
Snaptalent relaunches - completely changes business model (YC W08) - flavio87
http://snaptalent.com/
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lpgauth
Cool, this actually looks like something I could use... Could you guys add a
way to sign up without an .edu address? My university uses @mail.mcgill.ca.

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sho
This is probably pretty superficial compared to the other feedback so far, but
I just wanted to say I don't like the photo of someone doing a star jump on
the front page. Maybe I'm more jaded than average but it really screams
"generic stock photo" to me. I mean come on, is someone really going to be SO
happy using your service that they just spontaeneously start jumping?

I suggest a slideshow of handshake closeups or something instead. Never
underestimate how impressed non-HN readers are by slideshows.

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swivelmaster
Handshake closeups, women with glasses wearing headsets talking to 'customers'
on the phone, and cute, racially ambiguous twenty-something women sitting in
grass being happy.

Yes, it's the office of the future and an ad for PMS medication all rolled
into one.

Honestly I'm not sure where this comment is supposed to be going. I just
wanted to agree about how stupid stock photography is in certain contexts.

edit: Unnaturally happy-looking couples smiling at each other on a couch. Old
couples in bath tubs on the beach. You know what I'm talking about....

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patio11
_Handshake closeups, women with glasses wearing headsets talking to
'customers' on the phone, and cute, racially ambiguous twenty-something women
sitting in grass being happy._

This is the visual equivalent of How To X, 10 Ways to Y, and The Secret That Z
Doesn't Want You To Know in the field of copywriting. They're used because
they work, in many circumstances. Ridiculously well, as a matter of fact.
Cosmo has forgotten more about to write headlines than you or I will ever
know, and they keep using 10 Ways to Y despite the fact that every time I see
one I want to burn all paper in the vicinity.

I so wanted to make a mini-site devoted only to girl-in-a-headset photos,
because I thought a) good for a laugh and b) there are some easy affiliate
commissions to make there, and the [girl in a headset] SERP can't be that
tough. But I held off because, eh, not quite enough ha-ha in that joke to
motivate me to do it.

Then somebody _actually did it_.

<http://www.headsethotties.com/>

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sireat
I think this is a business variation of the infamous rule 34: namely, no
matter what kind of pure internet business idea you've thought of, someone,
somewhere has already tried it.

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sharpshoot
Hey Guys, this is actually an early prerelease, so a little premature to
announce a relaunch :)

We're doing some interesting things inside and out and will let Hacker News
members of what's up sometime soon.

In between email me on Sumon [at] Snaptalent [dot] com

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ggruschow
It's good you posted this here. I was about to slam on you for not letting me
sign up and post my jobs online without contacting sales reps (I'm hiring, so
if the price wasn't insane I was going to give it a shot.)

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sharpshoot
If you want to be one of the first companies to use it email me sumon [at]
snaptalent [dot] com

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joubert
How is this different from the other gazillion job boards?

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palish
Snaptalent feels more personal. (That's just the first thing I thought of.)

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jmtame
I would say that Google felt a little cuter, but the fact is it had better
search results. I'm not really going to pay for something because it's more
personal necessarily (although it helps). I still don't understand how this is
differentiated?

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sharpshoot
Hey, thanks for the comment. We've identified a huge pain point, and have
decided to go and build a deep solution, with a minimum first feature set.
Expect the obvious differentiation with snaptalent flair to appear over
subsequent iterations - homepage doesn't say anything yet

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falsestprophet
There is something not quite right with your form handling in the signup
process. I had to refresh a few times to get through it. And the _next_ button
should stand out more.

But, otherwise, very well done guys. The presentation is beautiful and the
economics of the business are mouthwatering.

I have been toying with a (presumably) very similar plan, but I have been busy
with other things and other schemes. Maybe I'll see you on the field. Good
luck.

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johnrob
Great idea. Appealing to employers who want to hire was more relevant 1 year
ago. Now they are appealing to job seekers. The best part is that when the
tide turns again, they can simply re-launch their original idea!

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vaksel
its probably still bad throughout. Why hire some fresh college kid who you
have to teach everything, when for the same money you can get someone with
experience who is desperate to find a job and will take a paycut?

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johnrob
That problem (or lack thereof) is not what they are addressing now. Companies
who are hiring have little to complain about right now, because there are tons
of candidates and little competition. Who does have stuff to complain about?
Candidates. Who is going to be complaining the most? Recent college grads.

By shifting their focus, they are once again addressing a pain.

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sharpshoot
Spot on. You made some good points. Def email me on sumon [at] snaptalent
[dot] com would love to catch up

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vaksel
I thought their old idea had merit...what went wrong?

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aston
I think the last quote I got from them on it was, really roughly, "good idea;
bad business."

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Alex3917
The "Online College Career Fair" is brilliant. It tells you exactly what the
site does in four words.

The only thing I don't like is that there isn't a screenshot gallery. I'm not
going to make an account on a site like that unless I can see screenshots of
what each company's page looks like, what my resume looks like, etc.

I want to know that A) The site is useful B) The site is trustworthy. Without
being able to see what the interaction looks like I can't do that, so I'm not
going to sign up. If you want me to put out, buy me a drink first; asking for
all my information right away is too much too fast. I need to know more about
what I get out of it.

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sharpshoot
Hey Alex, thanks for feedback. For sure - we didn't anticipate anyone seeing
that page. So look out for iterations over the next few weeks. Hard to
optimize when you didn't anticipate being "hacker newsed!"

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shatastic
Checked out the site briefly today but still not sure how I feel about posting
my whole resume online - I suppose that's the way technology is heading
though. Would be cool if it was like Pandora or something and you could give
recommended companies a thumbs up/down and then the site got better at finding
companies you're interested in.

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sharpshoot
good feedback - working on it. Thanks

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Dilpil
I like the idea, but there are quite a few errors.

I had to try 3 times to add my degree to my profile. Furthermore, I keep
getting internal server errors when browsing companies (happens whenever I
look at a page other than 1).

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maxniederhofer
would be great to hear your story of why you decided to change model...?

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jamiequint
I hope to write a post on this sometime in the near future. I'll be sure to
post it here.

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hbien
This hits home pretty well - I'm a recent grad looking for a job.

Just wondering, why did you guys decide to relaunch it with a different model?
The original idea seemed good too.

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drewcrawford
I try to enter my college as "LeTourneau University" but it defaults to Lasell
college. WTF?

Also, help@staptalent.com is bouncing back.

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jamiequint
Sorry about that Drew, we'll look into it. We may have an incomplete list of
schools. Like Sumon said earlier in the thread we didn't expect this to gain
too much early attention.

I just created the help@snaptalent.com email so you should have no problem
with that anymore. If there are any other issues feel free to email me
directly - jamie at snaptalent

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dimitry
Good stuff Sumon and the crew. Being able to change and adapt is key and seems
like you guys got it down.

Go get 'em

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rokhayakebe
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Please be the Google for Resumes.

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thinkcomp
An an employer, I'm stumped. What do I do? Call?

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gustaf
Looks very cool! Can you add hyperisland.se ?

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judegomila
Well done guys!

