
 Review my site: AwesomenessReminders - zackattack
http://www.awesomenessreminders.com/
======
mahmud
Zack,

I am a fan, but your recent rash of "sites" is worrisome. You launched:
HipHopGoblin (<1 year, down), CustomerFind (1< year ago), NYC-Chicago-Bus (49
days ago), EndAnts (23 days ag), CompassionPit (5 days ago!) and now this,
AwesomenessReminders.

When do you even have time to improve, even promote, projects if you're
tossing them on a weekly basis? It takes time to make anything monetizable, at
least you need to create it first.

I think you're just an small sample of a generation of people who are coming
to see businesses as just "idea + landing page". Sell, then build. A/B test
today and build when the money piles up. etc. etc.

Slow down, for your own sake. Maybe even work on something you actually care
about.

HipHopGoblin had a lot of potential, I used to listen to it; so you're at
least capable of discovering and executing good ideas. You just need patience,
and maybe someone to ask you "how's it coming?". Perhaps .. ProgressReminder?

~~~
icode
> Slow down, for your own sake

I wonder why this has gotten 28 points. WHY should he slow down? I have done
many many things myself and some have become very profitable.

From my experience, the fastest route to success is to do what you like. If
this guy likes to start a new startup every week then he should go for it. If
someone likes to do one thing for 50 years he should go for that. Neither of
them would be wrong.

~~~
notahacker
Starting and testing new ideas on a regular basis is all well and good until
the quality starts to suffer. CompassionPit looked much better and the concept
sounded less like it was conceived by the Onion

~~~
zackattack
CompassionPit has done $0 in revenue this has done $100. Karma value of
CompassionPit likely higher.

~~~
anon_4_a_reason
I wonder how much in total did you make off of your experiments? The micro-
idea/implementation model is very interesting by the way.

------
philk
I might be missing the point here but paying someone to tell me I'm awesome
would make me feel rather sad.

Of course, that may not extend to everyone. I imagine a reasonable portion of
the self help community would embrace this sort of thing.

~~~
mcritz
You could pay someone to remind someone you care about. Like, if you were
going on a long journey or travelling, or lived in a different time zone from
someone special to you.

~~~
aralib
Or you could send an email. Wouldn't it be worth more if you reminded them
rather than a hired stranger reminding them, even if you can't remind them
every day or every month?

~~~
mahmud
With the twilio API,and a small shell-script tucked into your /etc/cron.d, you
can tell mom you love her several times a minute.

~~~
confuzatron
Nothing says 'I love you' like a Denial of Service attack.

~~~
jsharpe
I think you mean "nothing says 'you love me' like a Denial of Service attack."
;)

------
adriand
I love this idea, I want to do it. However, the biggest thing missing that I
see here is the ability to a) tell you what timezone I'm in and what
(approximate) time(s) I'd prefer the call to be made at; and b) leave a short
note with additional information that will help you make the call.

For example I would consider getting this for my business partner because I
think it would make him laugh, but I would want to tell you to call around
9:30 am EST and explain that he's my business partner and that if he asks why
the heck you're calling him, to just say that his employees think he's super.

~~~
zackattack
There's now room in the sign up form to indicate these sorts of specifics.
Thanks for the awesome feedback.

------
thaumaturgy
So, I'd be happy to buy this (for a family member), but I can't tell when
you'll call, and I can't tell how I get it to stop once I do buy it. Every day
for a month is gonna be a bit much; by the end of it, they might be willing to
pay to stop it.

Also, some kind of sample recording would be great. Is it gonna be cheezy?
Cheeky? I'd like to know.

------
ams6110
If this takes off, how long before the "you suck" phone call service is
launched?

~~~
Twisol
I'd pay for that just to see how creative they can get.

No, seriously, I _would_ pay for that!

