

Launching my bootstrapped start-up. Please cross your fingers for me. - TWOO

Launching my bootstrapped start-up. Please cross your fingers for me.<p>I just launched my start-up and am a little freaked out.  Everything works (so far) but I've been so focused on getting the app up and running that I'm feeling a little lost on what to focus on next and second guessing some early thinking/research.<p>Anyway, I could use some advice (and/or moral support).
  1. Does this app have legs?
  2. Do I need to tweak/change anything?
  3. Where do I go from here?<p>Thanks in advance for your help.<p>Link: https://www.TheWisdomofOthers.com
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abbasmehdi
This is a classic holiday gift item. Holiday season is approaching. Get on
ProfNet and respond to every inquiry that comes in from a press person about
the holiday gift guide.

Second, make it a snap, from start to finish. For holiday gifts, I want to
make it a quick gift to send to my parents, not have a summer project on my
hands.

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TWOO
Thanks abbasmehdi! I checked out ProfNet and will create an account first
thing tomorrow. Great idea!

As for making this a snap, the content of each book comes from a social
network (yours or someone you're giving the book to) so the speed with which
that network contributes content is likely the biggest driver of project
duration. So while it's possible to make a book in a day and have it on your
doorstep in a week, it all comes down to how quickly a social network
responds.

If you have time, please create an account, take the app for a test drive and
let me know what you think.

Thanks again!

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ja27
I like it and I agree that there are other niches you could target - weddings,
baby showers, graduation, confirmation, retirement, etc. Anything that's sort
of a life-changing event or entering a new stage in life would be a good time
for this as a gift.

I've see us do a similar thing (but low-tech) at church. A bunch of parents
contribute stories or advice and then copies are handed out to each graduating
student. Or I think we've done something similar with a collection of a bunch
of favorite Christmas traditions, then copies were handed out to the whole
congregation. Or it's similar to recipe books where a couple dozen families
contribute their favorite recipe then copies are sold as a fund-raiser. Not
quite the same as what you're doing but it could be an easy follow-on product.

Curious why ePub is 50% more than PDF.

~~~
TWOO
Thanks ja27 for checking us out! I think you're spot on with selecting the
target market. Now I just need to figure out the best ways to get on their
radar screens...

There are a few reasons for the PDF/ePub pricing but the biggest one was this:
I wanted the PDF to be really accessible so that someone that contributed to a
book could buy it just to see what other people wrote without having to spend
too much.

What do you think of our pricing? Would you price things differently?

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bmelton
I strongly recommend looking at Patio11's posts on this sort of subject --
also, he did an eBook sort of presentation on how he markets Bingo Card
Creator that was sold on AppSumo that will likely apply directly to your
business as well that I strongly suggest you find / get.

The gist of it was that he creates a TON of landing pages and SEOs the hell
out of them (he talks more about how in the book) so that people searching for
things like "custom wedding book" will find your page specifically targeted to
weddings, and other people searching for "custom christening book" will find
you with targeted copy for christenings, etc.

I think you have a slightly less niche market than BingoCC, and this is
definitely a product that people will pay a semi-premium price for given the
keepsake / memento vibe to it, so long as the product looks like quality (and
it does), but otherwise, I think the two business models overlap more than
they don't.

~~~
ja27
Yes, exactly. He also did a talk about targeting the female market. This might
be a big help for you. Here's the thread, talk, and blog post:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2371965>

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swalkergibson
First off, I am really impressed with your design. Where did you derive the
inspiration for it? It seems like a nice service to me, quite unique. Have you
considered a white-label service for wedding/event planners? I imagine that is
where your market will be, just as your anecdote indicated. The other area
where this might be cool is for seminars and/or self-help type events where
the crowd's wisdom and shared experiences might be leveraged to provide
meaningful takeaways from the event. I'll noodle on it more and report back if
I think of anything else. All in all, looks good so far, keep us updated!

~~~
TWOO
Great ideas! I'm meeting with several VCs this Thursday and may suggest those
as additional market possibilities. Thank you!

I'm really glad you like the design but I can't take any of the credit. I
lucked out and got Colleen Palmer from 12 Spokes to do it.

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Terry_B
Nice! I like it.

Couple of thoughts perhaps on how you could better close a sale.

It wasn't immediately clear to me what exactly I'd do with this. Would I
create a book for myself with things other people have told me? Would I put my
wisdom in a book and give it to someone else?

Lets say I've got my mind around it and I think this is a good idea that I
plan to do. You need to convince me pretty quickly that I shouldn't go and
look for other online book publishing sites that are cheaper/easier.

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theitgirl
Very cool. A few weeks ago my friends and I put together something like this
using google docs for a friend's 30th birthday and had it printed. This would
have been perfect!

A few suggestions: 1. It wasn't clear to me what you do right away. The book
image is what helped me. Then I still wasn't sure if this was a digital book
or not till I read the "How it Works". 2. I think having an example for a
wedding book would be useful.

Good luck!!

Edit: Just found the examples :)

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TWOO
Great thanks!

Any ideas for what I could do to make what we do a little more clear?

Also, there's a wedding book example but you have to access it via Book
Examples on the home page. Is it too hidden?

Thanks again!

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TWOO
One more question for you: How would I have gotten on your radar screen when
you were putting together your gift a while back?

(Trying to figure out the best market strategy) Thanks again :)

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brodney
This is really cool! Very good website design. I noticed on
<https://www.thewisdomofothers.com/how-it-works> in firefox 6.0.2 that step
four wraps around in the right column. Here's a screenshot:
<http://imgur.com/KAstV>

I especially like that you donate some of the profits. I'm looking forward to
doing exactly the same.

