

Ask HN: Ideas for my startup (www.prosepoint.org) - bengtan

Hi, I'm previously a lurker on HN, and this is my first post, so please be lenient :)<p>I'd like to get comments, constructive criticism, suggestions, flames etc. for my startup ProsePoint (www.prosepoint.org).<p>It's not anything fancy, just yet another CMS, but one that's very narrowly targeted at a vertical market niche. It's also not anything bleeding edge either. No fancy web 2.0 stuff, just solid but mundane software for a conservative market.<p>I'd also like ideas on how best to monetise it. I obviously have some ideas of my own, but I won't mention them (yet) so as not to bias the discussion.<p>Thank you, and have a good day.
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petercooper
1\. I want to be seeing a screenshot(s) on the front page.

2\. I want you to make it clear why I shouldn't use Wordpress.

3\. The pages on the site are all samey. The general layout and theme are
quite nice, but you need to make it flow better. Screenshots, etc.

On the monetization front.. skip all the technical jargon and sell your
services as a company that can bring a newspaper on to the Web (or allow a
newspaper stuck with antiquated Web software - and there are lots around - to
enter the 21st century). There could be quite a few lucrative consultancy gigs
in getting newspapers online or migrating their existing sites into working
with your system.

~~~
bengtan
Re: 1 and 3

Oops, the site is still in "open source project" mode, but I'll take your
recommendations on when it comes time to put up a more marketing-oriented
site.

> 2\. I want you to make it clear why I shouldn't use Wordpress.

The same reasons why people still use full blown content management systems
instead of WP. I won't rehash those (often subjective) arguments here, suffice
to say that some people don't consider WP suitable for publishing newspapers
and magazines. For me, I just follow where the users are.

But yes, maybe I will think up an essay of pros and cons versus Wordpress.

~~~
petercooper
Points all taken, but there's no reason why the site can't be spruced up even
if in open source project mode. The better the presentation, the more
interest.

Rails and Nitro were released at about the same time. Rails had a well
designed site with a good introduction and screencasts. Almost no-one knows
what Nitro is now. Same goes for a lot of open source projects - presentation
can help build the critical mass in many areas.

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unalone
Huh! I'd always hoped Drupal would make something like this. Best of luck.

I don't have many ideas regarding the newspaper world. NowPublic has that all
nailed. Find whatever niche you can that they haven't taken.

Oh, and welcome to Hacker News. Do we do welcomes here? I'm not sure. Welcome
anyway.

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mdolon
I played around with it for a bit, seems like an interesting mod to Drupal. I
did find the interface a bit convoluted though, as the options presented in
the menu may be a bit complex and overwhelming for a typical
newspaper/magazine editor trying to add and place content on the site.

I'd advise sticking closely with KISS for your target audience. A drag-and-
drop feature for the front page layout would be sweet as well. I could really
use something like this for a project I'm working on right now (I'm leaning
towards WP at the moment).

~~~
bengtan
> I did find the interface a bit convoluted though ...

Hmmm... I'll have think about this and see if there's any way I can improve on
it.

> A drag-and-drop feature for the front page layout would be sweet as well

I agree, but I'll defer it for now as there are probably more essential
features yelling out to be included (and mindshare to be gained).

> I could really use something like this for a project I'm working on right
> now

Please, go ahead and use it :)

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abijlani
Your site administration is very confusing.

What makes Wordpress so popular today is their intuitive admin interface. You
can right away manage the content. I think they have it right, the people
managing the content vs the people managing the design / layout are two
entirely different sets of people.

There are tons of Wordpress themes that offer the Magazine/Newspaper layout.
So what is your differentiation factor?

~~~
bengtan
> Your site administration is very confusing.

Hmmm ... okay. Looks like I'll have to go back and design a few more pages
into the workflow.

> the people managing the content vs the people managing the design / layout >
> are two entirely different sets of people.

Thanks for this insight.

> So what is your differentiation factor?

See my reply comment to petercooper.

Some people think they want a content management system for publishing a
newspaper, and they don't think of Wordpress as one.

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streety
I would more loudly broadcast the fact that it is based on drupal. If a user
has a lot of success they would want to know that there is a large group from
which they could hire developers for customisation. Drupal offers that.

