

Robert Scoble rips into Color - ssclafani
http://www.cinchcast.com/scobleizer/194769

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SkyMarshal
TLDR:

 _There are no second chances on app stores. If you launch, get featured (top
billing & visibility in app store), and have terrible initial reviews (1,2,3
stars), odds are you won't get featured again, which will make it extremely
difficult to gain traction organically as your app improves, since you're now
competing with "five hundred thousand other apps" for eyeballs down in the
pile.

First reaction to your app is hugely important now, not like a website 'where
you can come back and come back again'.

He compares to Path and some other apps, Path had same problem - bad first
experience. No one else in Half Moon Bay using these local photo apps yet, so
useless there on launch (and presumably anywhere else there aren't many
initial local users). Foodspotting on the other hand had pics from the middle
of Montana.

Problem when you take so much money ($41 million for Color.com), too much
pressure to go large on first night, leading to disaster in this case. Should
have done what Foursquare did - limit launch to SF and NYC, make sure it
works, get alot of content and traction there, then scale it out.

Hundreds of entrepreneurs emailing Scoble with competing apps, most of which
are better._

~~~
bradleyland
Thank you for the summary. With all due respect for Robert Scoble, he's got a
voice for blogging. Is Cinch a project in his portfolio? I'm trying to figure
out why such a prolific writer and investor would choose audio as the medium
to publish this message.

~~~
SkyMarshal
I was tempted to mention the same thing. Sounded very whiny. A good reminder
that proof-listening your recorded audio is just as necessary as your
proofreading your writings before publishing/sending them.

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wyclif
So, $41M of VC investment in a photo sharing app. $350K just for the primary
domain. Tech bubble, anyone? Is there any sane reasoning behind that kind of
investment?

~~~
geoffw8
Step 1. Assemble fantastic team, Step 2. Take what should be a feature of
Facebook, develop it, Step 3. Be acquired by Facebook for stock, all get roles
within the rapidly growing beast and watch your stock grow beyond your wildest
dreams

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jschuur
For the amount of money they got, they really could have made a fancy video
better explaining what its use case is.

Adam Lisagor needs to eat too, you know.

~~~
andrewf
Maybe they did. The general public has no way of knowing what Color's
investors have seen.

~~~
lurch_mojoff
I think jschuur's suggestion is that they should have made a video targeted at
the general public. The use case of many of these mobile services and apps is
not inherently obvious, not the the general public anyway. Compare the
information you get from Color's website to the information you get from the
lonelysandwich video promo for a similar app - Everyday, on its website:
<http://everyday-app.com/>

~~~
jschuur
Yep. I was thinking specifically of a lonelysandwich style video like Adam did
for Everdyday. Or even one of those animated paper ones that Google used to
do.

Have your web site evangelize your product better at launch, for the users
benefit. Don't just ignore it because you're already getting funding and
press.

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klochner
Does cinchcast offer a transcription? It's rare that I have the time to listen
to audio.

tl;dr would receive my upvote

~~~
kristofferR
That would have been a great way for Cinch to make some money actually. They
should offer pro accounts for a couple of dollars a month providing a quick
and painless (no action from the user required) transcription service.

