

Show HN: My first start up (30 days in) - whiletruefork

I quit my job a month ago and have been heads down working on my startup. It's my first time working with Ruby or web development at all. I launched on the 7th - http://www.onefatpig.com<p>Now I'm done with the easy part (code) and working on the substantially harder part (getting users). Any advice?
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SHOwnsYou
Great idea, can't praise it enough.

I'm wondering if you would actually make more money by only having free
accounts.

You already stand to make a ton of money from affiliate commissions AND heavy
cash on hand.

The value of a customer is way over $7/month just based on these two income
sources alone.

Free accounts might help getting the on the fencers to sign up, while you
still capture the users that would have signed up for $7/month.

Something else to think about -- If you decide to definitely go freemium,
consider having a third option. There is a ton of research showing people are
most likely to take the second best option given a menu of choices. Three
plans makes the second best option still one that gets you paid each month.

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revorad
How much money can Amazon affiliate commissions generate? A lot of bloggers
say they don't make much off Amazon, but I'm wondering how much dedicated
sites like this could make. Do you know of any good examples?

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dholowiski
If your only source of income is affiliate commisions, then it is extremely
risky. What happens when amazon decides they don't like your site any more,and
cancels your affiliate account? Im sure you don't want to be posting here 6
months from now saying "amazon killed my startup"

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jordan0day
If OneFatPig is bringing Amazon revenue, why would they try to kill it off? I
mean, certainly there's ways to make someone mad at you, but from a business
sense if OneFatPig "plays nice" I don't see why Amazon would arbitrarily do
that.

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dholowiski
Sure, Amazon shouldn't want to kill it off, but what if they do anyway?
Remember the guy who posted a few weeks ago on HN about how 'google fired me'?
It's pretty easy to make a small violation of the TOS without realizing it.

I'm just making a suggestion - don't put all of your eggs in one basket. If
you depend on one company for 100% of your revenue (Google, Paypal, Amazon
etc)that's a huge risk.

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tworats
Not sure why, but I immediately understood what the site does. Congrats on
that, that's one of the most difficult parts.

Suggestion: I'd want the service to allow kids to claim things they've done to
earn points, for which they'd get their piggy bank filled. Eg. did homework,
cleaned room, washed car would translate to x piggy dollars, which I'd then
translate to real money in their bank.

~~~
indrax
Similar immediate _click_ , I think it's a good choice of images.

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dholowiski
I agree with atomical - I would change the name. I actually like it, it's
quite clever, but I don't think 'typical' parents would enjoy their children
talking about 'one fat pig'.

Can you whitelist or blacklist products? I imagine many parents won't want
their kids saving up for a hello kitty vibrator: [http://www.amazon.com/Hello-
Kitty-face-Massage-Roller/dp/B00...](http://www.amazon.com/Hello-Kitty-face-
Massage-Roller/dp/B0042IL6QI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1294805866&sr=8-1)

Getting users... yup, thats the hard part. Talk to some moms you know, give
them some free accounts. Nothing, absolutely nothing in the world, can beat
the value of word of mouth from a happy mom, and that's who you are targeting
anyway.

This may seem crazy, but go to your local coffee shop, grocery store,
restaurant, and see if they have a bulletin board that you can put flyers up
on. Another prime mom location.

Check itunes for mom or parenting podcasts. Contact the hosts and ask if you
can come on their podcast to talk about your site. Offer some free accounts
for listeners.

Target geek moms?

I think you're getting the point... target mom!

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whiletruefork
There is product filtering - but it works best for items with ratings (Video
Games, Movies). All other products go through a blacklist - filtering out
specific words (but the list itself needs improvement). The parent has control
over the filtering, and can increase its restrictions with a paid account.

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HeyLaughingBoy
It's pretty rare that I see a startup demo'd here that I think is actually
useful as opposed to just being a fad/gimmick that will disappear in a month
or two. This is a really great concept and the execution really draws me in.

Congratulations on your launch. I hope you're wildly successful.

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notahacker
I seem to be in a minority here because I actually like the name (grab
1fatpig.com whilst you're at it)

Impressive concept and execution even without you being new to web development
and only working on it full time for being a month. Look and feel is great for
the target audience, though I'd lose the script fonts though due to
inconsistent rendering across browsers (they look awful on Firefox/Win for
example) and I can't see you losing anything by changing them to something
standard like italicised Georgia.

My gut feeling is that parents might baulk at the paid plan unless they're
particularly generous with their allowances, but the great thing about your
business model is that you should still earn off free accounts in active use
via affiliate programs.

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atomical
I like the idea. I have been debating whether the name is too derogatory. Can
you see a parent saying to another parent, Jane, have you heard about this new
website called one fat pig? Maybe onebigpig.com would be better. Not sure
about that.

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whiletruefork
I have been looking at whether or not to rebrand. The initial branding was
PiggyBanks. But all variations of that as a domain are parked by miserable
squatters. One of them offered to sell at the 'reasonable' price of $16k.

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Mz
I would try to find some means to convey that it's a virtual/online piggy
bank. You know, the hip, modern piggy bank for the plugged in kid. I have no
idea what terms to suggest but I think that's a key piece you need to convey:
Allowance in the digital age for the really cool kids.

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jordan0day
Really nice site, the idea makes a lot of sense and it seems like if you can
get users, it should really take off. The design seems quite good, but like
some of the other commenters, the small "notice" area at the top of each page
seems like it could use a little more love. I think the name is memorable, and
that's probably more important than any potential offense someone might take
at the name.

Out of curiosity, could you explain the different services/apis you're using
to get the list of products the kids search for? Are you just using the Amazon
Product API or are there other services you're hitting too?

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whiletruefork
There is some mixing of data sources, and in my opinion that is the 'core
value' of the software. By aggregating item data from many sources I can
generate a much clearer opinion of what an item is - and whether or not it
fits with a specific kid. Not all of this is visible in the UI however, and a
lot of the code was just me being a CS Nerd and probably won't materialize
into the visible portions of the site in the near future.

~~~
jordan0day
Would you mind expanding on what other sources you're using? I ask in part
because I'm taking the first steps on something similar (trying to aggregate
product data from various sources). My email is in my profile if you'd prefer
to discuss it there.

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meursault
Love the idea. Chore tracking would be a really cool feature I think.

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epynonymous
very nice, very simple, good luck, congrats on quitting full time!

some hopefully constructive criticism, i think the name is a bit tongue in
cheek and could offend some people, not that big an issue, perhaps it has
value to help you remember the brand.

the yellow banner doesn't stand out enough on the front page, perhaps find a
larger font that doesn't blend into the page so well, this is your focus point
for describing the service, make sure it stands out.

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HackrNwsDesignr
I would try to go anywhere where parents/kids are. Maybe you could work with a
local book store that often does story time type things for kids, or even
schools. We had a virtual bank in elementary school to learn about money, why
not work with local schools that may or may not have it already, and
supplement with your app or offer it?

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mgkimsal
If you ever get the money to advertise, get this on the Dave Ramsey show. I
believe he costs a pretty penny to hawk things, but this is _right_ up his
street (especially if you have a mode for 'no allowance' and go 'straight
commission'). Clark Howard would love this too.

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nmaio
I feel like the Features page should be condensed somehow. There's a lot of
text and images... But I like how the UI looks on those screenshots. Good
stuff.

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olegious
Just wondering, what is your background? You say you've never done web
development- have you done other types of dev work?

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whiletruefork
Yes. I've got a BS CS & worked in industry as a developer for 4 years - mainly
C & C++.

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Mz
Clickable:

<http://www.onefatpig.com>

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artsim
Love the idea and the design

