Short-clip consumer web application

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9608192

by Apane • 11 years ago

1 2 11 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

So I've spent the past 12 months building a short-clip consumer web application. Essentially, users can create their own video web-app be the admin of it, and upload videos. The videos will be automatically encoded in all of the HD and SD qualities, ranging from 250-1080. The visitors of the website will be able to rate the clips, comment on them etc... It has a sort of NetFlix interface.

I'm thinking of offering this service to superadmins (people who'd like to run their own web-app) for $500/mo. They can then of course add there own advertising etc to monetize it...

I'd like some feedback though on the concept, and pricing structure. There are costs such as hosting, and video encoding costs, which is why it cannot be free.

kjksf• 11 years ago

It's kind of late to ask questions like this after spending 12 months of work.

Regardless of my other feedback, you should launch and see what happens. No one can predict the future.

That being said, I don't see who would be a target for your app. Vimeo Plus costs $10/month, Vimeo Pro $20/month. Youtube is free and allows embedding of videos in your own website.

Who are the people that would have a need for your app and wouldn't be served by Vimeo or Youtube?

At $500/mo you're in "enterprise sales" category. There's no way an individual or hobbyist will spend $6k/year just to upload the videos. Enterprise sales usually require enterprise sales tactics (picking up the phone, trying to convince real people about the value of the product) which pretty much means you need a (very good) sales team.

Also, at that price people will want to know you're a stable business.

Apane• 11 years ago

Cheers, right the idea would be to market it to YouTube stars - those who want a bigger piece of the pie. Apparently Youtubers aren't getting as much as they could considering the enormous view counts. Of course, the platform is hot which is why the view counts are large, but even if we can convert 5-10 stars to this platform it has a better chance of growing quickly, and bringing the fan-base with it. Additionally, we can target enterprise clients that have internal video tutorials/programs etc... just brainstorming as I type this, but I appreicate your message because it encourages fresh perspective.