
Let’s Crate – from weekend project to registered company in two weeks. - sahillavingia
http://sahillavingia.com/blog/2010/11/02/lets-crate-from-weekend-project-to-registered-company-in-two-weeks/
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Osmose
I always find myself frustrated when a site doesn't actually describe what it
does. So far I can only figure out that Crate is for sharing and may be
similar to Dropbox. I couldn't find an FAQ on the site and don't want to
register until I know what it is.

So... what is it?

~~~
sahillavingia
Yeah, we're wary about people being like "wtf is this?" so we're slowly
opening it up. We're too busy working on features to worry about time-
consuming things like welcome messages and how-to pages for right now. Soon
though. :)

It's drag-and-drop file-sharing, at a glance. It does much more, but that's
the basics. It's faster than Dropbox for certain things (though Dropbox will
be far more feature-ful).

~~~
Osmose
Do you drag-and-drop to a folder on your hard drive, or to a box on your
website, or to something else?

Also, do Crates, as I assume they're called, expire? As in, I can set a folder
that deletes files an hour, day, week, etc after they're dropped there.

~~~
sahillavingia
Both, to-and-from. They don't expire.

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necrodome
is it just me who finds drag&drop is harder than selecting files for file-
uploading?

Maybe it's just my workflow but every time i have to use drag&drop for a
webpage, i have to align file-browser and web-browser manually. I find it
cumbersome.

~~~
sahillavingia
Interesting. I'm working on broader-scope UX design for the next week and will
try to figure that problem out. You can email me (in profile) if you have any
suggestions.

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jharrison
Great job! Having tried to create my own file sharing service a few years ago,
I applaud you for getting out an MVP. It's really easy to keep adding features
and never get a product up and running.

I'm not sure if you want bug reports yet but I had one file appear in the list
4 times just after upload. I only uploaded once. When going out to "Your
Crates" and back to the particular crate the filename was only appearing once
so just something in the rendering after upload, it seems.

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sahillavingia
Yes, must be an AJAX error. Thanks!

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NonOrthodox
Congrats for the launch! Sweet project =)

Can't wait for being able to edit/delete crates. Would be nice too to be able
to edit profile.

By the way, Let's Crate email list that I subscribed to a couple days ago
failed to send me any news at all, if I hadn't checked here I wouldn't see the
launch.

~~~
sahillavingia
We haven't used the list yet, as we want to open it up _super slowly_ and the
hundreds of people on the list would be too much. Editing/deleting crates
should be implemented today/tomorrow!

Editing your profile is unessential right now, but it'll be coming soon too.

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iamclovin
I like that the relationship is informal and that you don't like to label
yourselves as co-founders. But have you guys talked about equity/profit-
sharing?

There's always the mythical story of the two dudes coming together to build
something awesome, but more often than not, I've heard horror stories of such
relationships coming to an abrupt halt over issues (typically involving
money/ownership).

Love the design though and I especially like the crate graphic :)

~~~
sahillavingia
Forming the LLC got that all sorted out. We're friends, but we're not stupid
to disregard that stuff, as annoying as it may be.

And thanks, appreciated!

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geekdesigngirl
Ya - that's an amazingly simple 'Dropbox' like concept. Nicely done. Love the
simplistic style of the site.

~~~
sahillavingia
Thanks! Yes, it's super rough. No Photoshop magic, just pure HTML/CSS
designing (the 37Signals way!).

Really it's designed to just hold the basics. I have some concepts (done nice
and pretty in PS this time round) that will be implemented in the coming
weeks. Opens it up to a lot more features and looks way more... awesome.

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fraXis
Congrats. Please keep us updated on your progress.

Where did you get your LLC done at? Online?

~~~
sahillavingia
The lovely state of Delaware. Online, yup.

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nicksergeant
Clean, simple. Works on the first try.

Can't have more successful "launch" than that...

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theli0nheart
Hah, thanks!

Launch deserves to be in quotes, too. For what it's worth I think we launched
when I first opened my text editor.

~~~
sahillavingia
Or when I first opened GMail! Don't take all the credit!

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lgeek
The "Invite Code" field on the registration page is required but it looks like
anything will work. This seems a bit weird, am I missing something?

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theli0nheart
Looks like I left in some debugging stuff. Thanks for the heads up, it
shouldn't work anymore.

In the future, you'll have to contact us for an invite code. A lucky 160 of
you got in while you could =)

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bl4k
invite code doesn't work at all now

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danest
If you dont mind answering. How did you implement the drag and drop uploading?
I am trying to do something similar for a side project of mine.

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jharrison
I believe they are using HTML5 to accomplish this.

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sahillavingia
Yup, indeed!

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handrake
How is this better than Dropbox other than being simple and easy for file
sharing? I'm sure what you're describing can be done using Dropbox. So what
should users switch?

~~~
sahillavingia
Could be done with Dropbox, except there's no need for a software install, and
it's faster. Also, the updated UI (pending!) is going to explain the
difference a lot more.

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zeedotme
neat. Hope we edit crate titles soon :)

~~~
sahillavingia
Definitely, that's coming in the next few days. Two midterms tomorrow, fun
stuff.

It's been designed already, just needs to be implemented. :)

~~~
JofArnold
Good luck with the midterms :)

