

Show HN: Startup Threads Monthly - Subscription Swag Service - frankdenbow
https://www.startupthreadsmonthly.com/

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vaksel
so I'm supposed to pay money to promote some random startup?

in order to get a shirt, that they give away for free at their booths all over
the place?

\+ $20/mo to get a shirt is way overpriced...at that price, I might as well
get a shirt from threadless that I like instead of "randomstartup.com!" one.

The business model should be flipped. Startups should pay you...to distribute
shirts for free. And allow them to make it local....i.e. 300 shirts to people
in los angeles.

Cost wise just charge them the same $20 per shirt. $10K for a one time
marketing cost is nothing really. And getting 500 people to wear shirts would
be worth it.

~~~
sachingulaya
Making it locally targeted is a brilliant idea.

In regards to cost, I told Frank I'd be willing to pay up to $30/mo for a
shirt. Personally, I'd rock a Twilio shirt over anything I see on
threadless.com.

~~~
dangrossman
You'd change your mind after wearing a Twilio shirt. They're paper thin and
the giant circle logo that wraps around the side of your abdomen is stiff and
scratchy. I have a lot of startup shirts from the old Startup Schwag, Twilio's
is the only one I can't wear.

~~~
johns
That's the super old design. Email me your size and address and I'll send you
the new nice one with the tasteful design. You'll love it, I promise.
jsheehan@twilio.com

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AznHisoka
YC startups start companies that sell to other YC startups that sell services
to other startups that sell t-shirts to people who are doing startups... When
we gonna reach the actual companies that provide the thick value?

~~~
frankdenbow
Well my main project is a music app, but in order to bootstrap that I put this
together. I'm not YC (although Alexis Ohanian and Adam Goldstein have been
helpful getting setup).

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andrewnez
It sounds just like the now defunct Valleyschwag from 2006,
[http://techcrunch.com/2006/05/04/get-web-20-schwag-from-
vall...](http://techcrunch.com/2006/05/04/get-web-20-schwag-from-
valleyschwag/)

~~~
frankdenbow
Yep, it is similar, but we print most of the merchandise ourselves.
Valleyschwag shut down and Startup Schwag ended up being the next in line, and
I hope Startup Threads picks up where they left off when Startup Schwag shut
down in 2010.

~~~
brador
What happened to valleyschwag/startup schwag? Why did they shut down?

~~~
rrival
ValleySchwag went on to start GetSatisfaction. StartupSchwag (which I ran)
shut down b/c after 31 months, it was time for other projects. Really excited
to see this coming back and I've already signed up!

------
sachingulaya
Great product Frank. It took me less than 10 seconds to decide to sign up.
Group the $14.95 and the $5.00 shipping in to a flat $20/mo quote. There's no
need for the breakdown.

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frankdenbow
Hey HN! I put together Startup Threads Monthly to be a service that sends out
startup merchandise (t-shirts, stickers, trinkets, discounts, etc) every month
to consumers. It has been done in the past, and with some advice and guidance
from Roddy (who ran Startup Schwag for a few years) I decided to bring it
back.

Would love to get your feedback on the project.

~~~
jordanmessina
Can you opt out of months if you don't want the particular schwag and not get
charged $15?

~~~
frankdenbow
Hmm, I hadn't thought of this but you are the second person to mention this.
Its something I'll definitely consider but havent added this functionality
yet.

~~~
BHSPitMonkey
I wouldn't commit to a subscription like this (especially not knowing what I'm
going to get), but I would be tempted to get individual packages, especially
for companies I like. Why not instead operate more like Woot!, and feature a
single package every week (or month or day)? I'd add that to my RSS reader.

~~~
frankdenbow
Will be rolling out a page for just getting one offs asap

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mcarrano
I have been looking for a service like this. Some questions I have: 1\. Is
there a way to view what the t-shirt will look like? 2\. The monthly package
we receive, are all the goodies from one company? Or will the sticker and
surprise be from a different company? 3\. Will you be able to opt out of
certain months?

~~~
frankdenbow
Good questions:

1) Right now we don't have the design for the month posted. Will do that soon,
though. First month will be this Hipmunk design:
<http://i.imgur.com/bIL5v.jpg>

2) The shirt and sticker will be from the same company. The rest will be from
others

3\. Not yet, but this has been the #1 request so far

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wattjustin
I signed up for this last week and I'm excited to start receiving some great
swag next month. Living in Victoria, BC it's not so easy to get your hands on
some shirts from the companies you use, follow, and hear about so this is a
great new service. Thanks Frank!

~~~
frankdenbow
Nice! Hope you like the first shipment

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jjacobson
I love the idea of a startup raising money by selling their own shirts.

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hornbaker
Startups will probably subsidize all your inventory if you get some traction,
and make it easy for them. You're an advertising platform, the AdSense of
high-value torsos.

