

Ask HN: Help us with our app plan - ammarhameed

Hi HN,<p>I developed a social app with a friend of mine on both Android and iPhone called Taza, tazaapp.com, it&#x27;s a bridge between Facebook and whatsapp, or you can think of it like Google+ for mobile phones that works only with your phone contacts.<p>We started like everybody else, with our family members and friends, but we did a trick this time we didn&#x27;t tell them that this is our app, we just told them about it and how it&#x27;s better than the messenger apps as the &quot;groups&quot; creation is easier and the threads are way more organized.<p>The plan worked and they loved it, we told them that it is ours after a few weeks :). So that gave us a good indication that the app is fun to use, and most importantly, it&#x27;s solving a problem that all the messenger apps are having, which is the pain of having hundreds of messages  if not thousands) in a group chat and you have to catch up with everybody whenever you turn on your phone.<p>Now we started our marketing campaign and we reached ~800 users and the reviews are good so far, but it seems that the adoption rate is slow, and as you all know with this kind of applications, word of mouth is really key. Now my questions are:<p>1- We are focusing on one market and it looks like our message is working, we are spending ~$1 per day to get the word out, is that a good thing?<p>2- What&#x27;s the best way to quickly educate the user about how to use the app?<p>3- Is it possible to ask for a seed fund at this stage?
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franklinho
I ran into a similar issue with my app Storyweave (www.getstoryweave.com).
There seems to be a wall after your friends and family get tapped out.

The advice I've received is that at this point, you need to build some social
features into your app that allow users to share the app with other people
automatically. This involves:

\- Sharing content to other social media platforms (e.g. post this photo on FB
or Twitter) \- Inviting friends in the app (e.g. find friends from your
Facebook or Twitter followers list, and/or invite your friends using your
contacts \- Etc. Etc.

Happy to chat with you about this more.

~~~
ammarhameed
That would be great, I added you on linkedin just now so we can chat.

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noskynethere
What do the current users say they like about the app? What do they not like?

Communication stuff is an strongly viral scene, why isn't it spreading that
way?

How are users using your app in a way you didn't expect? (This can indicate
your core idea is good with just a little tweak to it... read about paypal's
pivot in jessica livingston's book)

~~~
favabeans
I'll look into your questions. We've been through them. However, it's useful
to mention that the app is solving a simple problem that might need a lot
pivoting.

~~~
favabeans
Just adding a correction to the previous comment I made, the app is solving a
problem we are facing in our personal interactions and might _NOT_ need
pivoting.

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1arity
You want a faster growth rate.

Read some Andrew Chen, also read the story of how Facebook grew initially, and
watch Peter Thiel talk about monopolizing a small market.

It's a social app, so it is about people having an audience curated for the
content they share, with that audience being curated by ( presumably ) their
"family and friends" from real life.

So the growth rate is going to be slower than say, an app that is targeted at
students at a single university ( do you know why ? ).

Your site says the app is secure, this is a big claim to make these days, and
perhaps unnecessary. If you are going after people who want "secure" apps,
perhaps that is a useful target to focus on ? However, if you are not really
100% committed to making it a reliably secure way to share things, why even
make that claim? It may complicate your message. Privately may be what you are
aiming for, and then you can explain it does privately differently to other
things like Line, FB or WhatsApp.

Speaking of explaining how things are different, telling your people how your
app is different to the apps it is most similar to ( such as perhaps ) LINE,
WhatsApp, FB, is something which may influence your peoples' choice to use
your app over something else. What would make someone switch from FB to Taza?
From WhatsApp to Taza? From LINE to Taza?

"Social network" apps are the original kingmaker app, and one of the things
that means is there are a few monopoly players to distinguish yourself from.
What makes your product different? Why will people in your market use it over
the other players?

If you are going for seed funding I guess the answer to the above two
questions is important, and the answer to a third is also : Why did you make
this? Did this arise out of some personal thing you were trying to solve,
something deeply motivating for you, and you found a solution didn't exist,
and you built one? It works to consider what is the basis of your motivation
to make this product. You can "ask for" funding at any stage, the
"possibility" of asking is always your choice, so nothing is stopping you from
asking. Whether you get funding depends on what you say and show the people
you ask for that funding.

The best way to educate the people about how to use your app is for those
people to educate each other. Just like you did with your initial launch
group, you want other people to recommend that app to their friends, and show
them how to use it and so on. Ideally, the app should make it simple and easy
to use, and people shouldn't be "astonished" by its behaviour.

An answer to your first question really works to come from you guys. If it
"looks like" your "message is working", what does that mean? What are you
measuring, and what does that suggest to you that contributes to you saying it
is working? It is from this data collection and line of reasoning you will be
able to conclude whether the results you are getting work for you or not.

Finally, what is the hook, the thing that makes people really hungry to use it
initially? I guess the hook for facebook was "the person in my class is on
there, and I can see more about them". I guess the hook for tinder was "I can
possibly find people to date", I guess the hook for LINE and WhatsApp was "I
can text people for FREE". What is the hook for Taza? is a question it may
work to consider.

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favabeans
Thanks! Regarding the aforementioned two questions about "What makes someone
switch from FB to Taza" and "What make your product different"

We've went ahead and created simple tutorials and we are experimenting with
different approaches to get them to the users while keeping those short and
the user interested. Apparently, from our own observations, there's an "Aha"
moment the user would reach after a very little education. After that point,
the user becomes more of an advocate (or she's not convinced for totally
different reasons)

As you've seen on our site, we tried to keep the messaging to the minimum as
well, because too much information confuses the users. There's a trade off
between explaining everything and giving them enough "hook" to look into the
app and figure things for themselves.

We still trying to strike a balance between these things.

