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by ddri 1943 days ago
Beta user here. I requested data export because it's part of my basic product due diligence when researching tools for my team. I have a bit of extra bias, I used to work for Red Hat, but really it's common sense. Especially when dealing with startups.

I sense from your other comments that you're in trolling mode, but if you're serious on this point, remember that user data freedom is a cultural signal that the team is committed to the best user experience. We proved this at Red Hat and it's the basic battle plan for SaaS these days. Any team that show me I'm not locked in is already building trust. Strange to see people arguing the opposite.

1 comments

I'm not trolling at all. I'm dead serious.

If you're talking about Red Hat, you're talking about products developed by a large company that are expected to be supported and well built before they go out there door. The tendency of Red Hat's products gear towards enterprise needs that are well understood and often times the bulk of the exercise is more about engineering than finding product market fit.

None of that is the case here. This is an early stage company that just released their first product on a single platform, made by a handful of people on a hope and a dream. I've been there. I've also seen my fair share of distractions. I don't doubt that for you it's part of your basic needs. But that doesn't mean it's part of the basic needs of the majority of their future customers. It's very easy to get side tracked on early feedback for feature requests that even when made don't convert to actual usage.

Looking over the homepage, I don't believe they have found product market fit. To me, their messaging is unclear, and who this is for is not obvious. Even if they're on the right track, why should they waste time (and this opportunity on HN) for anything but getting the core product experience out to people? Leaving their platform is anything but a core product experience... it's an off ramp. When you have no cars on your freeway, on-ramps are far more important.