

Show HN: New Punchd website (like foursquare for the masses) - cloudwalking
http://getpunchd.com

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vnchr
I barely feel the connection between your tagline "like foursquare for the
masses" and your actual service--which I think has far more potential because
your are always involved with the transaction whereas 4sq is occasional and
purely social in ~94% of my use.

How about:

\- Starbucks Rewards for the masses

\- One punch card to rule them all (I'm watching Two Towers, sorry)

\- Frequent Flyer Miles for small businesses

\- American Express points for the rest of America

Or something else. Because you're better than that. You are next to
transactions. 4sq is next to brands. I would bet on you over them if you can
execute.

~~~
icco
Are they using the 4sq reference anywhere besides the Hn title? I kind of
think it was a marketing ploy to get people to click through.

As for your slogan suggestions, those are pretty amazing. I want an ad
recreating Lord of The Rings with punchd :p

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desigooner
even better: get the kids from The Big Bang Theory do it posing as characters
from LoTR.

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adityakothadiya
Seems like a really useful idea and great execution too. I've never used the
real punch cards in action before, may be I'm not aware of it. But this is
something that I would definitely love to use!

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cloudwalking
Never used real punchcards?? That's impressive... something like ~94% of
Americans have them laying around. Whenever I pitch Punchd to a group of
people they all have punchcards and they all always forget them at home.

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DanielN
Feature request: Notify me when I enter a location that uses the service.

It's just as easy to forget about punch cards on your phone as it is to forget
about them in your wallet.

This looks like a great product. I can't wait for you to expand your venues.

~~~
cloudwalking
That's a fun idea, but we'd destroy your battery polling the gps. The best we
can do is put up some fancy posters so you remember when you're standing in
line :)

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Skywing
Could just have a "does this place support punchd" button to do this, too.

~~~
cloudwalking
We do have a list of nearby venues. Nearby is defined as ~10 mile radius.

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covercash
I'd love to see this integrated with blippy or Mint, this way the only thing I
have to remember to do is use my credit/debit card and I'll automatically get
'punchd' for the transaction.

~~~
vnchr
Oh, nice idea!! (my feedback for OP)

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83457
Who is the narrator of the video? The voice sounds very familiar but maybe I'm
just imagining things.

Will be mentioning to a restaurant down the street using traditional punch
cards.

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cloudwalking
It's narrated by my friend Christopher Nolte. If you're around North Beach SF
you may have run into him.

~~~
83457
Not the person I'm thinking of but thanks for replying.

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fabiandesimone
Great idea! I see this getting a lot of traction.

I would work a bit more on the website though. I don't think is perfectly
clear what the objective is.

It looks like you want to accomplish two main things:

1\. Get users to download the app

2\. Get business owners to request more info.

Number 1 seems clear enough, but #2 I think is a bit shaky. I think business
owners deserved a dedicated page explaining the benefits of why would they
want to use Punchd.

The idea of the letter to request more info is great and you seem to know your
fare share of Direct Response marketing :). However, the contact form is quite
unfamiliar. Idea: work on the border to make it look more like an envelope
(maybe a stamp or whatever)

Congrats on launching!

If you need any more tips drop me a line. Email is in my profile :)

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vkdelta
Just downloaded your app. Looks clean and very responsive. But I could not
find any punchd stores in nearby places around (SF bay area). Surprising since
Jamba Juice and Peets is just a stone's throw away from where I am sitting. Is
it limited to certain stores?

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cloudwalking
Yes, just the ones in San Luis Obispo right now. We have some venues in San
Francisco, stop by and test it out:
<http://www.facebook.com/punchd?v=app_7146470109>

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localhost3000
I think this is a really cool idea but I also think it is horribly awkward to
take out your phone and scan a QR code printed on a receipt. I imagine myself
standing in a line at starbucks at 8:45am with 20 people behind me and there I
am pulling out my cellphone trying to snap a QR code pissing everyone else off
who just wants to get coffee and get to work. I just do not believe the
mainstream user is ready for that (or QR codes in general). Find a better way
to record the purchase and you'll win users like me, until then I will keep
using the card in my wallet.

