Show HN: Use Intercourse to improve your pitch – we'd love your feedback

http://www.intercourse.io/

by MurrayHurps • 13 years ago

15 37 13 years ago

minimaxir• 13 years ago

You may want to consider using a different name if you're marketing to customers in the United States.

MurrayHurps4• 13 years ago

Prepared to reconsider the name if people actually object to it, but quietly hoping we can reclaim the definition of "communication or dealings between individuals or groups".

Fingers crossed...

gmays3• 13 years ago

No man, this name is awesome. See my other comments in this thread to take advantage of it.

timtamboy63• 13 years ago

Definitely reconsider the name. Intercourse would work great if it was an app targeted to the general public, but definitely not in the education/business market.

bushido2• 13 years ago

The app is a great idea, and definitely has good potential.

The name is not worth risking the future of the app.

roadster72• 13 years ago

On the contrary, I don't think it's a bad name.

However, one thing which is certain is, that it will definitely draw attention :)

danellis2• 13 years ago

I think Americans will cope. There are towns in the US called Intercourse.

inspiredworlds• 13 years ago

interesting idea - keen to use it on some pitch practice

MurrayHurps4• 13 years ago

It's been fascinating to see the difference between normal pitch feedback, and the feedback we get when people can comment anonymously.

Would love to hear how you find it.

coderzach• 13 years ago

I just get a blank page on chrome for mac :-/

MurrayHurps4• 13 years ago

Current homepage requires JavaScript. This will be fixed shortly, but if you have noscript or similar installed it might explain it.

aaronbrethorst• 13 years ago

Because of the name, I would be embarrassed to mention this in conversation to friends or coworkers.

guidopallemans• 13 years ago

Hey, have you tried intercourse?

gantengx• 13 years ago

I tried intercourse last night with a group of people. It was awesome

edhooper• 13 years ago

Using this at startup weekend / hackathons to involve the entire audience in the judging process for peoples choice would be amazing

sideproject• 13 years ago

I tried a similar idea last year. The gist was

1. Post a 60 second pitch about your startup/project 2. People provide feedback

We ran out of steam after a few weeks, it was difficult getting people to post their videos (chicken & the egg thing), plus we got distracted etc.

You said it's a part of a bigger project, so I wish you luck! (funny, I'm also based in Sydney).

MurrayHurps4• 13 years ago

Fascinating to hear, would love to discuss further if possible. info@intercourse.io if you have a spare moment :-)

daurnimator• 13 years ago

Could really do with some better naming/choice of words; I read the title as "Use sex to improve your singing"

vezzy-fnord• 13 years ago

At first I thought this was a new teledildonics app. I was let down when I found out it wasn't, although I guess this could be useful too.

spb• 13 years ago

Teledildonics: here's a word that means what you think it means.

gmays3• 13 years ago

Intercourse, brilliant name. There are so many funny ways to market it, particularly in the US. In fact it doesn't matter what this app does, the name itself has a lot of potential (it is a cool app by the way).

-At the end of a pitch when users are asked to rate it: Was it good for you?

-Make it social: Intercourse with friends / Intercourse with strangers

-Make it spread: Viral marketing campaign called STD.

-Make it practical: Marketing campaign about using phone/apps safely: Practice safe intercourse.

-Best practices: Never drink before Intercourse or you may not rise to the occasion.

-Have rankings: Let people brag about how good they are at Intercourse.

-Voyeur mode: The feature that lets people watch other people 'Intercoursing' should be called voyeur mode.

-Inactive user message: It's been too long since last Intercourse. Use it to make sure it still works. Call inactive user mode 'High School Band'

-Too short of a pitch: Really dude? Done already?

-At events: Intercourse in public.

-Multiple participants: Group Intercourse.

-Call the intro video: The Talk

-Help/Info section: Learn more about the birds and the bees...

Ok, I'll stop now.

MJR• 13 years ago

I completely disagree. 'Funny ways to market it' will instead be 'Offensive and inappropriate' in many settings. The average person on the street doesn't give presentations, so immediately you're trying to target an education or business market. Is that the audience that will respond best to a name that can be taken out of context or isn't easy to grasp? Simply choosing that name already gives you a steep hill to climb. Not every company can take a name like this and turn it into a viable brand. There aren't that many opportunities to be a Virgin Records and make it work.

gmays3• 13 years ago

This isn't a 'presentation' app, it's not PowerPoint. It's a 'pitch' app. In this context, who gives pitches? That's right, a younger, more casual audience, not 50+ execs.

Besides, contrary to popular belief most people have a sense of humor. It's OK to laugh at sex jokes, it really is. I know there's been a wave of political correctness around here lately, but this is a bit much. It just makes me picture a bunch of boring people with zero personality too afraid to laugh at anything, and thus too afraid to connect with their audience because they just might offend someone's sensibilities.

This is realistic way to make Intercourse go viral (teehee). You need to take advantage of opportunities like this. This was serendipitous, but great marketers sometimes can't even create opportunities like this on purpose.

JBiserkov• 13 years ago

Even the top-level domain was chosen carefully: IO often means input/output

aroch• 13 years ago

The more likely reason is intercourse.com is taken and .io is the new, favorite non-standard TLD in the tech and startup world. Just like .me was a few years ago.

danellis2• 13 years ago

I was disappointed this wasn't something that would help me sing in tune.

mrcactu5• 13 years ago

This is a step up from ToastMasters.

Having heard myself on recording before, and seen myself on camera, I will be waiting for the Android Version 0:-)

al2o3cr• 13 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gwXJsWHupg#t=2m37s

What a good, WOODY, word. ;)

lfuller• 13 years ago

Was expecting this to be some kind of couples' therapy. Name may be an issue for North American audiences.

electic• 13 years ago

DOA. This service will not get of the ground because of its name. I suggest you change it. There are so many other names that you can pick that do not have such a strong double meaning. You are unnecessarily hurting your startup, it is a challenge you do not need.

moocowduckquack2• 13 years ago

Unless you are on the level of Richard Branson, in which case you should immediately start purchasing a fleet of huge pink dirigibles.

minimax• 13 years ago

Ok picture this. Susan is in her cube. Nick, the office's resident smarmy dickhead walks up.

"Hey Susan, want to try Intercourse with me?"

Now Susan is extremely uncomfortable and Nick the dickhead gets to claim he was just talking about software.

It's cute what you're trying to do with the name but it won't work. Just look at the joke threads already in the comments here. It's all the proof you need.

codex• 13 years ago

Usually you already need a good pitch to have intercourse.

fractallyte• 13 years ago

Sigh. Yet another useful word that's been thoroughly misappropriated. ('Gay' is my other huge annoyance.)

L. intercursus, a running between - inter, between, cursum, to run.

An equivalent word is intercurrent. Same etymology, without the modern connotation.

Show HN: Use Intercourse to improve your pitch – we'd love your feedback

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