~~~
frankdenbow
Agreed! AdSense of high-value torsos could be the new tagline

~~~
hornbaker
Take a cue from the car wraps business: If you could quantify the value of a
torso (that person rides the train every day, or walks 2 miles in SOMA, or
works at Google, or is the 4sq mayor of 20 hip joints), then the owner of that
torso can get your monthly shirt for free... and the startups will pay for
that. In fact, any brand would pay for that, so you may want to expand the
positioning to take any company's schwag.

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dotBen
The guys who run GetSatisfaction used to run ValleySwag (an identical
service). It's cool to see ideas coming around again and finding (hopefully)
new feasibility.

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sloak
It could be totally cool if you considered a "vintage" section, where you sell
genuine one-off threads (think JavaSoft, DEC, Windows 3.11, ...)

~~~
frankdenbow
That would be cool if we could find those

~~~
siruva07
your customers are telling you what they want. don't find em, make em!

these vintage NJ devils t-shirts are brand new

[http://www.fansedge.com/New-Jersey-Devils-Green-47-Brand-
Vin...](http://www.fansedge.com/New-Jersey-Devils-Green-47-Brand-Vintage-
Primary-Logo-Scrum-Tee-_901089562_PD.html?froogle=46-32929)

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satjot
Looks cool. I'd love to see a price range on the home page as well, just so I
know if this is something I can afford. Maybe even a/b test different price
points on a splash page (unbounce) and see what sticks.

whens the first box shipping?!

now i don't have to buy clothes anymore

~~~
frankdenbow
I will definitely add the price to the home page.

First box ships at the end of February (its in the FAQ but it needs to be
mentioned elsewhere)

My wardrobe is mostly startup t-shirts now.

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localhost3000
Do the companies pay you for this distribution? They should. It's advertising
for them, after all

~~~
frankdenbow
Yep, we think its a good targeted way to do merchandise, getting it into the
hands of the most passionate startup fans. The best part so far is that we are
connecting to people around the world, especially in places where there isnt
as strong of a startup community.

~~~
mbeswetherick
Just curious, are you concerned with distributing to non-startup fans?

~~~
frankdenbow
Was not thinking of this currently. Do you think people outside of the startup
world would be interested? I'm trying to make the designs interesting enough
to appeal to others.

~~~
mbeswetherick
Totally. I just wouldn't make anything so centered around the idea of a
startup. As long as people have reason to gravitate toward the design, people
will want it. This goes beyond aesthetics, though. It's probably a difficult
balance to achieve, but it's definitely doable.

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bullfroge
Just a thought, I found the chat box popping up on every page to be quite
annoying.

~~~
frankdenbow
Will change the settings on this as it shouldn't pop up every time. Have
gotten lots of good feedback from the widget, though.

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shakes
I could see this being very popular. Whenever I wear startup swag (especially
Twilio or Foursquare) I have people ask me where they can get it. When I say I
got it at a user group or conference they seem disappointed.

~~~
frankdenbow
Nice! We will have Twilio and hope to get Foursquare as well. Both do an
excellent job of coming up with high quality gear.

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jscherm
I think this is a great idea. I have a bunch of civilian friends ask me to
"steal" a shirt for them when I'm at a hackathon or a meeting. Now i can just
point them here. Thanks Frank!

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fiorekeith
i think it may be wiser to get the startups themselves to subscribe to a swag
subscription service (not consumers or fans). then each month the startups
receive different types of products at their office. they could then order
more of the ones they like. the subscription service introduces them to cool
swag that they can give out (or sell?) to consumers & fans of their service.
different approach, but i think it may make more sense.

~~~
frankdenbow
Yes, we have heard this from a few people (was on the GiftRocket list of
startup ideas) and are considering it in the future.

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EToS
Mystery box, who can resist! cant wait for my first :)

Backordering could be a great addition if it goes well. All the best with this
idea!

~~~
frankdenbow
Thanks! Considering backorders as well.

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MrAndyRosenberg
This is a great concept. Visibility is key for any startup's success and
thoughtful, on-the-ground swag is a huge part of this!

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mattangriffel
Great idea. I've been waiting fOr a sErvice like this.

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venturestackly
really cool.

will there be more t-shirt styles/hoodies?

~~~
frankdenbow
Not going to do hoodies yet since they are expensive, unless a startup wants
to subsidize it and send them.

