Ask HN: Review my startup

[gilmanyu]

Hey guys. A friend and I are building a small web app and we would love to get some feedback. Are we providing enough value for the users? Is there enough information on the homepage for people to sign up?

Here's the page, would enjoy your feedback! http://flexdayapp.com

Regards from Gilman

[canibanoglu]

I think the idea is a good one but having never worked in a company before (still in school), I can't say if companies need something like this. Even if they do, how does your product differentiate itself from the solutions already in use by these companies? A side by side comparison could be a good idea here.

As attheodo said, I think screenshots are a must. It lets your potential customers see what they're going to get.

The website could use a little bit more work. I'm not a designer by any stretch by personally speaking, I like information grouped up based on context. What do I mean by that? The main body of the page is about what your application does but there's a big arrow that points to pricing and plans which is in the main body as well. I would consider adding a navigation bar and place pricing and plans there along with some other links.

Speaking of other links, consider adding an about page which lets your potential customers know who they're dealing with.

You could consider giving out beta access or free access for a limited amount of time so you can see how your potential customers use your application and get valuable feedback from them. This will also help you build up a user base which can turn into customers when the app launches for real.

And while this may be a small issue or perhaps one that is strictly related to my browser (Safari), the header "Track employees with..." seems to be farther left than the line above Copyright stuff. For some reason this really disturbs me, I instinctively expect them to be lined up. If this was intended please ignore this.

Speaking of the copyright footer, there's a funny character before (c).

Hope this helps and good luck with your application :)

[gilmanyu]

Thanks your valuable feedback! really appreciate it!

Yes, understand your point and totally agree with you. One of the reasons why we put such a big arrow in the body was that we wanna see whether people would even hit the pricing button even they only saw a few lines of the product so it serves a little validation purpose for us to understand whether people would be interested in paying for such service but ya we definitely gonna try navigation bar and add more tabs as A/B testing!

In terms of the alignment problem in Safari, we are fixing it right now and should be good to go but thanks so much for pointing out!

Really appreciate you guys even took time to read and make comment. you guys rock!

[Peroni]

Point 2 isn't particularly clear. Is there a market for a product aimed managing vacation time for employees? What price range had you in mind?

Also agree with the screenshot comment.

Some copy amendments:

#1 Should read: Collect vacation requests

#2 Should read: Adding new staff or changing the approval structure

Sign up page. Should read: We are working hard adding the final touches to Flexday.

Overall, I'd need a lot more info to peak my interest.

[gilmanyu]

I am actually doing some research works inluding online survey and interview and we found that many SME (10 - 60 employees) still haven't established a internal vacation tracking system due to high cost implementation. We also spot that SME from creative industry or tech startup are interested in building one as long as it's affordable.

In terms of price range, we are still testing the market reaction and trying to talk to those who signed up. But I guess we probably gonna charge per number of employees.

Totally agree and screenshots will be on soon! Thx so much for your feedback!

[Peroni]

You may have established that not many SME's have a system but have you established that they need one?

I'm part of a management team that oversee's approximately 100 people and managing vacation time is insanely low on my priority list simply because is incredibly straightforward and requires little time or effort.

[nos4A2]

Hmm, generally a corporation would seek payroll integration with attendance info (since they are linked, and why would anyone bother entering employee details multiple times).. Just my 2c, after all no one ever knows the market :) Best of Luck!

[gilmanyu]

Thanks for the valuable inputs and this is true!

we are trying to cater those SME who haven't got their internal system in place so this service could serve as their company internal HR platform to effectively facilitate internal communication between HR and employee. Does it make sense tho?

[Mitchella]

Simple and smart idea. I believe that if you stick with the simplistic layout that your landing pages have for the whole app you'll make a lot of managers lives a lot easier. Something else to consider down the road is integration with whatever systems for employee time tracking and management they may be using currently. This may require a little research into which are the most popular and which allow for open integration into their applications/software.

I wish you the best of luck.

[manishsharan]

Who is your target market ? There are several types of businesses with varying sizes and in-house /vendor/homegrown solutions for Time management. You should pick one and focus your message at that. Otherwise your target customer will bounce off your page.

Also, you need integration with Payroll solutions (like ADP ). Call up your friends in HR and hit them up on how they do it now. I know from experience that payroll integration for vacation system is an absolute must.

[attheodo]

Definitely add some screenshots if you have any

[gilmanyu]

Yes sir and should be on soon!

[BPm]

Nice, actually few months ago, my ex supervisor asked me to implement this, but I didn't have time. Good luck!

[codegeek]

clickable http://flexdayapp.com

[cup]

My monitor is set up for portrait style viewing (as opposed to the more typical landscape style). This works for most websites but with yours it doesnt and i have to scroll right to see everything on the page. Thats just the first problem.

From another superficial point, I don't really your choice of font. It makes the charachters look a bit broken up and uneven and bothers my eyes.

Lastly, you need to put some more information there. Its so sparse, I don't understand what you're providing me with beyond a very basic big picture view.

That aside, the website is clean and the idea is promising, best of luck to you.

[gilmanyu]

Thanks for pointing it out. haven't tested on portrait view and will see how I can align it better.

I am trying different fonts to see which one works better and definitely will put up some screenshots once the product is ready!