~~~
antihero
1\. Buy coffee. 2\. Take receipt. 3\. Go sit down/move to area in which you
intend to drink coffee. 4\. Scan barcode. 5\. Enjoy coffee.

I think people are ready for QR codes - they've worked out self service tills
over here in the UK, and if the app was designed intuitively (don't mention
"QR Code", just say "scan your receipt so the barcode is in this square")
they'll work it out. They also need to sort out their site, get user accounts
sorted/tie it to google accounts, and get that stuff on the market.

It's amazing how quickly people learn stuff when there's free things in it for
them.

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d0m
Really interesting! On a constructive note: The font on your website is weird
on Windows/Chrome.

I really see myself using that.. the big problem right now is that no business
use it where I live.

~~~
cloudwalking
You're right, that font does look bad. I fixed the problem by making it normal
weight instead of bold. Thanks for pointing that out.

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nathanlrivera
Your product is off to a great start. How do you plan to scale?

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cloudwalking
That's where the uncertainty lies right now. We've made venue acquisition as
smooth and easy as possible, but we still need to sell them on the idea.

We're experimenting with some ideas (various geographic markets, adwords,
referral program) but haven't found the ideal solution yet. This is our
biggest challenge right now.

~~~
vnchr
I think your service is a boon to local businesses... I'm talking to some
local economic development people in St. Louis in the next week or so. I'll
show them Punchd and see their reaction.

I think economic development groups should champion an array of web services
like Punchd that are affordable, create engagement, and get measurable
results.

If it seems a good angle, I'll follow up.

~~~
cloudwalking
That would be fantastic. Drop me a line and let me know how it goes, even if
it's just one sentence. Email is in my profile. Would hit you up first but you
have no contact info.

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karanbhangui
Hey guys, first heard about Punchd last night. I was looking at your new
website and the redesign looks gorgeous.

We've been working in a similar idea in Toronto: <http://loyaltiapp.com/> with
a slightly different execution. I'm in the bay area for the next few days, do
you guys want to get together and discuss some ideas?

My email is karan.bhangui@gmail.com

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dryicerx
Excellent work.

Out of curiosity, what prevents a user from cheating this system? (eg. taking
a picture of the QR and punching at home or with others).

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cloudwalking
A combination of things, one of which is GPS. Don't want to say anything more
though ;)

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sygma
Security through obscurity? It will get abused eventually.

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callmeed
I see some SLO references ... you guys here in town?

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icco
They were, now in SF mostly. They are a Cal Poly Senior Project turned into a
business.

edit: school news article about them: [http://mustangdaily.net/get-punchd-a-
new-type-of-senior-proj...](http://mustangdaily.net/get-punchd-a-new-type-of-
senior-project/)

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dannyr
Are the QR codes unique for every purchase? If so, I would imagine that it
integrates with the POS.

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thomasswift
Very clean iPhone App. I like it. No locations near me (chicago). I especially
like the About screen with the pull down scroll to reveal the version number,
nice little touch.

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gurraman
For those who were not familiar with QR codes:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code>

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bpeters
What other features are you planning on adding to Punchd?

Also, does Punchd have an overall game mechanic like Foursquare badges?

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minalecs
I really don't think badges/ or any gamifciation is necessary, KISS. Isn't
winning a free coffee after buying 10 coffees enough motivation to use the
product. I really don't think the problem is convincing users to adopt its
going to be getting businesses to adopt. If I see 10 places I frequent often
all using this app for their loyalty program.. then I think its pretty obvious
I would use it to.

~~~
cloudwalking
Indeed, you nailed it on the head. Signing up venues is the hard part; they do
the leg work to sign up customers. There's a vested interest :)

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shadowpwner
As a developer, it feels better if I didn't have to go to Vimeo to watch in
HD. But this is just a nuance, and I'm picky.

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cloudwalking
Unfortunately that's a vimeo requirement. We had YouTube, but you can't set
which frame shows before it plays.

~~~
covercash
Could you just put the one frame you want at the beginning of the clip or does
youtube randomly grab a frame from the middle?

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jw84
Small businesses expect the marketing rewards of those loyalty cards, look
forward to the breakage, and demand everything to be as cheap as possible.

Traction is going to be hard. Good luck.

