

Ask HN: Review my startup, pegby.com - getitdone

Get stuff done collaboratively, from small tasks to complex projects.<p>http://www.pegby.com<p>We're a small team based in Chicago who've built a GTD web app that allows you to manage all your to-dos and projects in a simple visual interface that emulates "pegging" 3x5 cards to a board.<p>Boards can be customized according to the way you think, scaled to meet even the most robust project management requirements, and shared to get groups of people working together fast and efficiently.<p>We've learned so much from the HN community over the years. With Pegby now in open beta, we figured the time was right to ask for your thoughts on where we're at, and how best to improve.<p>Thanks in advance for all your help!<p>Stephen, Matt and Jerry
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danielfone
A few thoughts just on the home page:

Love the design overall. Copy is quirky and humorous, but still feels
professional. I agree with others that the vertical navigation is probably not
the best. For some reason that is probably irrational, I hardly ever play
product videos but love screenshots. Maybe that's just me.

In this HN post, you've given the app context. ie "Get stuff done
collaboratively, from small tasks to complex projects." and "a GTD web app
that allows you to manage all your to-dos and projects in a simple visual
interface that emulates "pegging" 3x5 cards to a board." That explains a lot
for me. However, that information isn't obvious when landing on the homepage.
The "How it works" hints at it, but not as well as what you've written here
IMO.

Minor things: Horizontal scroll slightly annoying. I'm using latest Safari
(5.0.5) on OS X, 1440 x 990. The lined page behind the Add Cards to Get Stuff
Done box doesn't line with the text for me. Slightly harsh on legibility.

That said, I'm looking forward to trying it out when I've got some time!

~~~
GoodEnough
Agreed - we can do a better job at clarity on the initial page. And the
legibility issue, I'll take a look at that. Thanks for the thoughtful
commentary.

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goblin89
Design of the front page is quite well-done, I think. Validation messages
about required fields in registration form are a bit unfriendly (consider
adding `required` attribute), but overall—good work, Matt!

And the video is right in place, IMO. I doubt that the concepts of a product
like yours could be explained briefly and clearly enough—submission text above
failed for me in this regard. (BTW, Fog Creek's site redesign shows that
people _do_ watch videos: [http://blog.fogcreek.com/our-marketing-is-up-fog-
creek-and-w...](http://blog.fogcreek.com/our-marketing-is-up-fog-creek-and-
what-we-did-about-it/). Yes, I believe that also applies to videos without
Joel.)

Also, the first time I see ‘100% beta’ stamp. Awesome.

~~~
GoodEnough
Heh, glad you liked the Beta Stamp; it was one of those 2am additions to the
design. I will spend some time on the registration section to make some tweaks
- we can certainly make it more friendly. Thanks for the feedback.

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sdfjkl
Above you explain what it does in two sentences, yet on the web page you do
not (or not successfully). Instead of a video that most people lack the
patience to watch (unless they're already interested in your product), show a
screenshot and a very simple (in one brief sentence) explanation what it does.
Then if they're interested, link 'em to the video showing your product in
action (but cut out the titles and get right to showing the product).

It's about making that first look count - most people won't give you a second
one if they're not specifically looking for something like this. So you need
to grab their attention right away, show what you're offering and make it easy
to find out more.

~~~
firepoet
Thanks, sdf! We'll definitely think harder about getting our "value prop" out
there faster.

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martinshen
Your video is ridiculously long and pointless. The product itself is simple
and core concepts can be explained in under 25 seconds (not 2 FULL MINUTES).
It should be a quick narrated video that explains the differentiations between
pegby and flow/basecamp/things/asana/rtm

With regard to the navigation.. look at what getflow.com does with the link at
the bottom of the page or look at tumblr.com's "vertical" layout

~~~
GoodEnough
We could do a better job a explaining the differences, thanks for commenting.

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CobraKai
Would love to try it - agree with the others, the visual interface is very
very nicely done (I've been reading up on this subject recently...!)

The video makes me want to try it out. If I dare offer one suggestion...the
guitar music is a bit bland and seems out of place with the video, maybe I'm
missing something. Great job overall!

~~~
GoodEnough
Exactly! I told Jerry we should use "One Step Closer" because Linkin Park
makes everything better. :) But honestly, finding the right music and paying
for it can be very time and money consuming, so we went with something that we
hoped would entertain the senses without being off-putting. But do take Pegby
for a spin!

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karterk
Some thoughts:

1\. The vertical navigation is a complete fail.. I almost missed it and have
to tilt my head to read the links

2\. Instead of having a video (it's also not apparent that I need to click on
the black box to play the video), have some screenshots that show how your app
works.

~~~
firepoet
Thanks for the thoughtful feedback!

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thomaslangston
I remember Joel from StackOverflow writing that they had a lot of luck with a
BIG play button on their video in their A/B testing.

~~~
getitdone
Definitely worth adding. Thx, TL.

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thekevan
I love that you give a quick video to show it in action, huge plus. However I
wish the video did show a bit more usage. I think almost a quarter of it is
someone creating a bunch of cards for the demo. That's a little nitpicky, good
work overall.

~~~
GoodEnough
Agreed. We are planning on having additional demo videos, or more so, just
basic functionality videos. Really need to get those done Jerry! And we are
working on getting a public demo up so anyone can go in and try it
immediately. Thanks for the comment.

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vitomd
Great design, Maybe you could change the "How it works" for a catchy line,
like "get things done fast", or "get things done easily"

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cadab
<http://www.pegby.com>

Beaten to it, oh well :)

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ste101
Like it. Good work, looking forward to trying it out.

@ste101, @theradhouseteam

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getitdone
Thanks for taking a look. We'll be in touch. Cheers!

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karterk
Clickable: <http://www.pegby.com>

~~~
getitdone
Thank you (both!)

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firepoet
(p.s. -- I'm the Stephen mentioned in the post)

