Launching my bootstrapped start-up. Please cross your fingers for me.

[TWOO]

Launching my bootstrapped start-up. Please cross your fingers for me.

I just launched my start-up and am a little freaked out. Everything works (so far) but I've been so focused on getting the app up and running that I'm feeling a little lost on what to focus on next and second guessing some early thinking/research.

Anyway, I could use some advice (and/or moral support). 1. Does this app have legs? 2. Do I need to tweak/change anything? 3. Where do I go from here?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Link: https://www.TheWisdomofOthers.com

[abbasmehdi]

This is a classic holiday gift item. Holiday season is approaching. Get on ProfNet and respond to every inquiry that comes in from a press person about the holiday gift guide.

Second, make it a snap, from start to finish. For holiday gifts, I want to make it a quick gift to send to my parents, not have a summer project on my hands.

[TWOO]

Thanks abbasmehdi! I checked out ProfNet and will create an account first thing tomorrow. Great idea!

As for making this a snap, the content of each book comes from a social network (yours or someone you're giving the book to) so the speed with which that network contributes content is likely the biggest driver of project duration. So while it's possible to make a book in a day and have it on your doorstep in a week, it all comes down to how quickly a social network responds.

If you have time, please create an account, take the app for a test drive and let me know what you think.

Thanks again!

[ja27]

I like it and I agree that there are other niches you could target - weddings, baby showers, graduation, confirmation, retirement, etc. Anything that's sort of a life-changing event or entering a new stage in life would be a good time for this as a gift.

I've see us do a similar thing (but low-tech) at church. A bunch of parents contribute stories or advice and then copies are handed out to each graduating student. Or I think we've done something similar with a collection of a bunch of favorite Christmas traditions, then copies were handed out to the whole congregation. Or it's similar to recipe books where a couple dozen families contribute their favorite recipe then copies are sold as a fund-raiser. Not quite the same as what you're doing but it could be an easy follow-on product.

Curious why ePub is 50% more than PDF.

[TWOO]

Thanks ja27 for checking us out! I think you're spot on with selecting the target market. Now I just need to figure out the best ways to get on their radar screens...

There are a few reasons for the PDF/ePub pricing but the biggest one was this: I wanted the PDF to be really accessible so that someone that contributed to a book could buy it just to see what other people wrote without having to spend too much.

What do you think of our pricing? Would you price things differently?

[ja27]

I don't know about the price. I'm a cheap bastard so it all seems expensive to me. If you can find a way to A/B test different prices or run special offers that might help figure out the best prices.

[bmelton]

I strongly recommend looking at Patio11's posts on this sort of subject -- also, he did an eBook sort of presentation on how he markets Bingo Card Creator that was sold on AppSumo that will likely apply directly to your business as well that I strongly suggest you find / get.

The gist of it was that he creates a TON of landing pages and SEOs the hell out of them (he talks more about how in the book) so that people searching for things like "custom wedding book" will find your page specifically targeted to weddings, and other people searching for "custom christening book" will find you with targeted copy for christenings, etc.

I think you have a slightly less niche market than BingoCC, and this is definitely a product that people will pay a semi-premium price for given the keepsake / memento vibe to it, so long as the product looks like quality (and it does), but otherwise, I think the two business models overlap more than they don't.

[ja27]

Yes, exactly. He also did a talk about targeting the female market. This might be a big help for you. Here's the thread, talk, and blog post: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2371965

[TWOO]

Thanks for the tip! I will check out Patio11's posts today.

[swalkergibson]

First off, I am really impressed with your design. Where did you derive the inspiration for it? It seems like a nice service to me, quite unique. Have you considered a white-label service for wedding/event planners? I imagine that is where your market will be, just as your anecdote indicated. The other area where this might be cool is for seminars and/or self-help type events where the crowd's wisdom and shared experiences might be leveraged to provide meaningful takeaways from the event. I'll noodle on it more and report back if I think of anything else. All in all, looks good so far, keep us updated!

[TWOO]

Great ideas! I'm meeting with several VCs this Thursday and may suggest those as additional market possibilities. Thank you!

I'm really glad you like the design but I can't take any of the credit. I lucked out and got Colleen Palmer from 12 Spokes to do it.

[Terry_B]

Nice! I like it.

Couple of thoughts perhaps on how you could better close a sale.

It wasn't immediately clear to me what exactly I'd do with this. Would I create a book for myself with things other people have told me? Would I put my wisdom in a book and give it to someone else?

Lets say I've got my mind around it and I think this is a good idea that I plan to do. You need to convince me pretty quickly that I shouldn't go and look for other online book publishing sites that are cheaper/easier.

[theitgirl]

Very cool. A few weeks ago my friends and I put together something like this using google docs for a friend's 30th birthday and had it printed. This would have been perfect!

