific company. It took us about 4 months to establish all of the existing relationships. We are even still working on more partnerships to add more value to the bundle (as Fred mentioned).

A lot of the companies on our bundle do have an affiliate program but our coupons are not associated with that, and offer a higher discount (or longer trial).

Great example would be Grasshopper - $125 credits are not handed out to affiliates. Affiliates get $100 kick back, we do not take any kick back.

Please do comment back if you have an example from our site where our discounts offer the same value as an affiliate program. We would love to address it.

Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback :)

Best, Dylan

Show HN: FoundersKit – $6k of discounts for the best startup tools for only $39

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