
Rate My Startup - Apane
If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late. - Reid Hoffman, Founder, LinkedIn<p>We&#x27;re getting ready to work on our version two of the product, with a new more fitting name&#x2F;brand and domain and we&#x27;ve already got our new design underway. However, I&#x27;d like to gauge your feedback so we can implement it in version 2.<p>Version 1, www.fastvenues.com.<p>Idea: you&#x27;re hungry and you don&#x27;t know what to eat you visit fastvenues.com and see restaurants around you that offer set-menu, meal deals. By booking and pre-paying through fastvenues.com you get the deal. The main value is that you know you&#x27;re hungry and these set-menu&#x27;s are what we recommend, so you won&#x27;t have to choose from a huge menu we recommend what&#x27;s best.<p>Feedback, open to any feedback that we can apply to version 2.<p>Thanks!
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kjksf
Sorry to be a naysayer but:

1\. You're attacking a space where no-one is succeeding. I'm not sure if Yelp
or Foursquare are profitable yet. Those are 2 leading companies in the space
after years in the business.

2\. You're attacking a space where scale/density of coverage matters. I'm in
San Francisco, you seem to have only Ontario area.

What is your plan to get to the scale needed to make some business out of it?

3\. You're attacking a space without a good business model. You can't charge
users so you must charge restaurants but if Yelp can't make this work, how
will you?

What is your business model? (if you think you can get restaurants to pay you
for sending users or for advertising, you're wrong).

4\. Overall you're not better than Yelp or Foursquare.

I use Yelp/Foursquare/Google Maps for exactly the purpose you describe as main
selling point and they all have more data (reviews, photos, menus). More
importantly, they're already installed on my phone.

5\. You're not solving a big pain for the user.

That's why you can't charge people for use. Sure, I'll occasionally have the
need to find a nearby restaurant in an area I don't very well, but it doesn't
come up that often and I wouldn't do it if I had to pay.

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Apane
3\. Our business model is that you pre-pay for the recommended meal to get the
deal.

5\. Right now we're solving something that neither Yelp nor Foursquare solves
and that's the Paradox of choice. With them you can see what restaurants are
around you, and read some reviews but you still don't know what to eat there.
It might get you in the door but you're still taking a shot in the dark. With
us, we only create a few set-menu meal deals that you can choose from that are
rated best, by local foodies. So you're essentially browsing what's around you
by top rated meal, instead of restaurant.

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sfeather
If I'm hungry, I get food. I don't open up an app or visit a website. This
isn't a mortgage level decision, or a 6 month car insurance coverage decision.
This is a NOW decision.

How are you different from 4square, or google maps (suggestions near you)
other than the 'deals'?

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Apane
Very good feedback, but do you ever think "I'm tired of the same old places,
what else is there around me that's good?, and affordable to try". Looking to
solve that problem.

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Apane
We're different in that we want to ONLY show you the recommended items from
each place, so you don't spend time going through the menu, you basically get
a snapshot of what we recommend at each restaurant near you. Why do we
recommend it? We have professional "foodies" who literally travel to try and
review restaurants that make these recommendations then we put them up at a
deal for you to try it.

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sfeather
So, stop at this restaurant, get the grilled cheese, get out? Ok, foodies,
thats a big value add.

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Apane
Good point. Need another layer of value to justify thinking of using an app
like this when hungry.

