

Ask HN: help with my startup - ra00l

This is my first post, please be gentle :)<p>In 2009, with a friend, I launched gdocsopen.com, a way to use google docs for local office documents. After launch, we got some really good press.<p>Fast forward 3 years, after which I put some effort into the website &amp; app, it&#x27;s not working really well (2-3 sales &#x2F; month). I realised that the market is really small.<p>What do you advise me to do? Move on or keep trying to succeed with this app?
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waster
I'm with those who said it's in the market, for various reasons. In pretty
much all respects, it's about the numbers. Is there a big enough existing
market/potential market for your product as it is? Are there borderline cases
that might be sold on your product if they had a free trial? Is there a bigger
market if you shift to another variant like the web-based alternatives
penologist mentioned? What's your margin for any of this? Are you deterring
people with a long domain/name?

I realize I'm restating what other people said, but with many things, I think
the math speaks for itself, or at least, it should. Run the numbers as
ruthlessly and exactly as you can. Then make your decision based on that.

If your heart is in this, maybe you can adapt it somehow so that the numbers
are more promising. But let the numbers speak.

~~~
ra00l
thanks for the tip. The numbers were always saying to give up, since I put way
too much effort, with little reward...

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michaelstewart
What sales volume were you receiving after the launch when your site was
getting traffic from your press coverage?

If you were doing a lot of sales when you were getting good press you clearly
have an application that people want and are willing to pay for. In that case
you might be able to substantially increase sales by spending more time on
marketing.

If you do decide to move on to something else, maybe you could offer the app
for free and encourage social sharing both in the app and on the website. You
could then move back to the project if downloads pick up as a result.

~~~
ra00l
even though I've got a traffic spike after the articles, I wasn't seeing that
in the sales... There was no difference. I like the idea of offering the app
for free, to see if there's any traction. Thanks!

~~~
porter
Why not take the price from $7 to $70?

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benologist
I would think the number of people who care about google docs as a full
replacement for locally installed software would have to be very small so you
need to grow towards a larger audience.

Maybe you can also support office365, zoho, and any other web based
alternative to some locally installed piece of software. That would
potentially allow you to pull affiliate fees for driving new customers to
software you support and/or get some promotion or marketing from those
companies.

~~~
ra00l
I've thought about this approach, but wanted to wait until I have a proven
concept. Google Docs has lots more users than zoho/office365. I like the idea
with affiliate fees. Thanks for the feedback!

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thesmileyone
I hate the domain name honestly. Too long and 3 syllables, good domain names
are 2 or less, you need something that is going to stand out and get noticed
IMO.

The other issue is that Microsoft now uses "the cloud" to store all your data,
treating your computer as a terminal, therefore people have no need for your
service!

~~~
ra00l
about your first observation, don't know if the name is what's wrong...

that's exactly what my app does: it uses the cloud to keep any documents you
open :)

