Would appreciate a critique of my new startup

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5085517

by anilm823 • 14 years ago

1 5 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

We're still a ways from the final product, but have recently launched as a test trial and have roughly 100 registered users. Would love some constructive feedback. The URL is: http://www.entfusion.com. Thanks!

The pitch: Our goal is to provide entertainment vendors with one central platform from which to create a personalized profile and market themselves. LIkewise, we provide customers who are looking for entertainment vendors, with one location to find these vendors, read and leave reviews, and interact with the vendors all from within the site.

Kynlyn• 14 years ago

How do you plan on advertising this? If I'm looking for a DJ, etc, I wouldn't consider or think of looking for a site like this. I'd just use Google or ask friends for a reference. The network effect is tough to overcome; you've got to have sufficient entertainers and sufficient people who know to look for entertainers. Is this really an area where there is sufficient pain?

I don't mean to be a killjoy; I've run a software business for over 10 years and learned a few things along the way and the key thing I've learned is that I have to be solving a very real problem and I just don't see that here.

Good luck to you, though.

anilm8232• 14 years ago

So for those who have multiple references at their disposal, this generally isn't a problem. My goal is to address all those people who need to use craigslist to find vendors, or do a google search as you mentioned. The feedback I've received from all these people is that it really isn't feasible to find good vendors in this manner. Craigslist doesn't offer reviews - it's really a shot in the dark, and performing google searches is a long and tedious process. The desire was to have one site from which to find vendors, see/leave reviews, and interact with the vendors through the site, in realtime.

All that being said, advertising/marketing is certainly not easy and is an area which may require a bit more cash flow in order to get widespread attention.

Not a killjoy at all - I appreciate the feedback

jonathanjaeger2• 14 years ago

-Entfusion doesn't seem like a very consumer friendly name.

-Perhaps you should tackle one vertical/use case with in entertainment vendors. It will be very hard to nail the product for photographers, live music, comedy, etc. all at one time. You're facing a big chicken and egg problem.

-Add some sort of easy navigation/discovery tool on the homepage because right now it's very hard to see what's even available on the site (having a bunch of people on the left of the homepage isn't the best UI choice).

-Consider a tagline or call to action instead of having a longer paragraph at the top-left. Nobody likes reading a ton in small letters when visiting a site. Maybe in big bold letters: "Find Entertainers for Your Next Event" then underneath it "Local DJs, bands, magicians, photographers, comedians, and more"

anilm8232• 14 years ago

Useful tips - thanks.

You mentioned "having a bunch of people on the left of the homepage isn't the best UI choice" - these should be pictures scrolling horizontally in a jquery slideshow on the top of the page. Is this not what you see? Perhaps a bug in the site.

Just FYI - Entfusion is short for 'Entertainment fusion' (i.e. a variety of entertainment vendors)

jonathanjaeger2• 14 years ago

Yeah I understood what Entfusion stood for, it just doesn't sound friendly to me. I know how hard it is to find a good domain name so it's certainly not bad -- just sounds a little like a SaaS product to me.

Yeah it was a bug or something was wrong with how the page loaded for me. It's working now and I see the jquery slideshow. Much nicer than what I saw before, haha.

Would appreciate a critique of my new startup

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