

Ask HN: Review my startup - Find the top solar installers near you - jhouck
http://www.ohmji.com

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vaksel
1\. Horrible name, you have to have a name that's SEO friendly for something
like this. You aren't in a type of business that spreads through word of
mouth, you are in a type of business that gets found through google search.

2\. You should add a way to input the user's city/state automatically. And
make that function a lot more prominent. A big, giant, search box would do
wonders for you.

3\. Too much white, you should bring up that footer image higher. Because
right now it's below the fold, so all a user sees is a boring search box on a
white background.

4\. Add a solar power related header image.

5\. let users sort results by price and # of installs

~~~
jhouck
By number: 1) Name was a tough one. In the end we opted for something that
didn't have solar or green or anything 'eco' in it. It is unbelievable how
many companies in this space have names so similar they are indistinguishable.
We hoped this difference might be memorable. And it may be... 2) Do you mean
adding autocomplete in the search text field? 5) Sort is coming.

~~~
BobbyH
Re: 2), I think he means "use a geolocation IP database to pre-populate the
city/state that the visitor is in", similar to how yelp uses geolocation to
point you to the right local yelp.

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Vindexus
When you come to a city that isn't found it still tries to display all the
metadata in the sidebar, but it's all blank.

I searched for Kamloops.BC and the averages were there with no numbers.

All in all it seems like a pretty cool service. You just need to work on the
search and get more data.

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sachinag
It works exactly as I thought it would. ZIP in addition to city/state works,
which is nice. I trust you get referral fees for your revenue model.

One note: the play on OMG is cute, but probably not a good brand fit for what
you're selling here, though.

All in all, very well done.

~~~
mattiss
Ohmji is a really awesome startup name, but I agree not a good fit for this
market.

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larrykubin
Why so little data for Austin, TX?

It'd be nice to add some more educational information that explains the
benefits of solar in my home. How much do I save in X years? How much do I
reduce emissions by?

How about incorporating ratings and comments on each company? I'd rather just
ask for a quote from the top company.

I like the radius/shaded region that indicates the area of service.

Also, this might not be very important, but the name ohmji isn't very obvious
for some people. It does make for a cool resistor logo though :). I understand
since I studied electrical engineering, but for someone who isn't familiar
with units of resistance it might make sense to call it something plain and
boring like "solar finder".

~~~
jhouck
We've begun with California data only. Texas is on the short-list of places
we'll target next, Austin especially.

Are there specific things you would like to know about solar installers or
about what it's like to install solar that you would want to hear from solar
owners themselves in reviews and comments?

------
ars
Personally I think you are too early.

Solar power has such a poor ROI that you would only do it if you don't do the
math. It's not even good for the environment, since it takes so much energy to
make a solar panel.

Basically you have almost no market.

If I could suggest something else, add ground source heat pumps. Those have a
great ROI, but are not very common, and it's hard to find installers.

~~~
ericd
Not sure why this is getting downvoted, this is a valid point to keep in mind
while determining focus, and a review of a startup should include its core
focus, no? I personally agree that "Solar Panel Installer search" is too
narrow a market to make a decently sized business out of.

There may be no PR buzz to be had in Heat Pumps and insulation, but it's much
lower hanging fruit in terms of ROI and carbon emissions reduction.

I would personally try to broaden the site to include all manner of energy
saving tech, with installer search being a key part. I do think there is a
market for that, and if you can drive referrals, I think there is revenue
potential. Let solar installer search be the press sizzle, and throw in some
steak.

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mseebach
How about combining the "Solar Cost Estimates" with a local estimate of sun-
hours to give an estimate of how long it'll take to recoup the installation
cost? That's the sort of feature that'll land your site on feel-good morning
shows.

And what's with the name? There's no association to sun in it, and there's no
way I'll remember it.

~~~
jhouck
Features that highlight solar payback are planned

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jws
"St. Louis, MO" is not found "Saint Louis, MO" is, though you have no data.

No one from St. Louis would type it out.

~~~
ericd
Is there a compelling reason not to drop in Google's geocoding service and
just do a lat/long proximity search? (I'm assuming you have the locations of
the installers in lat/long form)

~~~
jws
Usually it is dollars. If you are going to Geocode more than a handful of
locations they need to be paid.

~~~
ericd
The free limit is 15,000/day/IP - if your users use your key using the GMaps
javascript library, I don't believe that counts against your server's quota,
since it's coming from a distinct IP per request. 15k/day is a lot of
installers...

Edit - And my reply wasn't meant to question you, you just illuminated the
issue well.

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csmeder
search for "san francisco" and it looks like you don't have any thing in "san
francisco".

1) Have a helper message: "you forgot to include a state"

2) or give a list of cities called "san francisco" in different states

This may seem dumb, but I put my mouse in the search field- I saw "San Luis
Obispo" (from past searches) and clicked enter. For a second I thought you
guys just don't have my city covered.

~~~
jhouck
You're right. We'll be enabling city-only search soon. I didn't realize how
many people would blow by the 'city, state' hint without pause...

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marltod
How do you stop google maps or other databases from pulling all your data?

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jhouck
Thanks in advance for your feedback. -Jason

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dannyr
Jason,

Congrats with the launch!

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petervandijck
Well done, too narrow.

~~~
jhouck
by narrow do you mean you want to see more features, a broader thematic focus,
results for more cities?