~~~
TWOO
THANK YOU!!! A few users emailed to tell me they were having that same issue
but I couldn't recreate it to save my life. A fix is on the way...

Glad you like the app and thanks for letting me know. Now please go tell a few
thousand of your friends about it. ;)

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nurik
Very good idea! The topics Baby, Graduation and Marriage are well chosen.

Maybe you could also function as an personalized news aggregator of other
sources such as bloggers: pay them royalty and publish "emagazines"... imagine
you could have emagazines on sports, coding, medical topics, politics etc...I
would be your first customer.

~~~
TWOO
Thanks nurik! I'll have to noodle the personal aggregator idea :)

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maguay
Clickable: <https://www.TheWisdomofOthers.com>

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aorshan
Awesome idea. A really good market you could hit could be students heading off
to college for the first time. College is a scary place and having some really
good advice about going to college (even better if it is about your school
specifically) helps a ton.

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TWOO
Hey Thanks! I was planning to advertise in High School newspapers around
graduation time and hoping to get picked up in some graduation gift guide
stories/blogs. Got any other ideas for hitting that market?

~~~
aorshan
Well there are certain websites a lot of people tend to visit before they go
to school. Advertising there could be helpful. For example Rate My Professor
is really big. As is roomsurf.com Also Bed Bath and Beyond is a hugely popular
place for people to go to buy supplies for school.

~~~
TWOO
Good stuff. Thank you!

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plasma
One suggestion already: Describe what your startup actually is in this post,
I've got no idea what its about until I visit the link :)

~~~
TWOO
Thanks plasma. I'd held off on describing my startup to get a better sense for
whether I got the execution of the idea right. I wanted to know if users
coming to the site 'got it' without biasing things too much. But, that said,
here is the gist of what we do:

The Wisdom of Others is an online personal publishing service that makes it
easy to create book-store quality books filled with the practical advice and
useful wisdom of family and friends.

Think of our books like a personalized Life's Little Instruction Book written
for someone you care about by everyone that cares about them.

For example, say you have some friends expecting their first child. You could
make a book of parent survival tips and how-to’s by asking their family and
friends to answer the question, “What do you know now that you wish you did
before having kids?”

Or, maybe you’re heading to a wedding and are hunting for the perfect gift.
You could make a book for the new bride and groom that asks, “What’s the
secret to having a happy marriage?” and fill the pages with answers from
everyone invited to the wedding.

Or maybe you know a recent graduate that's getting ready to launch out into
the world. You could make a book filled with advice and instructions for
succeeding in life written by their family, friends, teachers and coaches.

Hopefully you're getting the idea. Our books make it easy to give the gift of
experience and encouragement to someone you care about. Because life, after
all, doesn't come with instructions.

~~~
TWOO
Here is a really nice review of our site by Web.AppStorm that came out today
if you want a little more info about what we do.

Link: [http://web.appstorm.net/reviews/media-reviews/the-wisdom-
of-...](http://web.appstorm.net/reviews/media-reviews/the-wisdom-of-others-
turning-your-favorite-quotes-into-a-book/)

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gdhillon
I'm not a big book reader but I liked your idea. Anyways, the site was very
fast and I liked the look and feel. Good Luck..

~~~
TWOO
Thanks a bunch for the feedback! Quick question for you: Did you get what our
service does/how it works fast enough or did you feel like you had to hunt for
it?

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swalkergibson
It took a moment for me to grok. It would be good to get your anecdote on the
home page if possible, that really brings it home.

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TWOO
What do you think would be a good anecdote? Been noodling that for a bit...

-Books of advice for the people in your life

-Books filled with the advice and wisdom of family and friends

-Books of wisdom from family and friends

Any ideas would be much appreciated!

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swalkergibson
I think the story that you told in the other section of the website about the
wedding would be ideal. That is something that nearly everyone can relate to,
and it makes the value proposition crystal clear. I would put that content
front and center.

~~~
TWOO
Cool. Thanks again!