~~~
zackattack
This may be a bigger market but it's not something that I want to get involved
with right now. You should check out <http://prankdial.com/>

------
harper
I built something similar to this awhile back:
<http://www.awesomeupdater.com/>

I think telling people they are awesome is a great idea. I agree that the
website needs work. I like the charging for real people to do it.

~~~
gbhn
That is the most awesome twitter account!

------
anthonyb
I'm not sure that I get it. Isn't this a bit shallow? Surely it takes some of
the joy out of being told that you're awesome if you have to _pay_ people to
tell you that you're awesome? A bit like paying people to be your friend?

~~~
thaumaturgy
I want to do it for a family member.

~~~
RyanMcGreal
Why not just call them up yourself?

~~~
thaumaturgy
Because none of your business.

~~~
RyanMcGreal
No need to be rude.

~~~
thaumaturgy
Eh, no offense intended -- I was being short and direct, not getting personal.

But, this is one of those quirks of "geekish" conversation that can really,
really irritate non-geeks (or, geeks like me that aren't in geek-mode):
someone mentions a personal issue, and the geek -- who has probably at some
point tried every non-obvious solution to some problem only to discover that
it was the obvious solution that worked -- asks the person if they've
considered the obvious.

The problem is that this often doesn't translate well to non-technical
matters. By asking why I don't just call them and say the same thing myself,
you're implying that it's the obvious solution that I haven't considered, or
that you have some unique insight into a personal situation, even though you
have zero information about it.

That didn't offend me, but it is something that can bother people sometimes.
This time I just chose the most direct method of letting you know that you
didn't know enough to even ask such a question. I didn't have the time nor
inclination yesterday to write anything longer, but I didn't want to leave
your question unanswered since so many people seemed to think it was
legitimate.

~~~
anthonyb
Someone in "non-geek mode" would just explain the situation, rather than go to
all the trouble of typing in an elaborate explanation of geek vs. non-geek
culture (and still not explain anything).

~~~
thaumaturgy
Thanks for making me sorry I bothered.

------
gcheong
Hmmm. The best citation you can come up with for your claim on your about page
that "Getting positive social feedback, via a daily reminder call, is
instrumental to progress." is a book on personal development by Steve Pavlina?

My understanding is unwarranted ego-boosting can actually be harmful. But that
does not mean people won't use the service.

~~~
zackattack
Positive social feedback is super useful in achieving goals.

Also, I totally agree that it's key to have a balanced and accurate sense of
self. But the vast majority of people are affected by social feedback. c.f.
this study at Wake forest University
<http://psp.sagepub.com/content/29/5/623.abstract>.

~~~
kolektiv
Positive social feedback is useful, but I think that I would take issue with
the definition of social here. Social means genuinely social, not a paid
reproduction of social. I would think that people who would genuinely enjoy
this service may have some self-image and narcissism issues which would be
better served by spending the money addressing those.

This is the same kind of awesome as claiming to be an amazing Casanova due to
having slept with many prostitutes. It's not always about the action, but the
intention.

------
ryanelkins
I think this is more interesting as a one time thing. Sort of like a slightly
more modern singing telegram. I just can't imagine enjoying getting that call
_every_ day.

"You're good enough, you're smart enough, and, gosh darn it, people like you."

------
Soupy
I actually like the overall idea but the general site layout needs a lot of
work. Here's a few quick things that came to mind for me -

1) I would not trust your site with my phone number in its current state.
Consider emphasizing the fact that phone numbers will only be used for the
sake of these calls and not resold (way too many of those ringtone sites
resell phone numbers and consumers are now wary of any similar looking
services).

2) consider adding some sample calls for people to listen to, I think this may
boost your conversion rate.

3) Can I request to be called at a certain time or timeframe? I wouldn't want
to be woken up

4) I could see a lot of people opting for a one time payment to get a single
phone call to test the service out, you may want to consider adding that as an
option.

------
sharpemt
This seems great - the only thing stopping me from buying is knowing how
annoyed my room mate would get after the first week or two.

