Ask HN: Review my startup - posttoself.com

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4035746

by trailsix • 14 years ago

6 6 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Post messages to your private archive. Then send them to yourself through scheduled email and text reminders.

The MVP is built and I am seeking beta testers to give me feedback. Getting feedback on what works is nice, but I'm very interested to hear what doesn't make sense, why you think it won't work and what you think is missing. I have more features in mind, but they aren't worth building if they aren't inline with user needs and expectations. Thanks in advance!

sixQuarks• 14 years ago

My advice is to make the sign up process more inviting.

Start with an input box where the user actually fills out what they want to remind themselves about. Next step (after they submit their reminder) should be their email and contact info.

Basically, allow them to do what they want to do first, then once they have committed, they will be more likely to fill out the boring stuff.

rumberg• 14 years ago

sixQuarks made a good point. Here are some things I asked myself when I first visited the page:

- Where do I write myself messages? Just on the website? Why should I use this website instead of just writing myself an Email, use Simplenote or the Notes App? What are the benefits?

I would make these points more clear and emphasize the main benefit in a bold and big headline. I also really like sixQuarks idea. Why not put a note-field on the first screen and show them how easy it is to use your service.

Another thought: Don't give so much space to the sign-in-field. Most people who ll visit your website won't have an account (yet), so my advice would be: Place a big sign-up-field there instead – or an input field where people can send themselves messages already – and move the sign-in to the navigation bar.

As somebody who loves good design: You should work on the design. Use Typekit (Open Sans, PT Sans are very popular these days and make a big difference compared to all the Helvetica websites) and use a larger font-size in general.

trailsix2• 14 years ago

Thanks for the feedback sixQuarks and rumberg.

I like the idea of letting people post notes before asking them to sign up. Until I get that setup I may just have a demo account that anyone can use that gets wiped clean each night. Thoughts either way?

The extra space in the sign-in field is for twitter and facebook sign-in icons once I get them working, which is hopefully in the next week.

rumberg: I agree with you on the design. Thanks for the tip on Open Sans & PT Sans. I hate to have the design follow, but I have to prove the need for the product before too much time and effort are put in on that front.

Great input! Keep it coming...

treelovinhippie• 14 years ago

Why don't you just add this scheduled email/text reminder functionality on top of Evernote using their API? http://dev.evernote.com/documentation/cloud/

That way you don't need to bother with user registration, you don't need to worry about people trusting you with their sensitive information (signing-up, posting notes etc), people are already using Evernote in their regular workflows to take notes and add reminders, and if it becomes a success then an Evernote acquisition is an obvious play.

rj4543• 14 years ago

I like the site. Suggestion under Manage Post you may want to include what time the reminders are scheduled. That would help individuals with a large list of reminders know what time their reminders will activate and avoid have two reminders at the same time.

trailsix2• 14 years ago

Good idea! This is definitely a feature I'll be adding in. The more I use it the more I see a need for the reminders to be displayed in an easy to read list. Either under Manage Posts or a separate page or both. Thanks for the comment.

Ask HN: Review my startup - posttoself.com

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