

Ask HN: Please review my startup (www.spibby.com) - noelsequeira

Spibby intends to be a game centered around check-ins and purchases (via the Foursquare and Blippy APIs).<p>Our minimum viable product is a real-time, user-generated stream of what people are spending on / recommending. We plan to gradually integrate location and purchases into this stream. 
Foursquare integration: A user will see a list of recent check-ins and be allowed to enter purchases made at these locations. Blippy integration: A user's credit card swipes will be pulled into the Spibby stream from Blippy. Points will be earned from a combination of swipes, transactions and Spibby posts (and the conversations around these posts).<p>NOTE: In its current avatar, Spibby might seem like a non-automated version of Blippy / Swipely, but that's quite intentional - we hope to integrate with these services and eventually build our game on top their APIs. The value-add around the user generated posts (that we currently allow) is the ability to discuss wishlists / cash transactions / questions before a purchase, which we think is quite significant.<p>We'd like to a) receive feedback and b) start building a community as early as we can. Spibby, right now, is extremely basic - we let you make simple posts and follow other users, but we've already seen some interesting conversations unfold between our initial users.<p>We're quite sure we're in for some really compelling feedback from the HN community. 
1) We'd love to hear what you think of the concept.
2) We'd like to know if you think the path we're taking (from MVP to version 1.0) and our complete apathy towards stealth makes sense
3) We'd like your inputs on how we can make Spibby better<p>Thanks a ton in advance!
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bdickason
I haven't visited your website yet. I would recommend that you work on your
pitch. Your first line was not compelling, doesn't explain to me why I want to
use Spibby, or why the world needs it!

After reading the second paragraph, itjust seems like you tie
Blippy/Foursquare together via api's and aggregate the data. Is there anything
I'm missing?

Sorry if this comes off as negative, it's really meant as constructive
criticism. I went to your site and I'd love to see more thought put into
explaining why, as a user, I want to 'earn points' or 'recommend' on Spibby
when I can do it on a ton of other sites (for exampleI'd probably use yelp
right now). Some sort of analysis of what happens when the service gets huge
(why is it valuable to me? Why does my contribution make a difference? What is
it working towards?) could be very helpful in making people interested :)

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noelsequeira
I think you make a point that I was blind to because it's hard for me to look
at the app purely from a first time visitor's perspective.

The reason we've kept our description on HN very matter-of-fact is: we feel
most readers on HN will likely want to know the concept for what it is rather
than have it sugar coated. I'm not sure I want to turn that into a sales
pitch. Should I?

Yes, we do plan to tie up the APIs and build a game on top them. We look at it
as a universal game that you can play irrespective of the check-in service you
use (Your Yelp check-ins will fetch you points that will let you lock horns
with Gowalla and Foursquare users). I guess being more loud about 'universal'
might help. And we hope to see some very interesting conversations around
purchases that should help users discover new stuff (think hollrr.com meets
location). If it does get traction, we'll be able to offer users some pretty
sweet deals from the locations they check-in to / shop at.

That being said, I recognize that we haven't answered the "what's in it for me
if I sign up now?" question convincingly. Since this value will become
apparent in the future, do you think its alright to beat a drum about how cool
it will be and make promises we might (possibly) not be able to keep?

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bdickason
Perhaps something like this: "Don't you hate 'checking in' to five different
services, updating your facebook status, posting a tweet every time you go
somewhere? 'Spib it' once then sit back and enjoy your latte."

I realize that's a bit snarky but that's the type of message I would want to
see: "This is your problem. Here's how we solve it."

~~~
findm
Agree, also I think the last step is of little value. I wouldn't include it on
your sell page. Would be a nice to have once you have power users but too
early to invest time in to that this early on.

I would try writing a short narrative to illustrate the value added. Good
story telling never gets old. I don't see it being a good selling point.

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Raphael
<http://www.spibby.com/>

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sethwartak
it's too complicated / how do you use it?, let me know what it does within 5
seconds or fewer....

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executive
a red signup button would result in more conversions

~~~
noelsequeira
we could definitely make that change.

