
Learning from Wakemate - Smart announcements - aditya
http://danieltenner.com/posts/0014-learning-from-wakemate.html
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patio11
I'm a twenty-seven year old computer programmer. I mention this so that you
don't think I'm biased when I say: twenty-something male techies are some of
the worst customers on the face of the earth. I don't know why we spend so
much time trying to sell to ourselves.

It is not my intention to criticize any person as an individual here, but
let's review: pre-orderers of this product have _five dollars_ on the line.
That will not even buy you a value meal at McDonalds these days, but people
appear to have gone ballistic that the company they married (i.e. gave five
dollars to) might -- wait for it, massive betrayal approaching -- _charge
money_ for products they had not previously announced.

The people who cause me the most amount of difficulty are poorer customers (I
get a few, mostly older folks on fixed incomes), because a) they assume
everyone is out to cheat them and b) any difficulty they have with a $25
transaction represents a Catastrophic Life Event to them whereas people with a
bit more in the bank account just put it on the checklist of minor things to
address today.

Twenty something techies are a curious bunch, with the purchasing power of
employed professionals and the money sensibility of peasants in the middle of
a famine. It is madness: we spend our days talking about XYZ got a $N million
round of funding and investment advice for the $20,000 made last month and,
wait, WAIT, PAY MONTHLY?! I DON'T PAY MONTHLY! Except for my $600 iPhone ($100
a month), Internet access ($60 a month), $15 a month for WoW, $15 a month for
Netflix, etc etc but you want me to PAY MONTHLY WTF BBQ.

~~~
maxklein
I was once cheated out of $15 by a phone provider. I spent $500 and a lot of
time and went to court to get the money back, which I did. I also got my costs
recouped. I have spent more than $500 on karaoke in Asia without blinking.
Money does not matter to me, but nobody fucks over Max. I'll chase it down
till I get my money back. To quote Arnold: nobody gives me a raw deal.

It has never been about the money.

~~~
lionhearted
Story:

At one point, I realized I was fighting a lot of battles over principles that
were taking time away from me that could've been used on objectively _much_
better pursuits.

Despite realizing this, I had a hard time cutting it out.

So, I put a post it note on the wall in front of my desk, with big letters -
"WIN"

Anyone who came across it misunderstood. They thought it was something
competitive. Nuh-uh, just the opposite. Whenever I saw the note, I was forced
to ask myself, "Well, what _is_ winning? Is it winning an argument? Or is it
spending my time building the best life possible for myself?"

So I got a particularly unjust parking ticket, total BS, for like $60 in Los
Angeles. And I'm getting pictures, and all gearing up for a fight, and then I
think - "What the fuck am I doing? I could make a couple hundred dollars in
the time it takes me to fight this BS." And so I gritted my teeth, paid it,
and went and made a couple hundred dollars instead, doing enjoyable work for
good people, and then I had more money and less stress.

Yeah, the jerks get $60 of revenue they don't deserve, but my goal isn't to
make them lose, it's for me to win. Spending three hours fighting California
for $60 is not winning. I understand principles, I'll never let a betrayal or
extortion attempt work, but making a fuss over $5 when presumably you could
freelance yourself at $35+ per hour is... well, what is winning? Everyone
answers the question differently. But it's worth some serious reflection on
when there's actions that advance every conscious life goal you have more than
whatever the petty nonsense du jour is.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
my post-it says "what are you optimizing?"

Righteousness, while a virtue in Confucianism, is seen as performing an act of
self-interest in Taoism.

------
emmett
I'm not sure why everyone is so up in arms about this. I was actually very
pleased when I got the email. Yay, they haven't folded! Yay, I'm going to get
my WakeMate! Yay, they're giving me a free month of their premium analytics
(which implies that there's a standard analytics that's free, just as
previously advertised). This seems like a tempest in a teapot to me.

~~~
Frazzydee
Yeah, I really don't think there's a problem with the actual content. Their
announcement was just very poorly worded. You'd think that, being a Y
Combinator company, they would have access to resources that would help avoid
such customer relations blunders.

Actually if you read the site, I don't think they ever advertise that any of
the analytics will be free: "After a night's data is collected, it is
automatically uploaded to our servers, analyzed, and made available on the
WakeMate Analytics platform."

So although the data is analyzed, but that sentence only says that the data
itself is made available.

However, the picture below those words shows your "sleep score" and a graph,
which I presume is part of the basic analysis package.

See: <http://www.wakemate.com/tour/>

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ajju
Well written. Just one more point, the form link seems to have been redacted.
Asking customers to fill yet another form is painful. But then topping it off
with "The next message we'll be sending out will include when you are getting
your WakeMate and a link to finalize your purchase. _To stay on our list be
sure to fill out and submit the above form!_ " is just awful.

That sounds like if I don't fill this form, I may not even get my order!

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andrewljohnson
Maybe there wouldn't be so big a shipping delay if WakeMate focused on
shipping the product they promised, instead of cooking up premium features
while everyone is waiting.

That's why people are mad... not the premium features, not the delay, but
rather the implication that people pre-ordered a product and they have to wait
for something they don't want (and didn't know was being built), while what
they were promised is delayed as a result.

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ulf
Awesome post, this should be a must-read for everyone who ever has to give
some kind of bad news to his oder her customers. Well done

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donaldc
I haven't pre-ordered, but was planning to buy one once they _actually_
started shipping. I don't care at all about any advanced features -- just
basic reporting and whether it will be able to wake me up at an opportune
moment each morning.

It isn't entirely clear to me at this point whether I'll be able to do that
without paying a monthly fee. It sounds likely that this may be possible, but
I'd prefer to be sure before I buy.

Hopefully their website will clarify what is free and what is not before they
begin shipping devices.

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lace05
pls iwanna learn to be a hacker any hacker seeing this message and wannab help
should kindly mail me on delovingguy2000@yahoo.com.peace bros

