Show HN: My Weekend Project - Am I Crazy?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4037622

by goldvine • 14 years ago

14 19 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I created https://foundermeals.com as a weekend project, and as part of an internal competition we do at http://www.freshform.com

I love the concept, and I'll be ecstatic if the project is funded and can move forward. But I'm curious if I'm focusing too much on my own insane hunt to find the simplest way to cook, or if that appeals to others. Most people I've told about this respond with, "You're kinda analytical, huh?" or "You think people would pay for that?" or even "...."

The thing is, I'm not trying to sell recipes, I'm trying to sell convenience, and I'm not sure I've communicated that fully on the sales page. What do you think?

1. Can you tell what FounderMeals is? 2. Would you buy the product? (I consider all of HN to be part of the market)

(I just pushed this live this morning, you can view my launch metrics here: https://www.foundermeals.com/metrics - something new I'm trying)

kaolinite2• 14 years ago

I really want to pre-order this - it looks great - but I'm not willing to give you my bank info. There's a reason I use services like PayPal. I do understand why you need it however and I'm unsure how you could get around the issue. At the very least though, could you do an option just to enter an email address so I can find out when/if the product launches? Fantastic idea though. I love to cook but find I just don't have the time.

goldvine6• 14 years ago

Working on it now, I'll let you know when I have a page up.

goldvine6• 14 years ago

Ok, you're all set. There is a subscribe form at the bottom of the page now: https://www.foundermeals.com/customers/new

Thank you for the kind words!

kaolinite2• 14 years ago

Subscribed :-)

jmcqk6• 14 years ago

Will definitely keep an eye on this. If it delivers on it's promise, then I'll probably try it out for a few weeks at least. I cook a lot on my own already, so the main thing I'm looking for is expanding my horizons a bit.

goldvine6• 14 years ago

Totally agree. That's what I've been looking for the past few months and it's been really nice.

Also, to clear up any confusion. This won't be a subscription service (at least initially). The $9 price you see is a one-time fee for a week of recipes you can re-use as often as you like. So if you like the idea, consider throwing in a pre-order! ;-) You won't be signing up for anything long-term.

RodgerTheGreat• 14 years ago

The site describes your mealplans as "Nutritionist-approved"- It's worth noting that "Nutritionist" is not a protected term in the US and does not indicate any kind of formal qualifications. I'd recommend either strengthening that claim or removing it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutritionist

goldvine6• 14 years ago

Ah, good to know. I need to lookup the qualifications and revise that. I went with "nutritionist" since it is simple and understood by many. Thank you very much for the heads up!

rabidonrails• 14 years ago

I doubt your market knows that 'nutritionist' is not a protected term. When I read that I thought "oh, there's a qualified person overseeing these recipes."

dragons• 14 years ago

> 1. Can you tell what FounderMeals is?

It looks like a set of recipes to make meals for a week, plus a grocery list of stuff to buy to make the recipes.

> 2. Would you buy the product?

Afraid not. I don't want to spend even more time and money in food prep, which is what would happen if I bought it.

I'm probably not your target audience though. I know how to cook, but I dislike cooking. I generally make things that can be done by throwing food in a pot and simmering. E.g. Split pea soup, lentil soup, beef stew, chili, spaghetti, stir fry. In addition I sometimes bake a chicken. For very quick prep times, I make sandwiches (PBJ, tuna salad, etc) and salads (big box of pre-washed salad lasts for a few days).

I know how to make all these things without referring to a recipe (or with a quick glance).

Your promo says "no more leftover food" but this is not an issue for me. I just make it a priority to eat stuff before it goes bad (bananas, salad). Other stuff like soups etc can be frozen, then reheated later. Quick, easy, no waste.

goldvine6• 14 years ago

Good to know. Thank you for taking the time to give me feedback!

It's awesome to get a fresh perspective on this.

yashchandra• 14 years ago

I really like the idea. But I agree that instead of asking for bank/cc info. right away, why not have a email signup page as a potential user. Also how do you plan to list recipes/items ? For the $15 or $9 pre-ordered meal, what will be included ? Is it based on what users choose ?

goldvine6• 14 years ago

I see your point and have added an email signup if you're interested on this page: https://www.foundermeals.com/customers/new

The reason I ask for CC info up front is to further validate the idea. Tons of people are willing to sign up for updates, but many of those wouldn't actually buy. If I'm going to devote many more hours to this product, I need to know: 1. There is some acceptable level of fit with the market. 2. People are actually willing to pay for recipes.