Is there any plan to make "Monday / Friday" plans or something less frequent?

~~~
pierrefar
Why not buy your room mate their own reminders as a gift?

------
photon_off
Definitely a novel idea. From the feedback, your idea seems to have passed the
test. There are some people interested in it, but they seem to be put off by
the "creepy" design and lack of information.

The uniqueness of your site will be your strongest selling point... at least
it's very possible it will grab you a ton of traffic. However, as it stands
right now, that's more of a risk. Forgive me for being blunt: the site looks
crappy.

I highly suggest taking it offline and cleaning it up a bit. List your
features, the benefits, the options you have -- do any of these things --
before releasing it into the wild. You want to make the first wave of virality
as advantageous as possible.

As far as the idea -- it's quick, easy, and instantly profitable. It's
recurring. It (tries to) make people feel good. The idea "feels" right for
this moment of time in the internet -- it's something I feel would be blogged
about and gazed at because it's both absurd and potentially useful. All-in-
all, really a stellar project to make some quick money.

Please, clean the site up before going any further. Since it's just 1 page,
why not pay a designer? You can definitely find one that would be excited to
work on this. Just do something to improve the appearance. I want to see this
succeed.

Edit: And, personally, I think that stock photo kicks ass. It's the right tone
- absurd, yet promising to be fun and exciting.

------
zsouthboy
Love the idea. The website needs work though - it has a creepy 'designed in
1996' vibe.

I signed up, why not?

------
justinchen
That lady on the front page scares me :)

~~~
nostromo
Is she wearing... a Snuggie?

------
revorad
This is a really really weird idea and I can't take it seriously at all. But,
I just thought you might want to add a "Call Me Now" button so that people can
test it out immediately and see what this is all about.

------
sethwartak
Create a community - I'm sure if you created a separate section for people who
would love to call your customers (and maybe even make a couple bucks), it
would be therapeutic for them as well:)

Pricing?

~~~
zackattack
anyone interested in working as a caller should call me at 650 906 6389 and
tell me i'm awesome. or send an email.

(hello @ awesomeness reminders . com)

------
novum
How many people do you have on the phones? How long do they work?

I'd like to see a smaller plan size, something I could do on a one-off basis
to someone on twitter.

~~~
genieyclo
I wonder how this would scale...using Mechanical Turk?

~~~
kyro
Outsourcing to a country like India could work.

~~~
duck
I would pay _not_ to get on that list.

------
spxdcz
Would also be a good idea - maybe just for the fun of it - to have a stepped
pricing plan.

So for $2 a month, someone will call you once a week and tell you that "You're
adequate". :)

Seriously though, a cheap pricing plan (something less than a beer) for
someone to do something similar via Social Media (Twitter, Facebook) might
work too.

~~~
smokinn
For twitter there's already awesomeupdater that will do it for free:
<http://www.awesomeupdater.com/content/index>

~~~
harper
That was a fun hack. When i originally launched it - it proxied all the
updates through the users accounts. ;) needless the users were like "wtf."
heh. I removed that feature

------
zeteo
Did you do any testing on this - as in, having a person use the service for
2-3 months? My feeling is that it might take off as a novelty, only to wear
off quickly.

------
stackthat
Please tell me this is not real and website feels like spammy ebook sale
websites, especially the colour scheme, use a theme from or CSS template to
fix it quickly.

~~~
zackattack
You know I would love a recommendation of a good theme. Once I get the site
ready to start throwing traffic at with AdWords, I'll A/B test and post
results on HN.

~~~
iworkforthem
Amazed at e no of replies received. Guess simplicity rules! Can't wait for the
results. It would be great to see some number on
signs/subscription/cancellation, etc.

------
inrev
"If for some reason someone else picks up your phone and is abusive to us, we
reserve the right to terminate your service and issue you a refund." :-)

~~~
JacobAldridge
If the people close enough to you to answer your phone are not awesome, then
we will be forced to conclude that neither are you.

------
nchlswu
I think this should be a "Review My Idea" given how the site looks quick and
dirty.

I like the idea, but I'm not sure I'd actually want someone calling me with
regular reminders. Personally, I'd probably get pissed off and stop picking up
the number. like the idea mentioned by pwim; make it a one time thing. I'd pay
for that. You could always have the option of a subscription based or single
use.

------
MisterWebz
This would be a lot better if it was some sort of gift app. You pay someone to
call your friend and the caller tells your friend that <name of the person who
paid for this> thinks you're a really great friend and an awesome person.

This has its downsides as well but, in my opinion, it's a lot better than some
kind of self help service which might make people feel even worse.

------
mrleinad
Put a form in your page for people to contact you. No email. Don't make me
open my e-mail client just to get in touch with you, make it easy.

