

Please review my startup - Flooha - flooha
http://flooha.com

======
mgrouchy
While I think offering the hosting for such things is a neat angle, I don't
know how relevant it is(or how you plan to make money). A default Wordpress
install now allows you to search both its theme and plugin directory and
install them without ever leaving the comfort of your administrative backend.
I'm not quite sure what is available for drupal and the others in terms of
plugins and such but it might be a good idea to market to those users in your
screencast as apposed to the wordpress users who already have the features you
offer available to them.

Most of the other services you have listed are also offered as 1 click
installs by many web hosts with similar $/month price points for the paid
hosting.

~~~
flooha
I agree, WordPress is not the best example now that it has the "plugin
installer" in the administration control panel. I will probably change the app
used in the video tour.

However, WordPress is the exception, not the rule when it comes to automated
plugin installation. Even for apps like phpbb3, which have a mod called
"automod" which installs mods automatically, the user still has to download
the mod, and then upload it to their server, unzip it, put it in the right
directory etc... Flooha eliminates all of that busy work.

The real exception is apps like MediaWiki (which runs Wikipedia) and
osCommerce. The add-ons (extensions, contributions, etc...) for those apps
often modify core code files and it is not as simple as uploading and
unzipping. It can be extremely painful to install the easiest add-on for some
users who aren't extremely comfortable working with source code.

Thanks for the tips!

------
geoffw8
Dude. I've been thinking about this for a while. I think its ABSOLUTELY
genius. And I think it looks really neat.

The UI could be a bit better, but that will come with feedback and time...

~~~
ckinnan
Yeah, at first I was like "another free host, WTF." But then I realized that
you're really closing the "last mile" of open source web site deployment and
hosting by automating the process. It is pretty ambitious.

One benefit to the user is that the add-ons/ plug-ins are sort of "Flooha-
certified" which is helpful as there are a lot of junk/insecure modules
floating around out there.

Another cool feature would be the ability to auto-migrate between different
CMS.

But, what is the revenue model in all this?

Good luck and keep us posted!

~~~
flooha
"...you're really closing the "last mile" of open source web site deployment
and hosting by automating the process."

Right, and even when experienced developers use the site, I think they will
appreciate the automation. A hacker doesn't want to spend time doing all the
boring stuff like un/zipping, find, copy, paste, create db, etc... Flooha
allows them to skip all the fluff and get down to the fun stuff like hacking.
Similarly, normal users can skip all of what they consider BS and just get
down to adding their content.

"But, what is the revenue model in all this?"

Well, the free hosting is pretty limited at 100MB. Initially, we'll generate
revenue from the premium hosting accounts. However the potential is so much
more. Here's a short list.

1\. Job listings and rent-a-coder type projects.

We hope to develop a community where users can find designers and hackers to
further customize their sites.

2\. Paid apps and addons.

Think "iPhone App Store" on this one. There was a story here recently
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=659303>) about WordPress plugin
developers who can't make any money from their plugins. Well, imagine if they
had a way to charge just a dollar or two and thousands of users used their
plugin on their website... There is also an opportunity for paid apps like
vBulletin, which is the most popular forum software on the 'net and also has
tons of add-ons.

3\. I've designed the site so that I can basically "flip a switch" and open it
up to other hosting companies. So, you could use Flooha, but on your own
server or your web host's server. There is potential for partnerships with big
hosting companies.

I think I've given away all my secrets. ;)

"Good luck and keep us posted!"

Thanks a lot, I will.

------
rriepe
I'd recommend against using "kick-ass" on the homepage. Save the attitude for
the blog.

~~~
flooha
:) Yeah, that's one I've debated a lot about. It came about when explaining
the site to a designer who was working on the logo. It was getting wordy
trying to explain the concept through text and I just ended it by saying "In
other words, you don't have to be a programmer to have a kick-ass website."
She latched on to it and when I got the logo back, it has the tag-line
attached. I kind-of liked it, so I kept it...for now.

The funny thing is that I've had mostly great feedback from it. It makes
people laugh a little and they tell me they think it's great. It's not the
best marketing material for business users though, I agree.

