
Starting Referly (YC S12) Took Me Three Years - unnamed
http://www.daniellemorrill.com/2012/05/starting-referly-took-me-three-years/
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mkeblx
Interesting that however fast the startup world runs there are often ideas
that are sat upon for years that still remain viable, without direct
competitors coming on the market (and the idea still being one that is good).
I bet it's a fairly common story of "I've been thinking about this for years
and STILL no one has done it. Let's do this."

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bonjourmr
It seems that the domain was purchased before the idea
([http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8141/7217323514_0acc02941b_o.p...](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8141/7217323514_0acc02941b_o.png))
so I'm not sure this is the case in this particular instance.

~~~
Timothee
No, the idea was formed in October 2009 (or maybe a bit before). The following
screenshot of Gtalk logs shows that she knew it was for that specific idea.

~~~
bonjourmr
You could be right
([http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7228/7217382732_b147182406_b.j...](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7228/7217382732_b147182406_b.jpg))
but I guess it didn't sound concrete in the first chat log. Anyhoo, will be
interesting to see how this develops further!

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adrianwaj
Reminds me of <http://www.viglink.com>

Basically Referly and Viglink add their affiliate codes to links for
applicable ecommerce sites, collect commissions and pay link publishers
(sharers and bloggers) a cut.

I'd prefer to just run a plugin on my machine and circumvent both of them by
taking a commission on the purchases I make through any of those merchants as
paid out by the plugin creator. Would end up like a custom linkification on
ecommerce links [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/linkification...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/linkification/)

In all cases I wonder what TOS dictates for applicable sites. I think with
Amazon they don't allow manipulation of urls containing affiliate codes
already implanted.

add: if there is an idea I'd like to see, it'd be some sort of automatic
coupon code insertion at the end of a checkout on any number of sites. Perhaps
a way for those codes to then be verified to have worked. If the system
worked, that would arguably distribute benefits rather than concentrate them
as with Viglink and Referly.

Coupon codes are a popular and useful segment but as yet unreliable and
unconsolidated.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
Coupon codes, vounchers et al all have one simple aim - to segment the market
into two different purchase price points. (there is a spolsky article on this
somewhere)

Anyway the point is there is extra _effort_ in collecting codes, clipping the
vouchers etc. If you get the voucher automatically added then there is no
benefit whatsoever to the company, do it enough, the coupons go away.

Who will collect the codes? Will you enter them into the plugin?

~~~
adrianwaj
Just have a plugin like <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/bugmenot/> that works with <http://www.bugmenot.com> and
instead of suggesting logins it suggests coupons. (add: in fact look at bottom
of bugmenot -- retailmenot - wow, never knew about it: I wonder if it works
well with the plugin)

I don't know how the mechanics of the plugin are going to work but it'd do 3
things: suggest codes for the correct field, send used codes back and whether
successful or not, also check whether used codes are already in database. Who
supplies the codes? E-commerce sites to distribute a new coupon codes, and
they could also tag certain fields for the plugin to suggest upon and tell it
their coupon submit page. What happens if ecommerce sites don't actively
participate: it doesn't matter people will give to get. In fact, there could
be a karma system: supply a working coupon and get karma the more it is used.
Use someone else's coupon and lose karma.

The only hard bit is working out where a code must be entered and determining
if it was successful - but sites don't change that much and that could be
crowdsourced.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
So if you made it "social" then the plugin would feedback to saversrus.com
where your account would say

\- saved 15$ today \- your code uploads were used by 235 people and save them
3457$

I like it :-)

~~~
adrianwaj
Yeah, so do I, the issue is gaming, verification and security. I just don't
know how it could be pulled off without underlying sites cooperating with
custom markup. Maybe if people gave their logins to shopping sites to
saversrus, it could go in and check underlying records for the savings made
and coupons used.. like how billguard checks banking sites for errors in
credit card bills. At least here a plugin wouldn't need to be used or it could
be an alternative to one, and backoffice logins could be used to check
purchases and coupons that occurred in the past.

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pkh80
Its a great idea but the product seems only half done... I signed up and could
only share links but I couldn't (as a product vendor) tell referly how much
I'd pay for signups or register with the site in anyway.

It only seems to allow you to share links at this time, not register your
product.

~~~
citricsquid
this is what confuses me about refer.ly. This has been an idea she has had for
years, she gets into YC and launches in such a half assed way. I can totally
understand the whole "launch fast" mantra, but when you've sat on an idea for
3 years you can wait an extra 2 weeks to make your product usable.

They have all this initial buzz (which is not guaranteed, ever) and it's
totally wasted. I signed up as a user and I can't even use the product because
it _doesn't do what it's supposed to_ , there aren't any rewards, as you've
pointed out businesses can't sign up... seems silly to me. If you're going to
launch like this you need to be _constantly_ working, I made a suggestion in
the last thread (a simple ui change that would make the product at least
_usable_ for me) and it hasn't been done, it's a product I want to use but
can't. In it's current form it's just a glorified URL shortener with the
promise that in the future we'll get _rewards_ , that's it. I feel like I'm
being overly negative but the poor execution really rubs me the wrong way
because this idea has a lot of potential.

~~~
thedillio
True but this launch and then build is common practice these days. In fact,
many product launches on tech crunch, et al do this also.

When launching a company/service/product the most difficult part for me has
been creating something that people actually want to pay for and reaching
those people. Launching barebones and selling the vision proves that the
product is worthy first.

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abuela
wandered into your starting referly through hacker news (new giget button) and
sounded interesting. for a simple tech user, the entry to site was simple, all
the material interesting, like the disclosures & credits (shows ethics &
professionalism). probably spent 40+minutes enjoying your material... as well
as learning the higher complexity of launching what you want. especially
interesting was your doorbell system... sort of the reverse of getting called
by an alarm system...much liked the way you instructed it.. just a note from
new mexico. my name is margarita, 60+ grandmother... it was
real...nice....glad to read you. sonrisas (smiles) /ms

~~~
lifeisstillgood
Interesting that the tone of most comments is critical of the launch, the
readiness, the lack of business sign up.

But the comment from someone, abuela, whom I guess is slap in the middle of
the target demographic (silver surer, family connected) is supportive and
shows serious commitment

I think the marketing message over the last three years may have passed the
point where HN first views make a difference

Something is evolving. It might be YC, and HN needs to keep up. Fascinating.

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freshfey
Awesome write up, Danielle. I'm heavily rooting for you (because you're a
[late] self-taught programmer and have an incredible drive!) and I wish you
good luck! Go Refer.ly! :)

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jc123
Content of this blog disappears on an ipad :|

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dmor
Thanks for reporting, working on a fix.

