Ask HN: Help us with our app plan

[ammarhameed]

Hi HN,

I developed a social app with a friend of mine on both Android and iPhone called Taza, tazaapp.com, it's a bridge between Facebook and whatsapp, or you can think of it like Google+ for mobile phones that works only with your phone contacts.

We started like everybody else, with our family members and friends, but we did a trick this time we didn't tell them that this is our app, we just told them about it and how it's better than the messenger apps as the "groups" creation is easier and the threads are way more organized.

The plan worked and they loved it, we told them that it is ours after a few weeks :). So that gave us a good indication that the app is fun to use, and most importantly, it's solving a problem that all the messenger apps are having, which is the pain of having hundreds of messages if not thousands) in a group chat and you have to catch up with everybody whenever you turn on your phone.

Now we started our marketing campaign and we reached ~800 users and the reviews are good so far, but it seems that the adoption rate is slow, and as you all know with this kind of applications, word of mouth is really key. Now my questions are:

1- We are focusing on one market and it looks like our message is working, we are spending ~$1 per day to get the word out, is that a good thing?

2- What's the best way to quickly educate the user about how to use the app?

3- Is it possible to ask for a seed fund at this stage?

[franklinho]

I ran into a similar issue with my app Storyweave (www.getstoryweave.com). There seems to be a wall after your friends and family get tapped out.

The advice I've received is that at this point, you need to build some social features into your app that allow users to share the app with other people automatically. This involves:

- Sharing content to other social media platforms (e.g. post this photo on FB or Twitter) - Inviting friends in the app (e.g. find friends from your Facebook or Twitter followers list, and/or invite your friends using your contacts - Etc. Etc.

Happy to chat with you about this more.

[ammarhameed]

That would be great, I added you on linkedin just now so we can chat.

[noskynethere]

What do the current users say they like about the app? What do they not like?

Communication stuff is an strongly viral scene, why isn't it spreading that way?

How are users using your app in a way you didn't expect? (This can indicate your core idea is good with just a little tweak to it... read about paypal's pivot in jessica livingston's book)

[favabeans]

I'll look into your questions. We've been through them. However, it's useful to mention that the app is solving a simple problem that might need a lot pivoting.

[favabeans]

Just adding a correction to the previous comment I made, the app is solving a problem we are facing in our personal interactions and might NOT need pivoting.

[1arity]

You want a faster growth rate.

Read some Andrew Chen, also read the story of how Facebook grew initially, and watch Peter Thiel talk about monopolizing a small market.

It's a social app, so it is about people having an audience curated for the content they share, with that audience being curated by ( presumably ) their "family and friends" from real life.

So the growth rate is going to be slower than say, an app that is targeted at students at a single university ( do you know why ? ).

Your site says the app is secure, this is a big claim to make these days, and perhaps unnecessary. If you are going after people who want "secure" apps, perhaps that is a useful target to focus on ? However, if you are not really 100% committed to making it a reliably secure way to share things, why even make that claim? It may complicate your message. Privately may be what you are aiming for, and then you can explain it does privately differently to other things like Line, FB or WhatsApp.

Speaking of explaining how things are different, telling your people how your app is different to the apps it is most similar to ( such as perhaps ) LINE, WhatsApp, FB, is something which may influence your peoples' choice to use your app over something else. What would make someone switch from FB to Taza? From WhatsApp to Taza? From LINE to Taza?

"Social network" apps are the original kingmaker app, and one of the things that means is there are a few monopoly players to distinguish yourself from. What makes your product different? Why will people in your market use it over the other players?

If you are going for seed funding I guess the answer to the above two questions is important, and the answer to a third is also : Why did you make this? Did this arise out of some personal thing you were trying to solve, something deeply motivating for you, and you found a solution didn't exist, and you built one? It works to consider what is the basis of your motivation to make this product. You can "ask for" funding at any stage, the "possibility" of asking is always your choice, so nothing is stopping you from asking. Whether you get funding depends on what you say and show the people you ask for that funding.

The best way to educate the people about how to use your app is for those people to educate each other. Just like you did with your initial launch group, you want other people to recommend that app to their friends, and show them how to use it and so on. Ideally, the app should make it simple and easy to use, and people shouldn't be "astonished" by its behaviour.

An answer to your first question really works to come from you guys. If it "looks like" your "message is working", what does that mean? What are you measuring, and what does that suggest to you that contributes to you saying it is working? It is from this data collection and line of reasoning you will be able to conclude whether the results you are getting work for you or not.

Finally, what is the hook, the thing that makes people really hungry to use it initially? I guess the hook for facebook was "the person in my class is on there, and I can see more about them". I guess the hook for tinder was "I can possibly find people to date", I guess the hook for LINE and WhatsApp was "I can text people for FREE". What is the hook for Taza? is a question it may work to consider.

[favabeans]

Thanks! Regarding the aforementioned two questions about "What makes someone switch from FB to Taza" and "What make your product different"

We've went ahead and created simple tutorials and we are experimenting with different approaches to get them to the users while keeping those short and the user interested. Apparently, from our own observations, there's an "Aha" moment the user would reach after a very little education. After that point, the user becomes more of an advocate (or she's not convinced for totally different reasons)

As you've seen on our site, we tried to keep the messaging to the minimum as well, because too much information confuses the users. There's a trade off between explaining everything and giving them enough "hook" to look into the app and figure things for themselves.

We still trying to strike a balance between these things.