I thought it might capture a bit of what we're trying to accomplish. To make
users feel comfortable and I can imagine a lot of them saying "Why do I have
to know all this programming stuff just to have X on my website?".

Thanks for the advice. I'd love to hear some other opinions on this from the
HN crowd.

~~~
Elessar
I wouldn't worry too much about the tagline. It's youthful and trendy, which I
am assuming is the type of audience you want to draw into your site.

Pick your public face to draw the right type of people in. Don't worry about
the rest.

------
tripngroove
Great idea. I could see myself using this as a quick way to start new
projects... especially with Drupal, as downloading & installing a bunch of
modules can be a long process.

That said, I think the interface for adding modules could be more efficient if
it functioned a little more like the iTunes search bar - just pull stuff in as
I type.

Also, there's no reason to take me to a new page when I add a module - it's a
waste of time. Try some sort of lighter-weight confirmation... maybe just add
it to a sidebar panel that lists the modules I've added and give me a little
flash so I can see it popped up there. Otherwise, I have to wait for this page
to load that doesn't tell me anything new.

Keep at it!

~~~
flooha
Thanks, great comments. I've put off adding a lot of javascript goodness
simply to get a working beta out faster. Is it just me or is debugging ajax
stuff annoying?

"I could see myself using this as a quick way to start new projects"

Exactly. It is also fantastic for testing add-ons. Create a free site with the
add-on you want to test, play around and then uninstall it...all in a few
minutes.

------
kristianp
Really impressive. I tried installing wordpress, I'm user number 55!
Installation is fast, and wordpress seems to run fairly quickly.

With the plans starting at $5 a month I imagine you aren't using amazon EC2 to
host the virtual machines. (I'm assuming each user has their own VM).

~~~
flooha
Thanks a lot.

"With the plans starting at $5 a month I imagine you aren't using amazon EC2
to host the virtual machines. (I'm assuming each user has their own VM)."

You are correct. The paid plans will probably not be on Amazon EC2. We're
looking at dedicated servers for those accounts. Have fun with the site. If
you enable email alerts in your account profile, we'll let you know when the
paid accounts are available.

------
aw3c2
The "floating popup" navigation could use some more spacing between the
letters.

On the signup page there is "Capcha" (with no noscript), it should be
"Captcha" (I think, that word is terrible).

No other comments because I did not check out the rest.

~~~
flooha
Thanks for the tips.

------
flooha
To the user who signed up as "bobbob", your activation email was returned. You
can't use your account without activating yourself. Email me at
support@flooha.com if you typed your address wrong. Thanks.

------
TheSOB88
Nice presentation. I need to make a website for a group of mine, so I was kind
of interested, but when I saw that Drupal was being used, my enthusiasm
dropped. It seems that all CMSes have big security flaws. We got hacked about
40 times when we were using Joomla!, so I'm wary of anything similar.

There are an insane amount of add-ons on the page after you select the app. I
don't think this is good; there are just way too many options. They should be
categorized, or something.

~~~
flooha
Drupal is the only CMS currently offered, but hopefully this will change in
the near future. Drupal is considered MUCH more secure than Joomla!, which is
one of the reasons why I started with Drupal. All CMSs will have security
issues at one point or another (or any software for that matter.).

"There are an insane amount of add-ons on the page after you select the
app...They should be categorized, or something."

Maybe there should be less per page, so the user isn't initially overwhelmed.
You can drastically reduce the number of results by using the search box at
the top. Also, you can use the "filter & sort" box on the right to filter by
category. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

~~~
broeker
You should offer a default set of recommended modules similar to the Acquia
distribution. Let people customize as needed but get them going in the right
direction by setting up a suite of the most common, well-supported modules
typically needed for a functional Drupal site.

~~~
flooha
Great idea! Every package that is built is saved for immediate download or
installation when other users choose the same add-ons. So, for every
permutation, there is a corresponding "app version". It was my hope that the
popular versions would bubble to the top and develop a following. Based on
your comment, I think I need to make a "popular versions" box and display it
prominently on the app details page. Thanks!