~~~
zackattack
excellent suggestion, easily implemented with our very own mark bao's
supportbreeze

------
aagha
I'm dying to know if anyone has actually signed up for this service. Are you
seeing any revenue? How many people?!

~~~
zackattack
yes, about 18 paying subscribers so far, => $169/month revenue after paypal
fees. zero paid traffic sent so far. when i did a dry-run with adwords, a diff
domain & unbounce, the economics looked favorable too so _hopefully_ paid
traffic is like gasoline on the flames.

~~~
aagha
I'd be curious what, if any, subscribers you see from the Time coverage.

------
amichail
The next step is to personalize this (e.g., using Facebook, a blog, etc.).

------
brianobush
I would rather have someone tell me why I am awesome... search the internet,
find famous relatives that I didn't know I had, ... but this might be
borderline creepy, since someone is stalking you.

------
abraham
Reminds me a lot of <http://twitter.com/awesomeupdater>.

Have you compared the cost/effect of using Twilio vs a real person?

~~~
zackattack
there's something special about having a real person talking to you instead of
a voice. also, the uncanny valley scares me

------
321speak
How did this get upvoted?

------
vnchr
I think it's a tad disconcerting that there is an empty blog... This seems
like an easy blog topic to have some posts already made and, if a feature
doesn't "work", why link to it?

~~~
vnchr
Ah, and all action links go to your Twitter profile. Well, I guess that makes
it clear to be an HTML mock-up. God help you if your "idea" goes viral right
away ;)

~~~
zackattack
bug fixed, thanks

------
ulvund
Why have two large images on your landing page if you scale them down anyway?

Save the visitor a little loading time and bandwidth and scale the images down
yourself =)

------
gdltec
I like the functionality of it, this can also be used like an on-demand
personal assistant with a few tweaks... I do not like the UI, but as long as
it works is all good.

------
krav
Personally, I think it's brilliant. Even love the hokiness (assuming that's on
purpose). It'll get passed around for fun, and a certain amount of people will
try it.

------
andrerobot
This reminds me of <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGYYRr6DOSo> , but with
real people!

------
pwim
Don't do it as a service. Instead have it as a onetime thing. If I get the
same call everyday the effect will ware off.

~~~
zackattack
you know, that's actually an interesting quirk in human psychology, and one
that i'm going to have to figure out how to confront in my marketing messages.
the truth of the matter is that you wouldn't get tired of it. it's just that
in your mind, you imagine the succession of day1,day2,day3 consecutively, but
in reality, a lot of your exposure burnout "resets" in a 24 hour period.

harvard psychologist daniel gilbert goes into detail about some studies that
describe this in his book stumbling upon happiness, which i reviewed here.
[http://www.zacharyburt.com/2010/06/stumbling-on-happiness-
pr...](http://www.zacharyburt.com/2010/06/stumbling-on-happiness-predicting-
what-will-make-us-happy/)

if you end up getting the book, you may be particularly interested in the
salty chip study.

------
mjterave
It sucks.

------
hnal943
This is absurd.

------
tkahn6
I don't understand this _at all_. This seems kind of messed up in the same way
that paying someone to be your friend violates the tenets of friendship.

However, the fact that this idea is being so well received makes me feel
really awesome about my ideas. So thanks -- I guess your site is working.

------
c00p3r
Guess how many misspellings average Joe would made on this domain name, even
if he managed somehow to remember it for more than a 30 seconds? ^_^

------
atomical
I'm totally in if the person on the other end is a female and I have the
option to date her depending on where our conversation goes...

~~~
Andys
Those sorts of phone services are already available...

