

Ask HN: Jumping into a market that's already "mature"? - Nowyouknow

We've got an idea for a simple task list web app. We like to call it a deadline web app. It's a way for employees to stay on task and generate a report of their tasks that have met deadlines, completed before the deadline, and been late on deadlines. The mission is to create quantifiable data each and every task.<p>The market is flooded with these type of creations, but the spin we are adding to it (the analytics)isn't something that is normally associated with this type of tool.<p>What are the roadblocks here? Things to keep in mind?
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stephengillie
You've already identified one major roadblock - getting your app noticed in a
sea of similar apps. Thus you really must absolutely push any edge you have.

About the analytics you derive - who are you targeting it toward? Individuals?
Power users? Consultant/freelancers? Small business owners who want to see
what's taking up all of their employees' time? Large enterprises who can use
this to increase employee utilization?

You might even think about marketing _just_ the analytics, and "bundling" the
task app. Good luck!

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Nowyouknow
Good point about who we're targeting. So far in our experimentation and
keeping the task list as rigidly controlled as we can, we've begun to notice
interesting metrics... Metrics that can definitely be useful. We're very
excited to use this daily and see our results a year from now.

The analytics are dependent on the input from the user of the task app, but I
see where you're coming from. The analytics would definitely be highlighted as
our selling point.

