
Show HN: Download-free screensharing for better customer support - dshipper
http://usefirefly.com
======
dshipper
Hey guys, I'm Dan Shipper one of the co-founders of Firefly. Just to answer a
few likely questions:

1\. It's download free because it runs completely in the browser with
Javascript

2\. We're differentiated from other similar services like GoInstant because
GoInstant has a completely enterprise strategy. They're not self-serve and
they work with big companies. We're tackling the lower end of the market.

3\. We're helping to solve the distribution problem inherent to marketing to
SMBs with a screensharing API. The API basically turns us into a _Twilio for
screensharing_ meaning that anyone can introduce our screensharing technology
into their customer support apps with just a few lines of code.

Any feedback about the product you have would be incredibly helpful. Thanks!

~~~
petercooper
I think this is pretty cool but you're sharing a Web page rather than "screen
sharing", right? That is, it's good for webapps but not for Excel, etc? It'd
be cool if HTML5 got an API to do proper screen sharing one day though..

~~~
dshipper
Technically it's co-browsing software. So basically what we do is grab the DOM
from the customer side and transfer it to the representative's side. There's
no screenshot involved which gives us a number of advantages

1\. It's more private. The rep doesn't see your whole screen, just the
contents of the page. 2\. It's more secure. We can redact DOM elements with
sensitive information like passwords so that they never hit our servers and
are never seen by the rep.

------
deepkut
Firefly fits in perfectly with the North Inc. (and Dan's) mentality, I love
it:

\--1. Address an outdated market: customer support for enterprises. Business
doesn't need to be sexy.

\--2. Make money now, not later. Sign up, pay now. For those willing to send
an email, there's a demo available.

\--3. No need to accept funding. North Inc. pushes products. Period.

\--4. All the while, they're all still in school learning philosophy, finance,
management, and much more.

Congrats to North Inc. on a successful launch. I can't wait to hear the
numbers and read the many articles.

~~~
pleahy
Thanks! After spending the summer building the product, we're really excited
to publicly launch Firefly. Your comment definitely captures our mindset - how
many times do you call into a customer support line today and it just sucks?
We think support is ripe for disruption and being able to see your screen
instantly makes the lives of customers and reps that much easier.

------
latchkey
Interesting service. Couple of small issues:

#1. <http://usefirefly.com/learn-more> (Our script tag will add a support
button to the right side of every page it is installed on.) … but the image
shows it on the left side

#2. <http://usefirefly.com/pricing> says ie9+ and
<http://usefirefly.com/learn-more> says ie8+ under highlights. Which one is
it?

#3. I don't understand why you use requirejs to load your js. This causes 2+
hits and a larger download. Instead, you should be wrapping it with almond for
less overhead. While you are at it, how about also async loading your js too.

~~~
meltzerj
This is Justin, another Firefly co-founder. Dan's correct in that those
screenshots are outdated. Our javascript is compiled down to one file (other
than our loader) and both are loaded in asynchronously, so everything is fast
with only two http requests.

~~~
latchkey
cool. thanks.

Hardcore...

* NOTICE: All information contained herein is, and remains * the property of North Incorporated and its suppliers, * if any. The intellectual and technical concepts contained * herein are proprietary to North * and its suppliers and may be covered by U.S. and Foreign Patents, * patents in process, and are protected by trade secret or copyright law. * Dissemination of this information or reproduction of this material * is strictly forbidden unless prior written permission is obtained * from North.

------
kcbanner
Sorry, but the demo video is almost unwatchable. Very slow paced, and when
screenshots are show, they are quickly faded back out to a blue screen with
some text. The narration is slow paced and the background music is not
necessary.

~~~
dshipper
Thanks for the feedback, admittedly we're hardly video experts :). We'll get
that sorted out in the next few weeks or so.

------
csense
I hope you've thought about security. There should be a simple point-and-click
way for agents to block call requests from a single end-user IP address or a
range of IP addresses. Otherwise you'll get a DoS attack from the first bored
teenager who decides that clicking "Call support" repeatedly on your client's
website is more fun than making prank calls.

You should probably use SSL for something like this -- at least the business
end that actually hosts the scripts and handles the DOM exchange -- but I'm
sure you've already thought of that.

~~~
meltzerj
Yes, we're always thinking about security and we take it very seriously. Great
suggestions! As you guessed, we do use ssl to encrypt all transmission of data
that powers the browser-sharing.

------
ck2
This brings up the esoteric piece of knowledge that I have about Microsoft
squatting on firefly.com for over a decade and a half now, and not doing
anything with it.

Maybe you can reverse hijack it eventually.

------
johnnymonster
Don't you feel that "Screen-Sharing" is a bit of a stretch? I don't see where
I can share anything other than the current browser window's content.

This would be confusing for the client and the end user trying understand what
they are agreeing to.

A more appropriate title would be something that would allude to the fact that
really you are just sharing the page the user is browsing.

Am i wrong in this assumption?

~~~
dshipper
We chose screensharing over a word like "cobrowsing" because we felt that
people understood more clearly exactly what was going on. It's definitely not
an exact term, i.e. you can't see the whole screen, but it is screensharing in
the sense that you absolutely see part of what's going on.

We'll definitely have to go back and reconsider though, if people feel like
it's misleading.

------
csense
Amazing product idea!

You should also be able to buy connectivity by the hour. To me, this makes
more sense than the bulk pack.

I do like the idea of having a pricing option to target the lowest end of the
market -- experiments, prototypes, one-man startups, and the like, which might
not need the service very often, and might not have a big enough budget to
justify $30 per month.

------
NameNickHN
If there is a market for this, great. But even though I do user support on a
daily basis, I don't see myself using this anytime soon. I rather create
screen casts or take screen shots. It's exactly the same thing, but I only
have to do it once and then it can be viewed by everyone. I also like to have
instructions written down, either in a support forum or in an e-mail. The user
can go back and read the instructions again, if he struggles with the same
problem the next time. Also, I can write most support e-mails in less then
five minutes. Phone calls take way longer most of the times.

~~~
dshipper
That's a great point, we're thinking about allowing you to record sessions
down the line and re-use them. For many companies screensharing is an integral
part of the support process already, it's just slow and requires downloads.
We're solving that problem for them.

There are definitely many companies that don't need this. E-commerce companies
for example tend to get support requests that don't require screensharing e.g.
"Can I get free shipping?" That reality is totally fine with us, because it
allows us to concentrate our efforts on a small group of companies that really
need this.

Thanks for the feedback!

------
jongold
Assuming you're not in the HFJ webfonts beta I'd replace Gotham (with Proxima
Nova, maybe?) before you get sued into oblivion.

~~~
dshipper
Thanks for the tip. We'll get that sorted out today :)

------
drivebyacct2
When I see headlines and webpages like this, I am instantly turned off. I know
I'm in a minority spot, but there are conflicting claims.

Screen-sharing and plugin-free are not compatible. This is webpage-sharing or
DOM-sharing. A very cool take on this, but until I read the comments here, I
was scouring your site for that detail. You don't need to hide it, or call it
"DOM-sharing", but something.

Even just a screenshot example... your "learn more" page has everything but a
shot of it in action.

~~~
pleahy
Thanks for the feedback! We'll clarify our copy. I don't know if you got a
chance to see our video (available on our homepage), but it gives a demo of
all the features of the product in action. We're also more than happy to give
you a demo over the phone, if you'd like. Just give us a call at 213.784.0273.

Best, Patrick

~~~
drivebyacct2
I missed the video, sorry, I have Flash set to load on demand in Chrome and
the box is hidden entirely.

