

Ask HN: Please review our startup: Moot - simple, real-time collaboration - ochiba
http://getmoot.com/

======
maxklein
I find it difficult to understand why you would want to do this exact thing
that a lot of other companies have done and you are not even innovating. It
looks very similar to twitter or yammer - could you not have used them as a
base to rethink communication even more?

Your app can work if you do a lot of marketing - but it's not innovative or
new. You will have a hard time getting people excited about this, because they
have already seen it.

Competition should be used as a base to improve on - and I'm not sure where
your improvement is.

~~~
ochiba
You are correct. We believe that the collaboration problem hasn't been solved
properly yet, and we intend to use this as a base to iterate towards something
better.

------
andreshb
In short: Put prices upfront.

First question was, I already use skype chatrooms, why do I need a twitter-
like client internally? And I got the answer right away on the home page. Good
job.

I then went to the pricing and saw that its a 30 day trial, and after that,
who knows how much Ill be charged. This deters me from trying it out and then
invite my team to use it, simply because I dont know how much its going to
cost me and I dont want to invest time and effort having my team use it, so
that at the end of 30 days, I will be charged an unknown sum of money.

It is kind of like a really weird bait-and-switch, "lets do business, but dont
worry about the price yet, just trust me"

Other than that, the design is pretty simple and straight to the point, there
seems to be no learning curve for people that have already used twitter, which
will work perfectly for my team.

~~~
petervandijck
Agreed, decide on pricing.

Also, make it clear wether those things are public or private (it's not
immediately clear, and for workgroups they should be private)

------
Murkin
1\. I didn't notice the "No signup required" at first. Shame. 2\. After the
interface is very clean and easy to use. 3\. You really need an easier way to
add people. (FB/Google Addr import/etc).

Good luck !

~~~
ochiba
Duly noted, thank you.

------
markh
You should show your pricing up front. I'd never start a trial if I didn't
know what the price was going to be after the 30 day trial was up. I'd be
worried I'd like it but would find the price too high.

~~~
jamesbritt
"I'd be worried I'd like it but would find the price too high."

Same here. I just went to the site, and was going to try it out, curious to
see if there was a free version. Absent clear pricing info, though, I don't
see why I should spend my time exploring a tool I may find prohibitive.

What's the reason for secret prices? When I see that, I start thinking, "Oh,
must be really expensive."

------
ivenkys
Pros : Very clean user interface

Cons :

(A) User Login should be the first thing , rather than what are you working
on. Simply because it gives me confidence that the app knows who i am.

(B) If i cannot "Manage my domain(change settings)" without having to set
myself up - then enabling that link on the side is just confusing.

(C) If you are using the terminology "Groups" then i would think it should be
"Individual" rather than "People". People is plural as well isn't it.

(D) When adding a New Unnamed user - the app comes with - added new user
False, I understand what you are saying there but me thinks it can be put
better. Also, attempting to make a new unnamed user moderator comes up with -
"Are you sure you want to make False a moderator ?" - surely better wording
there.

My 2 pennies mate.

I know there are other similar products but i don't think that should stop you
from developing this further.

~~~
petervandijck
Agreed, I don't think similar products should stop you from developing this.

------
redwax
Why name it after 4chans admin ?

~~~
ochiba
moot

n. An ancient English meeting, especially a representative meeting of the
freemen of a shire.

v. To bring up as a subject for discussion or debate.

~~~
redwax
And well played for exploiting the current high visibility of this word, it
being the nickname of Time Magazine's most successful fellow last year.

Although not all the associations are pleasant.

In fact this point is moot.

Your app seems very pleasant and useful.

------
thafman
OK; twitter for enterprise, nice UI, not really seeing how you differ from
Yammer.

Side topic; has anyone succeed long-term with get[name].com? Or do you always
end up buying your dot-com name?

~~~
ochiba
Hi thafman, thanks for the feedback.

This is how we currently aim to differentiate ourselves:

* Focused solution: do one thing well. We tried to avoid the urge to include extraneous features.

* Very low barriers to adoption. Start with one click.

* Simple, intuitive interface.

* True real-time, across browsers.

* Fast (e.g. no page reloads)

~~~
apgwoz
Have you discovered yammer doesn't do these things particularly well?

I hate to see yet another product become "a better twitter for ____." You'll
get more press if you actually solve a real business problem in there.

How about making it integrate with ticketing systems, so that it's
automatically updated? How about integrating with version control, so that
commit messages share the story?

Obviously these things are developer focused, but these are the things that
get missed in apps like this. Tell me what I'm doing, not the other way
around. (obviously I should be able to talk too.)

------
WonkoMeatJimp
Visualize failure, and then don't do that. I suggest you immediatley start
creating innovative features that will set you apart from the rest of the
crowd. You only get one real chance at a flash point and potential customers
need to see what sets you apart from everyone else. I would focus all my time
on the features that you feel will solve enterprise microblogging.

------
petervandijck
If you want people to actually use it, drop the 30-day trial thing. I'm not
gonna try out a new tool with a 30-day trial and no further pricing info.

If you can't decide on pricing for now, just say "free during beta". Drop the
pricequote thing too, you're not selling expensive enterprise software (if you
are I wouldn't want to use it).

------
roundsquare
Very interesting. You can really just click and get started it appears.

Question (and this is probably going to show my ignorance): How do you make
money on this. I thought most web startups made money through ads or selling
stuff... you don't appear to do either.

~~~
ochiba
New accounts are currently on a 30-day trial, and the intention was that
prospective clients should contact us for pricing.

We are currently editing the site to reflect this.

~~~
timc
i wouldn't recommend making it a trial. folks won't want to do the work to
create their collab groups. let this spread virally and then figure out a
freemium upsell later. for example perhaps you let groups add a virtual
currency in a pro account, or your allow unlimited collab group creation but
invitees get up to 3 groups they can join and then need to go pro.

------
turtle4
I like that you can just log in and get started. But having to send a link
and/or email to add a person works against that. Why can't I add people just
by name until I decide to roll it out, at which point I could send the
link/email.

------
bobjones
Very cool. Simple to use. I think that showing the billing model on the site
would help a lot.

~~~
ochiba
Preliminary trial / purchase details added to site. Thanks.

------
koevet
Would be cool to have a video to showcase functionalities. Even with a free
sign-in is kind of empty in there.

~~~
bobjones
Even a simple a static tutorial would be good

