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by j-hernandez 4538 days ago
There are plenty of people smarter and more talented than me on here - hoping that your post reaches them because I can see quite a bit of potential here. That said, I'm just a web dev with no marketing experience so, a grain of salt before proceeding.

Got a look at the Pong demo and the way people stopped off for a go at it shows that at the core of it, you've got something interesting that people enjoy (presumably) because they can get their hands on it. The dude going head to head with himself on two thumbsticks seemed to really enjoy himself even without P2. (side note: chomping down a chicken biscuit and heading outside for a game of brickwall pong sounds like a fun way to end a night)

I think the main obstacle would be packaging the idea into something people can get behind. The novelty of it is enough to get people passing by on board for a quick game but I think there's a lot more that could be done with your idea, as pointed out in your list.

Another thing that comes to mind would be providing custom promotional solutions to folks looking to market something. The one thing I can think of right now is Alternate Reality Games - a clue flashed on a building at a specified time and date that must be deciphered by participants, or a countdown that hops from building to building (spanning cities?) leading to an announcement, etc.

I'm not quite sure how you'd package it (LAAS - Lasers as a Service?) so that people could get behind the tech enough to fund its infancy while communicating the bigger picture and potential.

At the end of my comment I suppose I've successfully said nothing you didn't already know, but wanted to lend my support and say that this is something I'd definitely back. Also, great to see local talent.

Best of luck to you and hopefully some of those smarter folks will be able to help out more. Be sure to Show HN if you end up on Kickstarter!

1 comments

Uses for a LaaS off the top of my head

- Homeowner Associations - they throw parties and stuff for the kids, there's probably a house or something they can throw it on. I remember one year for halloween someone had "The Great Pumpkin" playing on their garage door.

- Event companies. It's an interesting offering in addition to the standard inflatables and maybe jumbo movie screens. I could see it being a big thing at corporate events and college campuses.

- Student associations. Generally they have some money for this sort of thing so they own it and don't have to rent it. They probably wouldn't fund a kickstarter though because of restrictions on how they can spend their money.

Agreed, I think ideas like these and @pedalpete's hint at making a play commercially lends to packaging this up into a LaaS (ha!) offering and putting a Kickstarter campaign in front of that. Depending on your costs, needs, and some more feedback, you might offer some custom solutions/packages to backers on the higher-end.

+1 on Student associations being restricted. If I'm not mistaken, GSU has these sorts of restrictions [0] - although it couldn't hurt to get some grassroots support that isn't necessarily monetary

0: I did some web development for a student association at GSU and provided some basic tech support for a symposium.

Thank you guys so much for your advice!

Feel free to get in touch with me if you like. I'm bt at brand dot io.