

Ask HN: Do you think this is a viable product? - cmorgan8506

I built an app that allows me to monitor website content for keywords and keyword combinations via their rss feed. http://www.feed-alert.com<p>The idea was to create a tool that you could use to monitor job websites for job posts with certain keywords and, so far, it works really well. It can be used in any capacity, but that was what I personally built it for.<p>Do you think it has potential to be a viable product for the public? If so, any advice on how to get it to market?<p>I'm mostly curious if I should put more time into it or just start on my next side project.
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brudgers
I'll observe that while general purpose alternatives exist, the fact that you
were unaware of their applicability to the job search domain suggests that
there may be a business opportunity.

To put it another way, the problem to be solved is not technical, but the
logistical one of connecting a particular market to a technology. AirBnB
didn't invent empty room technology or real estate listing websites. They just
connected the two.

The challenge of executing your idea isn't reading RSS feeds, it's monetizing
what is read by packaging and distributing it in a way which generates
revenue. That's a much harder problem.

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cmorgan8506
Well said. I have no idea how I would go about generating revenue with it.

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brudgers
How do others in the space generate revenue?

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cmorgan8506
Looks to be primarily ad based revenue. I suppose an ad-supported and premium
paid version would be possible.

You've got me thinking though. Perhaps, if I shifted the concept slightly to
be specific for job search, it might be a viable business.

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brudgers
Pay to play is tough from job search candidates. But there might be other
areas less saturated and better suited for it.

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ScottWhigham
There are tons of tons for that sort of thing already though. FeedDemon is the
first thing that I think of that does exactly what you said. Google Alerts can
be even broader. Is there something you are suggesting that is different from
the above? If so, sorry but I think I missed it.

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cmorgan8506
Not currently. I was considering building it out, but it looks like the idea
is already covered on several levels. Looks like I've got my answer.

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sharemywin
the problem is user aquisition costs. Let's assume $3 to get someone to sign
up and 1 out 10 to use it on a regular basis. How do you recoup the money. I
guess you could ad ads to the email. it's not so wizbang cool that you can get
free press for it. It doesn't seem real viral. It feels more like a feature of
a bigger product to me. like RSS-> twitter, twitter->RSS, RSS->text, etc. and
you'll still have a montization problem.

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caffeinewriter
In all honesty, the same result can be achieved with an <http://IFTTT.com>
recipe. Neat concept though.