#2 has been a big question for me. Recipes are something you can get online for free, like many other things. But I think there is still room for a premium, convenience product. I've had access to free recipes forever, but I realize that doesn't help me. I need structure. I'm wondering if others are willing to pay for that same structure, but won't know for sure unless I collect CC info.

As for what is included, I am planning on launching with a few options for each component. For example, you could choose 2 breakfast, dinner, and lunch recipes from a pool of 4 breakfast, dinner, and lunch recipes. This should give you enough of a choice, and if you still aren't satisfied - there is a money back guarantee :-)

dholowiski• 14 years ago

My thoughts... I think it's a pretty good idea.

1. I could tell what it was, it was pretty clear, although at first I thought it was foundmeals.com which is very different.

2. For something like this, if you gave the first week free, or even a short 3 day set of recipies free I think that would help - I'd have real trouble paying for this before I could see an example of what I am getting. Also, will you account for different dietary requirements (keeping in mind that different people have different ideas of 'healthy)?

It also seems natural that in some big cities (like San Francisco) you could pair up with restraunts or delis and just have the food delivered, instead of the recipies.

gregcohn• 14 years ago

I used to manage a very popular online diet subscription service.

My quick reaction is that you are addressing a pain point that many people have -- it's annoying to plan meals and map grocery purchases to them, while the "shop first and figure it out later" approach is inefficient.

BUT, in reality, people have a lot of foibles about what they do and don't like to eat, allergies, aversions, what's considered acceptable/very good/too fancy, what they will and won't buy, whether and how often they're cooking for 1/2/more, what's in season or easily available where they are, how expensive ingredients are, how long cooking takes, etc.

Before subscribing, I personally would need a lot more color on the above and probably some sample recipes.

As an MVP, it's a perfectly reasonable experiment to keep it simple, but I would think to be even moderately successful you'll need to generate some custom content based on preference variables -- or at least some profile alternatives (like, say, a vegetarian, simple/balanced meals, and foodie option per week), and some basic substitutions for things people don't like and/or aren't readily available.

swanson• 14 years ago

This reminds me of a Google Doc found on the /r/keto reddit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nFFXn_Uve5uh0qtqdAa0HvpE...

I really like the concept of being able to spend an afternoon cooking meals for the week. Especially if the recipes are simple and office-friendly. So I can definately tell what FounderMeals is.

As far as buying the product, I would rather pay $20 for this as cook book with the recipes than a monthly fee. Or maybe $10 for a "Starter" book and $5 each for different "addon" books (different cuisine, new recipes, etc).

masukomi• 14 years ago

The idea sounds really good, and probably something we could use, but I won't sign up for the simple fact that I don't have a clue what kind of meals you would be providing. Is it even food I'm interested in eating?

Also, as my SO is currently on a diet it would be good to have calorie information included for each meal (when the recipes come). Maybe a future iteration could be allowing people to choose between regular and low cal meal plans.

Regarding "...an Agile Approach..." yeah, that works for us geeks, but you're selling a food product, and there are WAY more people out there who need to eat than geeks. I'd replace that wording with something that has meaning to the population at large.

Don't make me scroll down below the fold to find the highest value sentence on the page "Less than 3 hours in the kitchen (per week)" and don't make that a lighter text color than the main body text. Highlight that %$#@% and put it up near the top. THAT + not having to think about what I need to buy at the supermarket is a HUGE selling point for me. I'd work on some quick blurb that highlights those two points, make it big, bold, and up by the top of the page. As for leftovers... we're in America. In general we seem more inclined to throw out spare crap than worry about the fact that it exists. Yeah, it's nice that there won't be any (in theory) but I suspect most people aren't that bugged by it. They'll just trash excess leftovers like they trash everything else.

But, again. I won't buy it because I don't have any idea what kinds of foods and flavors you are proposing I put in my mouth.

atjoslin• 14 years ago

preordered, sounds cool

mrgreenfur• 14 years ago

1 I get it. You can probably skip the bullets about yourself, they are strange. 2 Too expensive! $15/week for a handful of recipes? A book with hundreds of recipes is like $35, why is yours so expensive?

Show HN: My Weekend Project - Am I Crazy?

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