

Review My Startup: ZestyLogos - chrishaum
http://www.zestylogos.com

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tgriesser
Not to knock your website at all, I think it is really well designed, neat and
I think that affordable quality logo design is a very important service that
many people need and do not know where to turn for help.

Unless you are outsourcing the designs, similar to 99designs and company, I
wouldn't consider the business a startup by traditional definition.

When I read the description that PG gives to what it means to be a startup it
really opened my eyes and was definitely a turning point in the way that I
thought about designing products.

"A company has to be more than small and newly founded to be a startup. There
are millions of small businesses in America, but only a few thousand are
startups. To be a startup, a company has to be a product business, not a
service business. By which I mean not that it has to make something physical,
but that it has to have one thing it sells to many people, rather than doing
custom work for individual clients. Custom work doesn't scale. To be a startup
you need to be the band that sells a million copies of a song, not the band
that makes money by playing at individual weddings and bar mitzvahs."

So if you are looking to be a startup, you will need think about how you can
mass produce the designs. That being said not all companies are startups, and
that is fine - sometimes it's just good to know the difference between the
two...I know it helped me a lot. Again, think the website is great and I don't
mean this as a negative.

from: <http://www.paulgraham.com/startupfunding.html>

EDIT: I didn't mean this to be a negative at all, I think anyone who takes the
initiative to create something and has the drive to actually get it started
has done something great. I wish there were more people who actually did shit
like this rather than just talked about it.

~~~
chrishaum
[Updated. The first version of this comment didn't address some important
points.]

Actually, I am outsourcing the designs. I've gathered a team of designers
(five of them, currently) who design the logos for me on a commission basis,
allowing me to scale my expenses as I make sales. The web platform I have set
up allows clients to communicate with designers directly through the design
process.

As this is the first version of my site, I am offering only a one-size-fits-
all service to clients right now. As I work on marketing v1.0, however, I am
also developing v2.0, a logo design _marketplace_.

One of the many good questions that has been raised in these comments is how
to compete with established design marketplaces. Here are some of the ways I
have considered.

\- Offer equivalent services with a lower fee. \- Add additional services,
such as an hour of brand consulting before the logo is designed, or assistance
in placing the logo on the client website/etc. \- Providing a more complete
branding package with letterhead, stationery, and website design.

In what other ways could I compete? Perhaps the most fundamental question is
whether this market is so crowded and has such established/successful
companies in it already that I should not attempt to direct in the logo market
completely. In that case, what other niches have you seen that are similar but
less crowded? I am not opposed to pivoting.

An open question is how I will be able to maintain customer satisfaction and
also keep logo quality at a high level, while scaling my services.

------
BTBurke
\-- This seems like a crowded space, how do you differentiate yourself? I was
looking for an "About Us" section to tell me why you're different than 99
Designs, Logo Snap, etc.

\-- The price point seems off compared to other options. For example, Logo
Company offers logo, stationary and business cards at roughly the same cost.
Do you offer better quality? Multiple designers? A more personalized
experience?

\-- Once you get off the ground, a few customer testimonials wouldn't be a bad
thing. Also, the option to actually talk to a person about your logo design
throughout the process is something attractive to those of us who would like
to actually interact with a human being.

\-- The site is fairly broken for me, but that is probably because I'm at work
and we're forced to use IE7(!)

~~~
christopherslee
Just trying to help, not trying to dissuade you from doing this.

As someone who is in the market for logo design, what strikes me is this.

Currently, I if I go to 99designs or CrowdSpring or whatnot, I can get 30
something designers to submit ideas for basically the same price point. With
your site, I get 6 versions from you. So roughly, I can get 5 times more
submissions from other sites.

And since I don't know you (not meant to be offensive), it "feels" like I'm
then paying a premium for your services, and it's not clear why I would want
to pay a premium.

How would you respond? Keep in mind that lower price isn't necessarily the
answer.

------
jbail
It's interesting you use plain text for your ZestyLogos logo, yet sell a logo
design service.

You could use some testimonials. Coupon for HN?

~~~
chrishaum
Great point about the testimonials. Here's the HN offer: 60% off for 1 week
(until Nov. 4, 2010). That means $100 per logo. To get the discount, use the
code "HNDiscount" in the referral field of the submission form.

~~~
chrishaum
P.S. The payments page is not equipped for discounts yet (this is an MVP,
ahem), so I will send you an email with instructions for completing the
payment.

