

Show HN: Pvsh - A reverse Kickstarter (make feature requests for any product) - hollandale
http://www.pvshapp.com/

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vitalique
The idea is not exactly new or popular (without proper moderation it
inevitably turns into spammy, ads-filled swamp), and a request to log in to
see more then 14 suggestions doesn't look all that inviting.

Also: Great, now we are moving from '-er without -e-' to '-v- instead of -u-'!
I really hope it won't catch up. I mean, Romans were cool guys, but my brain
constantly trips over unexpected V; it feels like noise, and not like a not-
so-svbtle attempt at bringing in some Latin style. Sorry for the grvmbling.

~~~
hollandale
@vitalique thanks for the thoughts on the name! It's definitely not set in
stone though. As for the idea-- originality isn't really the objective, it's
ease of use. If you can create one destination for all products, and make it
as easy as a Tweet to do so, then users may just do so when they have those
"Aha! I wish this product had..." moments. The challenge is, as you said, to
separate the noise from the creativity. My hope would be that by incentivizing
users with real stakes (either financial or brand-building opportunities) the
power-user base might help with moderation and promotion. I don't know though,
I'm interested to hear what others think/have tried!

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notJim
There's no need to do the @-sign thing, we can tell who you're talking to.

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colinwinter
This could be really powerful if users could put up actual $$$ for feature
requests so the site actually performs more like kickstarter. This would also
help the quality of requests.

Once the company completes the feature satisfactorily they get the cash. Or
perhaps even a situation where they can grab the cash to start the feature-
but this is obviously higher risk- like kickstarter- but the risk could be
managed and even help the feature development process.

PS- With this in mind, importing feature requests from other sites could help
growth. IE: People see a GREAT feature THEY want and are willing to put in
$5... as compared to coming to the site to submit their ideas. Another idea:
Use ad revenue from site to 'seed' a user's initial ability to donate $$$.
Perhaps require CC input in order to contribute this 'free money', thereby
making it easier to give real money. I know the free money would have to be
incredibly small, but sometimes little acts of giving something for free can
really change a system. Just some thoughts...

~~~
pydave
> if users could put up actual $$$ for feature requests so the site actually
> performs more like kickstarter. This would also help the quality of
> requests.

Agreed, but I'd expect few people would put in money up front to fund
something that no one's promising to make. It's hard to give it a hard date
like Kickstarter since it's not the people _doing_ who create the posts.

The best way I can think of going about it is having people say how much
they're willing to pay (but no money changes hands), allowing someone to say
they're going to implement and idea, and then it turns into a kickstarter
project and emails all of the people who said they'd pay so they can enter
their credit card details.

That way there's no risk for the backers (until they know someone wants to
fulfill their dreams) or creator's (functions just like kickstarter for them
-- except someone is giving them an initial list of interested parties). The
websites whole purpose becomes facilitating new ideas.

To cut down on spam, you could charge people a dollar per vote (or
microtransactions) and then promise creators a cut of that if they
successfully "kickstart" a project (or convert a sufficient number of voting
backers).

* To be clear: I'm not talking about using kickstarter -- then you'd lose all your revenue.

Edit: I expected pvsh to be about "I want this thing" instead of feature
requests for specific products. It seems weird to me for Corporations to
request bounties on features, but I still like the idea as a way to connect
user's wants with entrepreneurs.

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masukomi
how exactly is this "A reverse kickstarter" No money changes hands in either
direction, and nothing actually happens if enough people request something.

It's like saying "Come! Shout into this hole." We've placed a microphone in
front of it to record your shout for all time... "Yes but... I'm just shouting
into a hole right?"

"No no. it's a special hole. It's got a "reverse kickstarter" microphone!" ...

"You'll pay me when enough people shout into it about the same thing?"

"Er... no"

"So.... I'll have to build something if enough people shout?"

"No no."

"So, what you're really saying is. You've set up a microphone in front of a
hole and have added the word 'Kickstarter' above it in in hopes that, despite
the fact that you're not actually charging for a product you will make money?
Or is it that you think that the current abundance of holes to shout in simply
wasn't abundant enough and that by adding a brand new hole everything would be
different?"

"Er... YES!"

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18pfsmt
While this was somewhat humorous, I don't think not charging on day one
matters. In fact, Salesforce[1] has been offering a similar product for 5
years. You may have seen it in action on Dell's Ideastorm site, or Starbucks
(not sure if that one still exists).

[1]<http://www.salesforce.com/salesforceideas/>

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jcromartie
I like how startups ran out of regular words, so now they use V instead of U
and we have a whole new set of words to go through.

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noinput
I'll be the first to admit I did not realize it was a substituted letter and
simply accepted it must a randomly created word.

~~~
nicholassmith
Same, at first I thought it was an awfully hard to work out acronym.

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smurph
Idea: let companies/brands create accounts and commit to implementing
features. Give them report cards based on the number of features they commit
to and actually implement. Maybe include pages for individual products, and
grade them individually. This could be a really useful tool to find out which
product lines are actually getting love from makers.

