

Show HN: Por Favor - Favors between friends - mheap
http://porfavorapp.com/

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ollysb
If you're asking a friend for a last minute favour I think it's only good
manners to at least bother to phone them about it. I also find the notion of
tracking who'd done favours for whom rather awkward.

A favour is a personal request from a friend, I can't see this is an area that
needs to be made more efficient...

~~~
mheap
For me, it depends how big the favour is. If it's to pick someone up from the
airport, it should definitely be a phonecall.

Por Favor aims to fill the space where it's a small favour, like turning on
the oven at a certain time or taking out the bins. Things that aren't too much
of an inconvenience but are also easily forgotten.

You mention tracking favours, that's definitely not what it's about. It's
about remembering to do things you said you would, not about keeping score.

~~~
nodata
I don't like the idea of turning favours into a currency.

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mheap
I explicitly said that it's not about keeping track of who's done whom a
favour. I'd even say that each day, any old favours get reset and hidden from
view.

~~~
ollysb
>> Swap walking the dog for a lift to the airport, and keep track of who owes
you a favor.

This is the copy that's making people think along those lines. If it's sending
the wrong message then this is the bit I'd change.

~~~
mheap
Ah, my mistake. I have no idea how that managed to sneak onto the site. I'll
get it changed soon.

@ollysb, @nodata: Sorry about that. I was honestly confused why people thought
it was about keeping track and kept bringing it up when I'd said it wasn't.
Now it all makes much more sense

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processing
I dont get this. I need a favour so I log into an app to ask for it - rather
than email, call my friend?

Secondly - I have to pay 1.99 before even asking for a favour - I take it my
friend needs the app too?

Hey I want a favour - can you first download this app for £1.99 and then I'm
going to send you a favour request.

I might be missing something - I can't see how this works in the real world.

~~~
mheap
The £1.99 pricing is a work in process. It shows a different price randomly.
We're trying to use click through data to find the optimal price.

Everyone needing the app is an issue that we know about, and we're trying to
work out a way to solve the issue so people can try it out and see how it's
beneficial before having to cough up some cash.

~~~
processing
Good luck finding a solution!

I personally cant see myself using this with my friends.

However I would be interested in an app where there was a network of people
around the world - who were willing to do 5-10 min favours for each other.

Can some one proof read this blog post? Can some one provide critical feedback
on this song I just produced?

Could work by karma / ratio like torrents / split into interests etc

Maybe remove the price of the app and allow people to donate if they want to
have someone / access to a network to help with their 5-10min tasks.

All the best :)

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rhomboss
I might be alone in this, but I absolutely hate landing pages like this. Your
copy is absolutely correct: it IS a bait and switch.

I was ready to pay for the app to try it out, and now I can't give you money?
I understand the data you could gain from this is valuable, but is it really
worth it? I'm not going to throw my email address to you for an app I'm mildy
interested in trying, especially after that.

~~~
mheap
Sorry you feel that way :( Awesome that you were willing to give us a try
though, thanks!

As for the data, it really is worth it for me. I don't have an iOS dev
license, or know anything about mobile development particularly. If I'm going
to dedicate weeks of my life to this, there needs to be at least enough
interest for us to break even, or it's not worth it.

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thehodge
Nice idea but it seems strange to have this as a separate app, if I'm always
forgetting about favours, I'm going to forget to load that app all the time
and respond to items.

What about a layer that adds this to my current ecosystem (gmail todos?, RTM,
twitter bot?)

I like the MVP of the site but I think you could do with a bit more
information on how the app looks and works UI wise.

Good luck mate

~~~
mheap
The idea is that you get a notification when they ask you to do something,
then again when it's time to do it. You can load the app and see everything
you've agreed to do, but you don't need to open it to use the app.

Adding a layer to your current ecosystem's definitely an option. Making sure
people see any incoming alerts no matter what they're doing is what we're
aiming for.

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Smudge
If there's a real market for this kind of app, that's great and I hope it does
well. But it's not something I would ever use. (This is intended as feedback
-- think of me as the type of user you'd have to work hard to win over. Maybe
it's a problem you can solve somehow.)

I already have several communication channels available for contacting my
friends, and the cost of adding another isn't worth the slight benefit I might
get from an app that targets such a specific problem.

In general, instead of managing accounts on 50+ apps, I've reduced most things
down to a few spreadsheets and shared documents on Google Docs. It takes so
much less effort and mental energy when I can just keep track of everything,
however roughly, all in one place.

So, ask yourself, what would make Por Favor the exception to this rule?

~~~
mheap
Can your partner get the hang of your Google doc? How about your mum? Por
Favor is about making things easy for everyone. Your partner types in 'pick up
some eggs when you go to the shop' and chooses you as the recipient. When you
get to the shop, your phone buzzes to remind you (using geofencing).

It is another communication channel, but it's one that's reserved only for the
most important people, and only when they need something. If you get a message
on it, you know it needs acting on, right now.

~~~
Smudge
I understand what you are going for, but in this case, I think a more relevant
question is "can my housemate/co-worker/sibling/mom get the hang of email or
phone?," in which case the answer is certainly "yes."

If I need something done, and it's important enough that it can't wait, it's
also probably important enough to just call someone, instead of relying on a
potentially less reliable middle-man service that might only add to the
confusion.

I'll note that the Google Docs are generally just for my own use, with the
exception of expense tracking and very simple shared lists, which I've never
had a problem getting others to contribute to. (My family and friends are
pretty good when it comes to tech, so maybe I'm not exactly your target
customer when it comes to that.)

