
Show HN: Use Intercourse to improve your pitch – we'd love your feedback - MurrayHurps
http://www.intercourse.io/
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aaronbrethorst
Because of the name, I would be embarrassed to mention this in conversation to
friends or coworkers.

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guidopallemans
Hey, have you tried intercourse?

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gantengx
I tried intercourse last night with a group of people. It was awesome

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moocowduckquack
Did it improve your pitch? And did you find any regulatory problems when
attempting to use intercourse to attract paying clients?

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daurnimator
Could really do with some better naming/choice of words; I read the title as
"Use sex to improve your singing"

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gmays
Intercourse, brilliant name. There are so many funny ways to market it,
particularly in the US. In fact it doesn't matter what this app does, the name
itself has a lot of potential (it is a cool app by the way).

-At the end of a pitch when users are asked to rate it: Was it good for you?

-Make it social: Intercourse with friends / Intercourse with strangers

-Make it spread: Viral marketing campaign called STD.

-Make it practical: Marketing campaign about using phone/apps safely: Practice safe intercourse.

-Best practices: Never drink before Intercourse or you may not rise to the occasion.

-Have rankings: Let people brag about how good they are at Intercourse.

-Voyeur mode: The feature that lets people watch other people 'Intercoursing' should be called voyeur mode.

-Inactive user message: It's been too long since last Intercourse. Use it to make sure it still works. Call inactive user mode 'High School Band'

-Too short of a pitch: Really dude? Done already?

-At events: Intercourse in public.

-Multiple participants: Group Intercourse.

-Call the intro video: The Talk

-Help/Info section: Learn more about the birds and the bees...

Ok, I'll stop now.

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MJR
I completely disagree. 'Funny ways to market it' will instead be 'Offensive
and inappropriate' in many settings. The average person on the street doesn't
give presentations, so immediately you're trying to target an education or
business market. Is that the audience that will respond best to a name that
can be taken out of context or isn't easy to grasp? Simply choosing that name
already gives you a steep hill to climb. Not every company can take a name
like this and turn it into a viable brand. There aren't that many
opportunities to be a Virgin Records and make it work.

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gmays
This isn't a 'presentation' app, it's not PowerPoint. It's a 'pitch' app. In
this context, who gives pitches? That's right, a younger, more casual
audience, not 50+ execs.

Besides, contrary to popular belief most people have a sense of humor. It's OK
to laugh at sex jokes, it really is. I know there's been a wave of political
correctness around here lately, but this is a bit much. It just makes me
picture a bunch of boring people with zero personality too afraid to laugh at
anything, and thus too afraid to connect with their audience because they just
might offend someone's sensibilities.

This is realistic way to make Intercourse go viral (teehee). You need to take
advantage of opportunities like this. This was serendipitous, but great
marketers sometimes can't even create opportunities like this on purpose.

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bushido
_> This isn't a 'presentation' app, it's not PowerPoint. It's a 'pitch' app.
In this context, who gives pitches? That's right, a younger, more casual
audience, not 50+ execs._

A pitch is a very popular term in the financial and investment banking(IB)
industry. Granted the people making pitches in finance are relatively young,
but the audience is usually older. Pitches are usually paired with pitch
books[0].

Now it's true that people have a sense of humor. But in these settings you
have to let the person being pitched usually make the first move to open the
stage for humor or animated language. The risk of offending the people being
pitched is usually too great (even in a non IB setting).

I know quite a few teachers/professors/etc. who like using interactive tools
who would love this app. Most have a good sense of humor, unfortunately I
doubt they would take risks of suggesting intercourse in their classes either
(I'd have to ask 'em to confirm).

[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_book)

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electic
DOA. This service will not get of the ground because of its name. I suggest
you change it. There are so many other names that you can pick that do not
have such a strong double meaning. You are unnecessarily hurting your startup,
it is a challenge you do not need.

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moocowduckquack
Unless you are on the level of Richard Branson, in which case you should
immediately start purchasing a fleet of huge pink dirigibles.

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minimaxir
You may want to consider using a different name if you're marketing to
customers in the United States.

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MurrayHurps
Prepared to reconsider the name if people actually object to it, but quietly
hoping we can reclaim the definition of "communication or dealings between
individuals or groups".

Fingers crossed...

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timtamboy63
Definitely reconsider the name. Intercourse would work great if it was an app
targeted to the general public, but definitely not in the education/business
market.

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minimax
Ok picture this. Susan is in her cube. Nick, the office's resident smarmy
dickhead walks up.

"Hey Susan, want to try Intercourse with me?"

Now Susan is extremely uncomfortable and Nick the dickhead gets to claim he
was just talking about software.

It's cute what you're trying to do with the name but it won't work. Just look
at the joke threads already in the comments here. It's all the proof you need.

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al2o3cr
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gwXJsWHupg#t=2m37s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gwXJsWHupg#t=2m37s)

What a good, WOODY, word. ;)

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edhooper
Using this at startup weekend / hackathons to involve the entire audience in
the judging process for peoples choice would be amazing

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sideproject
I tried a similar idea last year. The gist was

1\. Post a 60 second pitch about your startup/project 2\. People provide
feedback

We ran out of steam after a few weeks, it was difficult getting people to post
their videos (chicken & the egg thing), plus we got distracted etc.

You said it's a part of a bigger project, so I wish you luck! (funny, I'm also
based in Sydney).

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MurrayHurps
Fascinating to hear, would love to discuss further if possible.
info@intercourse.io if you have a spare moment :-)

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fractallyte
Sigh. Yet another useful word that's been thoroughly misappropriated. ('Gay'
is my other huge annoyance.)

L. _intercursus_ , a running between - _inter_ , between, _cursum_ , to run.

An equivalent word is _intercurrent_. Same etymology, without the modern
connotation.

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vezzy-fnord
At first I thought this was a new teledildonics app. I was let down when I
found out it wasn't, although I guess this could be useful too.

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spb
Teledildonics: here's a word that means what you think it means.

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mrcactu5
This is a step up from ToastMasters.

Having heard myself on recording before, and seen myself on camera, I will be
waiting for the Android Version 0:-)

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lfuller
Was expecting this to be some kind of couples' therapy. Name may be an issue
for North American audiences.

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danellis
I was disappointed this wasn't something that would help me sing in tune.

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codex
Usually you already need a good pitch to have intercourse.

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coderzach
I just get a blank page on chrome for mac :-/

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MurrayHurps
Current homepage requires JavaScript. This will be fixed shortly, but if you
have noscript or similar installed it might explain it.

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inspiredworlds
interesting idea - keen to use it on some pitch practice

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MurrayHurps
It's been fascinating to see the difference between normal pitch feedback, and
the feedback we get when people can comment anonymously.

Would love to hear how you find it.