~~~
hollandale
@smurph, definitely something I'd love to implement if brands really find the
feedback useful. Here's a question: Do you think this tool would be most
useful to brands--as a consumer research tool? Or to 3rd-party producers who
are interested in seeing what market exists for new products/feature requests?

~~~
smurph
I think your first heavy users will need to be people who are putting brand
new products on the market and have no idea how they are going to get
feedback. People who have been making iterations for years will have a bunch
of work in the past that they won't get 'credit' for, so they might not be
fans of starting with a blank slate. Maybe if you had a way to import or track
feature requests from other feedback sites, that would get you more users.

It's worth noting that you are competing with other bug tracking / feedback
web sites, and there are some established players there.

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bdcravens
What a cute little startup name. How the hell do I pronounce it?

~~~
hollandale
@bdcravens You don't spell it! You use it! ;) I'd love to hear your thoughts
on the service though.

~~~
hollandale
*pronounce

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kmfrk
Is this aimed at consumers or manufacturers/creators?

As a consumer, this doesn't strike me as something I would want to browse,
which probably means a lot of people only post there if they want to _vent_
about something.

It could be an interesting alternative to a GitHub Issues/Pull Request system
if it's easy for creators to subscribe to requests for their brand or
products, though.

But I still am not sure what the incentive for consumers to post this would
be. Maybe some sort of reward structure should be in place for the first few
months to give it traction. Just gamified badges and stuff to kick things off.

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connortomas
This seems to have a huge chicken-or-the-egg problem: the site is only
valuable to consumers if they know their requests could have some influence,
but companies will only listen to requests from Pvsh users if there's a
critical mass (say, thousands or millions of votes for one feature).

Is there some way to re-jig the concept to get around this? Perhaps by
focusing more directly on one particular product category and expanding
outwards? Or by working with particular companies that are actively soliciting
feature requests (in which case I'd know I'd be listened to)?

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fxthea
My product management team is looking for a product that sort of has some of
the functionality you have in this app. What we would like is a way to keep
track of feature requests and then have a way to keep track of votes
for/against the feature request so we can use it to inform prioritization. So
not an exact fit, but that was the first use case that I thought of when I saw
your app. We won't be using it but this looks like good stuff. I wonder what %
of customers will go to the length of making suggestions.

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tfinniga
Sounds similar to uservoice. The utility of it really depends on the quality
of the users. For example, if they're entering bugs and voting on each others'
bugs, it can be useful.

But if they're suggesting things for which there are difficult tradeoffs
without considering the implications, then it's not very useful. For example,
requesting that stripe make their credit card processing free is not very
useful feedback, but you can get a lot of these 'I want a pony' kind of
requests.

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jscheel
This could become a rich field of great new startup ideas
([http://www.pvshapp.com/#feature_requests/50b6b9796b411f9c000...](http://www.pvshapp.com/#feature_requests/50b6b9796b411f9c00000014)),
or it could become a vast wasteland of stupidity
([http://www.pvshapp.com/#feature_requests/50bcf7d5e4ca239c000...](http://www.pvshapp.com/#feature_requests/50bcf7d5e4ca239c00000011)).

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jwpeddle
For everyone criticizing the app name, you are aware that domain names are a
finite resource that cost very little to sit on forever, right? Often naming
your company comes down to what memorable domain name you can snag, even if
you have to commit a spelling/grammar crime to get it.

~~~
ges
Indeed, tumblr is a good example

~~~
evincarofautumn
The _e_ doesn’t really contribute in most accents, anyway.

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nnnnnn
I really hope they come through with the Chuck Norris API

[http://www.pvshapp.com/#feature_requests/50bcf99ee4ca239c000...](http://www.pvshapp.com/#feature_requests/50bcf99ee4ca239c00000015)

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brendonjohn
ahhh ffs, I drafted out my own vision of this concept just yesterday. Nice
work none the less :)

~~~
hollandale
That's cool, post it! I'd love to hear your angle on it

~~~
brendonjohn
oh, really? Okay...

There are many projects that the wider web community want to fund but are not
able to.

Example: There's a demand for the adobe creative suites on Linux, but this
wont be happening any time soon.

Adobe wont create a kickstarter campaign as they just wont.

Instead, people should be able to make their deposits to a third party that
will release the payments when conditions are met.

Example: groups of people submit their demands and each person submits their
micro payment. The conditions on the payment being released to the company of
concern must be measurable... otherwise the intended reciepient will recieve
their cash payments prematurely.

This would mean that you're acting as an Escrow... something I've only just
learnt about.

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hnriot
McAfee Enterprise proxy server white-list thingy blocks this site as being a
"medium risk" - So my comopany proxy server blocks it :(

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benatkin
At first I thought you were talking about John McAfee's exploits. McAfee is
really screwing up the brand he created. :)