The idea of editions seems like a quaint throwback to the world of print
media. Does it make sense for online?

~~~
bengtan
> broadcast the fact that it is based on drupal.

I'm trying to keep a middle path with regards to this. For some people, it's
advantageous to know it's based on Drupal. For other people (which I hope will
be majority of the target market), they'll just go "Huh? What's that and why
do I care?", so I'm trying not to scare the former away with too much jargon.

For the latter, they'll find out the fact soon enough. It is clearly stated
elsewhere on the site and in ProsePoint itself.

> The idea of editions seems like a quaint throwback to the world of > print
> media. Does it make sense for online?

If you're doing blogs, then editions are unnecessary. However, I believe there
are potential users out there who think they want editions-type functionality,
whether because they migrated from print media, or they're publishing a
monthly magazine, or for whatever reason (maybe the pointy haired boss said so
:). If you look at some existing newspaper websites, their story listings are
more than just a chronological ordering.

So, this is just a case of doing what (I perceive that) the users want.

Editions also provides two features over blogs: Convenient ahead-of-time
scheduling of stories, and complex layouts. I can't quite imagine being able
to do easily with a blog without some sort of customised functionality.

Furthermore, with ProsePoint, you can use both editions scheduling and blogs
(but for different channels), so I leave it up to the user to choose.

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mcantelon
I just took a look at it... nice work. The composite layout module seems
useful as well for scenarios when panels is overkill.

I'm not sure what specific business model you should use, but as far as a
target user I think small/medium publications could save a lot on their
initial investment by leveraging ProsePoint.

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SingAlong
When I've got Drupal or Joomla why would I choose yours? What makes your stuff
different from Drupal(+ a custom plugin and theme) or Joomla(+ a custom plugin
or theme)?

Mention those on the front page. That should serve as an ad :) And make your
site colorful. Pure black-grey-white shades are boring IMO.

~~~
bengtan
If you're a developer and you have Drupal or Joomla, then it's equal whether
you choose yours or mine.

If you're an end user and you have Drupal or Joomla and the necessary custom
plugins + theme, then it's also equal whether you choose yours or mine.

If you're an end user and you have Drupal or Joomla ONLY, and you don't want
to employ a developer to create your custom plugins, then you choose mine.

Or at least, that is the aim.

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auston
Seems fine to me. Fairly clear.

As far as monetization goes:

1\. Charge for it?

2\. Offer 3rd party services (like copywriting/editing services) and use
affiliate links

3\. Split advertising with publishers ?

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mattmaroon
Interesting. Can I assume that since you're targeting a small niche, you're
planning on charging a decent price for it? You seem to be offering people
their chance to run their own Huffington Post or something.

~~~
bengtan
> you're planning on charging a decent price for it?

Yes and no. I can't really charge for the software, but I can try and charge
for something else. The software is GPL, so charging for it won't be very
effective.

> You seem to be offering people their chance to run their own Huffington Post
> or something.

Yes, but without them having to employ a developer to customise WP for them.
(I believe Huffington is a heavily customised WP, yes?)

~~~
mattmaroon
Oh, I didnt realize it wasn't a web service. You could go for the gold by
selling it as that I guess. You'd need the ability to use custom domain names.

~~~
mdolon
I agree with Matt, if you could simplify the whole experience of publishing an
online newspaper or magazine and make it a hosted solution, I think you could
make a killing. I know for a fact several of my previous clients would have
paid a nice premium for something like this.

~~~
bengtan
Well, I could build it as a hosted service, but that means I don't release the
code. I'm worried that a hosted service won't be able to achieve critical mass
because, in this attention economy, it's difficult to get word out there.

I figured if I make it open source, it will spread faster and further.

~~~
mattmaroon
Wordpress did/does both and so can you.

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asmosoinio
Typo: "If you find a theme you like, you don't even a web designer."

Missing a "need" after "don't even"?

~~~
bengtan
Thank you for that.

 _looks sheepish_

Fixed.

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versesane
Ha you can def offer premium newspaper themes for which you can charge.

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bengtan
Don't ... really ... like ... that ... idea.

That's a labour-bound offering and doesn't scale.

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lyime
Radiant CMS 0.6.9 + plugins.

~~~
bengtan
Ah, but Radiant targets developers, whereas ProsePoint targets end users.

With ProsePoint, most of the required functionality is available out of the
box, or at least, that is the intention.

