

Ask HN: Feedback on my startup and advice for the big pitch - lowkey
http://www.arkalumen.com
Our startup is preparing to pitch at StartupCampMontreal3 this Thursday and I am looking to the HN community for some feedback and advice. We are a bit of an odd duck since we are not a web app but I have taken some marketing ideas from the web2.0 world to use to our advantage.<p>Our company mission is to bring the benefits of LED lighting to mainstream consumers. We have a 5 minute pitch this Thursday in front of an audience  of several hundred investors, entrepreneurs, etc.<p>Any feedback and advice would be greatly appreciated.
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swombat
Big nono: I've been looking at your page for 5 minutes and I _still_ can't
figure out what it is that you make (other than that it's related to LEDs) -
I'm not gonna watch a video just to figure that out.

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rshao
I agree. This part wouldn't be vital for a pitch (unless showing the site is a
part of it), but for anyone going to the site, it would be. If I can't figure
out what the site's about, I'm just going to close the tab. It's like what
Gladwell says in The Tipping Point about Sesame Street, people lose when it's
confusing.

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paraschopra
What is it? Am I the only one who cannot see a thing on the homepage?

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lowkey
Thanks everyone for your feedback. Please keep it coming.

For those who are curious here is a bit more context: The company was founded
to commercialize technology developed by our founder, an electrical engineer
with 15 years of hardware development experience. His first big project at the
age of 15 was a pirate radio station he built from scratch in his bedroom. He
has been innovating ever since and has developed multiple novel electronics
and radiometric products over the course of his career.

The other two co-founders have equally impressive backgrounds. One co-founder
has over a decade of senior operations and intellectual property expertise.
The second co-founder has over ten years experience in sales, marketing, and
product development with both Fortune 1000 and several startup ventures. We do
not have extensive lighting industry experience but instead have taken a
hacker's approach to both the engineering and market challenges.

I am looking forward to sharing more about our 'secret sauce' but am limited
until our provisionals are filed.

We are currently filing our first patents covering improvements in brightness,
color rendering, control, thermal management, and cost - significant problems
that have so far prevented widespread deployment of LEDs for mainstream
lighting.

Although our technology can be broadly applied we are focusing on launching a
standalone consumer floor or desk lamp and have partnered with leading design
partners to develop a simple, affordable, and attractive enclosure. We are not
developing an LED light bulb but instead are focusing our resources on
launching a lamp with breakthrough price performance to be sold over the
internet to eco-friendly, design-savvy, gadget-geeks.

It will be as bright as a 100 watt incandescent light bulb but will consume a
fraction of the energy, last up to 50x as long and will allow users to control
the color temperature of light in addition to brightness. We expect it to sell
for under $200US and we will be in Beta by Q1 2009.

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lowkey
Our startup is preparing to pitch at StartupCampMontreal3 this Thursday and I
am looking to the HN community for some feedback and advice. We are a bit of
an odd duck since we are not a web app but I have taken some marketing ideas
from the web2.0 world to use to our advantage.

Our company mission is to bring the benefits of LED lighting to mainstream
consumers. We have a 5 minute pitch this Thursday in front of an audience of
several hundred investors, entrepreneurs, etc.

Our closest competitor is a lamp made by Philips called Living Colors
<http://tinyurl.com/2g8ruv>

Any feedback and advice would be greatly appreciated.

~~~
davidw
How are you going to go head to head with Phillips and win? They can push
stuff out to stores, grocery markets, and all kinds of channels. What's your
strategy?

Your web page is kind of empty looking to me... there's no 'there', there. The
news bit is kind of weird; it doesn't feel well integrated. I also agree that
the hosting affiliation link is kind of distracting. I would go for something
apple-ish... showcase your product, show people how beautiful it is.

~~~
cabalamat
Maybe they have a patent they can license to Phillips and other large
manufacturers.

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markessien
It's unlikely to work. People don't like their light texture to change -
because it's what they are used to. LED light has a different texture from
normal light, and this is a bit jarring.

So, unless you can make something cheaper, the only way to gain traction in
the light market is by massive marketing - and I don't think a startup can
afford that type of marketing.

Also, remove the webfaction affiliate link, it makes you look real cheap.

~~~
wheels
Incandescent lights are being banned in some countries now, and I expect more
to follow, there's a gap opening up for new stuff.

The "eco" lights that are starting to catch on in Germany have a pretty harsh
spectrum and take a while to reach a useful brightness, so I'd imagine that if
there were an instant on LED bulb with a more appealing spectrum at a
reasonable price that it'd do well in the market.

~~~
markessien
I'm really not convinced that bulbs is a good space for a small startup. It's
the type of product that needs a lot of push behind it, and that's exactly
what startups don't have.

~~~
wheels
I'm not convinced that it's an easy space either, but that's really all about
the distribution channels. If you wanted to do this as a startup what you'd
need to do is to lure away someone who's specifically connected in the
lighting industry. I think access to the distribution channels would be much
more important than money -- and I'm not even convinced that if you did have
money that you could automagically solve the distribution problem. There are
of course fabrication expenses, but I can only assume that the original poster
has taken those into account.

~~~
markessien
Yes, you're right of course, distribution is another problem. I really don't
see how something like this would work - if someone made me head of a light
bulb startup and gave me $500 million, I'd still be quite lost as to how to go
about doing things. I'd probably burn through a lot of money on consultants
and all that.

I think some types of business are better suited to big companies, and some
are better suited to smaller companies.

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hikari17
I work for the fiber-optics division of a multinational electronic/optical
connector firm. We're very interested in solid-state lighting as an area for
near-term strategic investment. I'm currently monitoring several startups in
this area and will add yours to the list. Good luck with your pitch at
StartUpCamp Montreal!

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noelchurchill
The video was entertaining and if your product is similar to the philips
livingcolors then it should be very cool! Good luck with your pitch!

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epi0Bauqu
Put a little more on the front page. Either a one sentence (with a link to
more) or an actual picture example of what it is.