I definitely understand where people might benefit from Por Favor over
communication channels that are less optimized for this kind of problem, but
again, it's not for me. (I guess, in short, it's just too specific.)

Maybe if I were back in college, where the housing situation tends to be close
to a lot of other people... I could see a case where my entire suite or floor
would subscribe to this service. But I digress...

~~~
mheap
Por Favor's more than a phone call or a text though, it's also a set of
reminders with an alarm to remind you to act on a task at a a specific point
in time.

I'm obviously rubbish at the explaining what we do thing (though in my defence
we're still working out the details)

I wasn't expecting to see many people on Hacker News saying that they'd adopt
the system themselves, but I was hoping that some people would see the merit
in it.

You hit the nail on the head about less optimised communication methods. Por
Favor is primarily about asking people to do things, then reminding them when
the time is right automatically. The time might be a specific time (e.g. 6pm),
or when they're next in a certain area (geofencing) (or something else that we
haven't thought of yet).

Based on feedback from HN, we're thinking about selling a "Family plan" or
something like that, where it's a slightly higher fee, but you can share the
service with X people. It's definitely about getting lots of people invested
in the system, otherwise it's just another app on your home screen (or,
hopefully on your home screen)

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iridium
I'm not sure I understand this correctly. After buying the app and then asking
someone for a favor - now they need to plunk down for the app to view the
favor? I'm not sure they are going to want to do the favor at that point.

~~~
mheap
We're still working on the app idea. Maybe it'll just be a website to start
and you pay to send favours. We're in the ideas stage at the minute, and
nothing's set in stone.

Do you think it's worth following up on the idea (ignoring implementation
details)? Or does the implementation make the idea?

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lewisflude
The website looks nice (but Lobster is a little overused at the moment).

Your idea is good, but not great, not £1.99 great.

If it were free, it'd be awesome, if it was 69p I could see a very very very
small niche for it but what you're asking is that me and my friends each pay
you £1.99 so that we have another way of nagging each other to get tasks done.

Ask yourselves "what value does this bring to people?".

Would be cool to try it out though! Maybe you could find a way of selling 5
licences at a time or something for £1.99, so that I get one and get 4 to give
to friends?

~~~
mheap
Thanks for the feedback. You actually landed on the most expensive price!
There's a few different prices, displayed at random. We're trying to see what
people will pay for the app.

69p is a little low, as we need to at least cover our costs and everything so
far is pointing to the fact that it's a niche app, not widely adopted. If we
could change that, 69p might work.

~~~
lewisflude
It's niche but also designed for more than a single person to use at any one
time, and so you shouldn't think of the pricing as "per person" but rather
"per team / group / family".

As an aside, what I'd find useful is an app that pipes together mine and my
friends RTM or Todo.ly or Wunderlist to-do lists so that when I add a task it
also updates their accounts (I assume this is possible with the RTM api).

Keep up the good work though. Have fun with it!

~~~
mheap
Per family pricing is a decent idea. We'll have to take a look at that!

Someone else mentioned integrating with apps that they use every day, so we
might take a look into the various other to do products and see of we can
build on top of them

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mheap
Por Favor's a to do app with a bit of a difference. Instead of you adding
tasks to it, it's populated by your friends + family.

A lot of the time, people ask for favours and I say "Yeah sure" and forget
about it instantly. With Por Favor, I can say yes when they ask me, and it'll
automatically remind me when the task needs doing.

~~~
sk3tch
If there's one feature a todo list shouldn't have, it's the ability for others
to add things to it. That already exists and it's called email.

~~~
mheap
Isn't email an outdated medium though? I get a _lot_ of email, and messages
from family and friends might not get seen for 6 hours (or more). The better
comparison here is a text message, but they can still get lost in the noise
too.

Por Favor is about making things easy. You say 'yes I can do that' and it
reminds you when it's time to act. Nothing more, nothing less.

~~~
mbesto
> _Isn't email an outdated medium though?_

Outdated in what sense?

> _I get a lot of email, and messages from family and friends might not get
> seen for 6 hours (or more)._

Why doesn't it get seen for 6 hours?

> _The better comparison here is a text message, but they can still get lost
> in the noise too._

How are you reducing the noise? Imagine now, I have an e-mail client, a SMS
client, a todo app, a txt app, 10 gaming apps that all have notifications for
me to "do something", how is the issue being solved? My noise is still the
same, all I've done is created (yet) another beacon for displaying signals.

ps - Hopefully, I'm not detracting you from your hard work. Trying to provide
some honest feedback here that I'm hoping will help you.

~~~
dagw
_Why doesn't it get seen for 6 hours?_

Many people don't check their email regularly. I only check my personal email
once a day in the evening. If I'm busy or on vacation it can often go several
days between me checking my email.

That being said, I agree that I don't see what this adds. I already have
email, SMS and phone calls. If you need an answer within a couple of days,
email me. If you need an answer within a couple hours, text me. If you need an
answer within a couple of minutes, call me. I don't really see where something
else can fit in.

~~~
mheap
It takes away the hassle of remembering to do things. If you call me at 3pm
asking me to put the oven on at 4pm, either I 'm busy working and forget or
you have to call me at 3:50pm to remind me again. Por Favor automates the
reminder step.

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bluetidepro
I just want to mention that this is a brilliant name for the product. It's
very clever and rememberable for what the app does.

~~~
mheap
Thanks! :)