A few suggestions: 1. It wasn't clear to me what you do right away. The book image is what helped me. Then I still wasn't sure if this was a digital book or not till I read the "How it Works". 2. I think having an example for a wedding book would be useful.

Good luck!!

Edit: Just found the examples :)

[TWOO]

Great thanks!

Any ideas for what I could do to make what we do a little more clear?

Also, there's a wedding book example but you have to access it via Book Examples on the home page. Is it too hidden?

Thanks again!

[TWOO]

One more question for you: How would I have gotten on your radar screen when you were putting together your gift a while back?

(Trying to figure out the best market strategy) Thanks again :)

[brodney]

This is really cool! Very good website design. I noticed on https://www.thewisdomofothers.com/how-it-works in firefox 6.0.2 that step four wraps around in the right column. Here's a screenshot: http://imgur.com/KAstV

I especially like that you donate some of the profits. I'm looking forward to doing exactly the same.

[TWOO]

THANK YOU!!! A few users emailed to tell me they were having that same issue but I couldn't recreate it to save my life. A fix is on the way...

Glad you like the app and thanks for letting me know. Now please go tell a few thousand of your friends about it. ;)

[nurik]

Very good idea! The topics Baby, Graduation and Marriage are well chosen.

Maybe you could also function as an personalized news aggregator of other sources such as bloggers: pay them royalty and publish "emagazines"... imagine you could have emagazines on sports, coding, medical topics, politics etc...I would be your first customer.

[TWOO]

Thanks nurik! I'll have to noodle the personal aggregator idea :)

[maguay]

Clickable: https://www.TheWisdomofOthers.com

[aorshan]

Awesome idea. A really good market you could hit could be students heading off to college for the first time. College is a scary place and having some really good advice about going to college (even better if it is about your school specifically) helps a ton.

[TWOO]

Hey Thanks! I was planning to advertise in High School newspapers around graduation time and hoping to get picked up in some graduation gift guide stories/blogs. Got any other ideas for hitting that market?

[aorshan]

Well there are certain websites a lot of people tend to visit before they go to school. Advertising there could be helpful. For example Rate My Professor is really big. As is roomsurf.com Also Bed Bath and Beyond is a hugely popular place for people to go to buy supplies for school.

[TWOO]

Good stuff. Thank you!

[plasma]

One suggestion already: Describe what your startup actually is in this post, I've got no idea what its about until I visit the link :)

[TWOO]

Thanks plasma. I'd held off on describing my startup to get a better sense for whether I got the execution of the idea right. I wanted to know if users coming to the site 'got it' without biasing things too much. But, that said, here is the gist of what we do:

The Wisdom of Others is an online personal publishing service that makes it easy to create book-store quality books filled with the practical advice and useful wisdom of family and friends.

Think of our books like a personalized Life's Little Instruction Book written for someone you care about by everyone that cares about them.

For example, say you have some friends expecting their first child. You could make a book of parent survival tips and how-to’s by asking their family and friends to answer the question, “What do you know now that you wish you did before having kids?”

Or, maybe you’re heading to a wedding and are hunting for the perfect gift. You could make a book for the new bride and groom that asks, “What’s the secret to having a happy marriage?” and fill the pages with answers from everyone invited to the wedding.

Or maybe you know a recent graduate that's getting ready to launch out into the world. You could make a book filled with advice and instructions for succeeding in life written by their family, friends, teachers and coaches.

Hopefully you're getting the idea. Our books make it easy to give the gift of experience and encouragement to someone you care about. Because life, after all, doesn't come with instructions.

[TWOO]

Here is a really nice review of our site by Web.AppStorm that came out today if you want a little more info about what we do.

Link: http://web.appstorm.net/reviews/media-reviews/the-wisdom-of-...

[gdhillon]

I'm not a big book reader but I liked your idea. Anyways, the site was very fast and I liked the look and feel. Good Luck..

[TWOO]

Thanks a bunch for the feedback! Quick question for you: Did you get what our service does/how it works fast enough or did you feel like you had to hunt for it?

[swalkergibson]

It took a moment for me to grok. It would be good to get your anecdote on the home page if possible, that really brings it home.

[TWOO]

What do you think would be a good anecdote? Been noodling that for a bit...

-Books of advice for the people in your life

-Books filled with the advice and wisdom of family and friends

-Books of wisdom from family and friends

Any ideas would be much appreciated!

[swalkergibson]

I think the story that you told in the other section of the website about the wedding would be ideal. That is something that nearly everyone can relate to, and it makes the value proposition crystal clear. I would put that content front and center.

[TWOO]

Cool. Thanks again!

[gdhillon]

Yes, I was able to go to "How does it work" and figure it out. Your # 4 Review & order is overlapped where the text "order" and shopping cart image is showing up under # 2 "Setup your book"