

Ask HN: Please review my 8 month old bootstrapped startup - chrisdc

I have been an avid reader of HN for as long as I can remember and I am truly grateful for everything this community has taught me. 8 months ago I decided to take the plunge in the B2C pool and we(team of 6) have been working on an app that solves a problem in the Social Media space. We are 100% bootstrapped and I would be most grateful for any feedback I can get on our startup( https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.getStacker.com&#x2F;early-access )<p>Long-story-short: We built Stacker because we found that Replying to incoming messages across multiple Social Media accounts was a major pain point and as a result most brands only use Facebook and Twitter to blast out messages rather than having meaningful conversations with their fans. We believe that Replying to incoming messages should be as easy as Publishing them and thats what we&#x27;ve hoped to achieve with Stacker.<p>1. At first glance, does our website convey what we&#x27;re trying to achieve?
2. Do you think adding screenshots on the homepage would help?
3. Is the problem we&#x27;re trying to solve something that you&#x27;ve faced personally?
4. What are your thoughts on our pricing? Would you consider using such a product? If yes, why and if no, why?<p>Thank you very much for your time!
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anewfounder
The landing page looks very well designed and inviting to scroll further

In my opinion to the fans part is missing from the messaging of the page. If
this is something that you are pushing out than it needs to be a bit more
flashed out on the page, in my opinion. I wouldn't necessarily see this app as
a way to better engage with my fans/followers straight away so maybe the
messaging could make it easier for the average user that visits the page to
understand this

Thanks for sharing!

~~~
chrisdc
Any input on how we could improve this would be much appreciated. Right now we
detail this in the "Universal Inbox" section but that needs to be after the
"Multiple social accounts" and the "Auto scheduling" snippets.

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cmadan
The landing copy and flow is very good. It is pretty clear what all features
are available in the app from the copy. I think the Universal Inbox is a plus
over Bufferapp and I'm sure the app is far more easy to use than Hootsuite.

However, just Twitter and Facebook isn't enough. Our Bufferapp account has
Linkedin Pages and Google+ Pages also integrated (plus some people might want
Instagram and Pinterest too!).

Good luck, I'm sure it'll be a great tool!

~~~
chrisdc
Thank you so much for the kind words! We decided to start with just Twitter
and

Facebook. Will soon be adding in Linkedin and Google+ as well.

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Mandatum
I disagree that this app is catered towards a B2C market. You'll find it tough
as this market is already saturated. The limits you've imposed on the plans
are somewhat silly, "album images" really? You're adding a limit to an
existing technology which never in the past had one.

Add support for more social platforms, integrate with SMS and MailChimp,
pivot, expand.

~~~
chrisdc
Many thanks for the feedback.

I'm not sure I agree with "You're adding a limit to an existing technology
which never in the past had one.". Right now you cant create/upload Photo
Albums from any of our competitors' solutions so other than opening up
Facebook to add in a photo album there's no way to Schedule the posting of an
album. Support for additional Social Platforms is coming soon. Just wrote a
blog post covering this one [https://www.getstacker.com/blog/5/everything-we-
are-working-...](https://www.getstacker.com/blog/5/everything-we-are-working-
on-1#)

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AznHisoka
Lots of competitors in this space... \- Hootsuite \- BufferApp \- SproutSocial
\- Hubspot \- Circular.io

~~~
tejasm
Agreed - but I think unified inbox is a rare feature. Also, his pricing is
pretty simple and user-friendly.

~~~
chrisdc
Thanks! The unified inbox is a big technical challenge at scale, I'm guessing
that the reason why none of our competitors are doing it yet. Pushing out
updates is relatively much easier (which the Stacker Outbox does in addition
to the Inbox functions)

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tejasm
Quick question - are you offering any analytics? If you're, it's missing from
the Pricing
([https://www.getstacker.com/pricing](https://www.getstacker.com/pricing))
page.

~~~
chrisdc
Yes we do, in-depth Analytics. Thats the "Reporting History" section. We've
used the word "Reporting" throughout the site instead of "Analytics". I'm
concerned that non-techies may not get "Analytics" (although that was the
first thing I wanted to call it...aka Google Analytics...being a web
developer)

~~~
bengali3
just a thought & playing devils advocate, but maybe think of it the other way?
Non-techies might want analytics to feel more techie? Analytics isn't a rare
term nowadays, especially for anyone interested in your product. AB test every
think you think you know, track it, bet on it internally with the team ...

re: other stuff

Site clean, main image clearly shows what you do in 0.5 seconds

maybe more 'meat' on the right side you integrate with, even if its
'beta','coming soon','planned Q3' etc (remember - the time saving value your
product adds goes up with the number of sites a customer needs to manage..
integrate more = more savings)

Newsletter/want to stay updated on our progress? (ask for my email address on
page 1)

site metrics, where are folks clicking, where do you lose them? (checkout
crazyegg)

conversion? email campaigns?

blogging & guest posting? - need more than one! even if its weekly release
stats (my favorite is
[http://blog.foreflight.com/](http://blog.foreflight.com/) as they mix news
with tutorials and 'did you know's)

Any case-studies / testimonials?

screenshot to show ease or walkthrough to show time savings? (screenflow
software)

best of luck!

~~~
chrisdc
Epic reply! Thank you so much for taking the time to put that down. Will
review each of the points you mentioned with the team first thing tomorrow and
have the site updated.

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marcomassaro
Is this like [http://bufferapp.com](http://bufferapp.com)?

~~~
chrisdc
Stacker's Outbox offers similar functionality to Buffer(scheduling,timezone
targeting etc). Stacker additionally pulls together all Comments, @replies and
@mentions from your Facebook and Twitter accounts into a single universal
Inbox so that you can Reply from one place.

~~~
AznHisoka
Hmm.. doesn't Twitter API has a rule where you can't mix tweets with other
social messages like FB?

~~~
chrisdc
I'm not aware of such a rule. I think thats a bit of a grey area. As long as
you are adding value to the network and not being a spammy-bot I dont think
they will have an issue here.

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uptown
People like photos. You should consider putting a couple product photos on
your site.

~~~
chrisdc
Many thanks for the feedback. My initial idea was to add product photos, but
almost all the successful startups I see don't use product photos on their
main page ( eg. asana, dropbox, basecamp, box). Also I wonder if photos would
make the product seem more complicated than it actually is, since a visitor
would be looking at data that hasn't been generated for his/her account.

~~~
oldspiceman
I'd like to see photos too

~~~
chrisdc
Noted, many thanks for the feedback!

