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"Vive — Classpass for hair blowouts" I'm trying to think of a better "X for Y" startup parody, but am failing.

by scottkduncan 11y ago

_pius 11y ago
You may not be in their market (yet), but that company is going to make a lot of money if they execute well.
- scottkduncan 11y ago
  I haven't considered the economics of salons, but not sure they would have the same low variable costs that allow Classpass to succeed in fitness. I certainly wish the team (and all the other YC companies) the best though considering the guts and determination it takes to give it a shot, and you are correct that I am decidedly not in their target market so I may be missing something about the idea that is gold.
  - rdl 11y ago
    Pretty sure blow drying hair has very low variable costs. Electricity to run a hair dryer. Everything else is to some extent fixed (including operator). What it doesn't have is SaaS style scalability (1000 users costing the same as 1), and it's not like a yoga class where you can probably do 30 in the same space as 15, but the variable costs are just the electricity.
- curun1r 11y ago
  Not necessarily. The long tail of integrating with the management systems those salons use is really long and it's basically a non-starter without management system integration. Add to that that those management systems have started to wise up to the need for scheduling and it's a very difficult nut to crack. And no, those businesses will not copy appointments back and forth themselves. Small business scheduling is hard. Very hard. This isn't speculation, I've worked on a product that has pretty good traction doing exactly what they're doing. It would surprise me greatly if they've yet discovered why this problem isn't solved yet, and it isn't for lack of trying or that previous attempts haven't been executed properly.
  - _pius 11y ago
    "... if they execute well."
    - curun1r 11y ago
      Yes...my point was that even if they execute well, there's still a ton that can torpedo their success. They're going to need to execute phenomenally and get a ton more cooperation from the small businesses than we've ever found them willing to give.
idlewords 11y ago
I think it's an intentionally silly description, thank God
rdl 11y ago
It's a bad "x for y" because I've never heard of classpass and I don't know what a hair blowout is. The "hair blowout" part might be commonly known among investors, and definitely among the target market, but I don't think classpass is a household name. ("blowout" would be bad; "hair blowout" is probably ok.) It's not necessarily a bad startup (from a few minutes googling, it's probably a good market, and a solid team; haven't looked at the product).

"Vive — Classpass for hair blowouts" I'm trying to think of a better "X for Y" startup parody, but am failing.

_pius 11y ago

You may not be in their market (yet), but that company is going to make a lot of money if they execute well.

scottkduncan 11y ago
I haven't considered the economics of salons, but not sure they would have the same low variable costs that allow Classpass to succeed in fitness. I certainly wish the team (and all the other YC companies) the best though considering the guts and determination it takes to give it a shot, and you are correct that I am decidedly not in their target market so I may be missing something about the idea that is gold.
- rdl 11y ago
  Pretty sure blow drying hair has very low variable costs. Electricity to run a hair dryer. Everything else is to some extent fixed (including operator). What it doesn't have is SaaS style scalability (1000 users costing the same as 1), and it's not like a yoga class where you can probably do 30 in the same space as 15, but the variable costs are just the electricity.
curun1r 11y ago
Not necessarily. The long tail of integrating with the management systems those salons use is really long and it's basically a non-starter without management system integration. Add to that that those management systems have started to wise up to the need for scheduling and it's a very difficult nut to crack. And no, those businesses will not copy appointments back and forth themselves. Small business scheduling is hard. Very hard. This isn't speculation, I've worked on a product that has pretty good traction doing exactly what they're doing. It would surprise me greatly if they've yet discovered why this problem isn't solved yet, and it isn't for lack of trying or that previous attempts haven't been executed properly.
- _pius 11y ago
  "... if they execute well."
  - curun1r 11y ago
    Yes...my point was that even if they execute well, there's still a ton that can torpedo their success. They're going to need to execute phenomenally and get a ton more cooperation from the small businesses than we've ever found them willing to give.

idlewords 11y ago

I think it's an intentionally silly description, thank God

rdl 11y ago

It's a bad "x for y" because I've never heard of classpass and I don't know what a hair blowout is. The "hair blowout" part might be commonly known among investors, and definitely among the target market, but I don't think classpass is a household name. ("blowout" would be bad; "hair blowout" is probably ok.) It's not necessarily a bad startup (from a few minutes googling, it's probably a good market, and a solid team; haven't looked at the product).