------
midnightmonster
Copy promises scalable vectors, then lists 4 raster formats as what you get.

~~~
chrishaum
Thanks for pointing that out. I've added SVG. Also, is PSD really a raster
format?

------
iuguy
Ignore the stuff about this not being a startup. It's you, striking out. Good
for you.

That aside, what are you going to do to promote yourself over and above
99designs and co? It looks like a crowded market to me, so how will you make
yourself stand out?

A couple of questions, if you don't mind me being very intrusive:

How many $249 gigs a month do you need to be profitable?

How will you maintain your margins as you (hopefully) grow?

Best of luck though with the site and service.

~~~
chrishaum
Good questions. How many sales I need per month to be profitable depends on
how much I spend on advertising, which is my main expense. If I can find a
better advertising method (I'm currently using Trada.com for PPC), then I will
be able to reach profitability faster.

As far as maintaining margins as I grow, there should not be a huge problem
with dropping margins, unless I have to drop my price point. I will be hiring
an account manager/customer service person once I have enough sales per month
to make it worth it.

Perhaps I have missed some crucial details - please feel free to point these
out.

Thanks!

------
armandososa
Please don't get my review as negativity I may sound a little harsh but I'm
genuinely trying to give helpful feedback.

1\. Lose the free theme. I think some 'startups' can get away with a crappy
generic design when they sell a good compelling product. In your case, _your
design skills are your product_. So you are giving a really bad demo right
away.

2\. You're selling visuals, so go the simple visual route. Showcase your demo
logos first in your page, maybe in a slideshow. Big beautiful crisp logos.
Then a big, clear call to action: "Get a custom logo for $249".

3\. Are you a trained designer? Please don't take this badly, but your demo
logos are not as good as they can be. Take this advice from a 10-Year designer
who has come to accept that he sucks at logos. I think the problem is with the
typography, it looks odd-spaced and rushed. You need to spend more time
refining your type skills.

4\. Your characters and symbols are very good, though. The bear is funny and
well-drawn and the cupcake is cute. I'll make a wild guess and say that's your
strength. You should feature your strengths.

5\. You really need to make a KILLER ZestyLogos logo. And make sure it's very
Zesty (whatever that means).

Good luck pal.

~~~
chrishaum
Thanks for the suggestions!

1\. I'm not that great at CSS. Do you have any suggestions for where I could
get help with (1)? 2\. Yes, I do need to have a killer ZestyLogos logo. That's
my next priority.

------
ryanto
the good:

1) your opening text gets right to the point.

the bad:

1) the front page text is a little hard to read. i think the text color blends
into the background too much.

2) your layout looks like a wordpress blog template. really really boiler
plate. this is hardly the kind of site i want to pay $250 for a logo. you've
got a todo list in the top right ("clean my deks", "feed the cat", "save the
planet"), what does any of this have to do with logo design? it also takes up
20%! of the page.

3) your faq page is coming soon. either do it or get rid of it. this makes
your website seem new and that's not the kind of website i want to be paying
$250.

4) you have no logo yourself?

5) your order page is way too big/long. collect some small info first and then
have a conversation with me that helps you answer all those questions.

------
jbarnette
There are some good sample logos on the page, but the overall design reads
more as a vanity site/portfolio than as a marketing page.

Make every element on the page justify its presence. "Hey, coffee-stained TODO
list in the top right corner, why do you exist? How are you helping me sell
logos?"

Consider finding someone to do a thorough edit of your marketing copy. Lots of
good ideas in there, but it's uneven.

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asdfor
1)i don't like the fact that you use a plain text instead of a AWESOME logo
for your own brand ...

2)you are probably using (i bet you are) a stock theme, from somebody that
supposed to sell me a unique logo i expect him to be capable to design a nice
site ...

3)I liked 3 of the logos (candice jane cakes , bad news bakers , twarket) the
rest didn't looked amateurish

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lachyg
I think you need a more neutral website, with a very professional logo to
attract clients. The current style is very niche,

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duck
Where is the Zesty Logos logo?

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iconfinder
Looks interesting although I like a more minimalistic design. Great logos!

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wccrawford
And if I don't like any of the 6 concepts you create? I'm just SOL?

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StanDarsh
You have some great talent! ... fav. logo: Undropped.com.

