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Apply HN:SHARPX-Membership Based App Serving Barbers,Nail Techs,Stylists,&Beyond

2 points by PDunlop 11y ago

Housecleaning: -YC: We applied for Summer 2016, be sure to check out the full application! -All SHARPX functionality described down below is Patent Pending. -DEMO VIDEO: www.SHARPXApp.com (sign up while you're there!) What is S H A R P X? ---------------------- SHARPX is a membership based platform for services. It will allow Service Providers (SPs) to earn more, and clients to pay less. SHARPX is intended to solve every inefficiency in this space. Shop discoverability, client retention, payments, booking, wait times, and eventually booth rent, and buyers remorse.(Hope those last two intrigue you.) How It Works: --------------------- All payment/booking apps on the market solve two problems: they replace cash with digital payments and automate booking. SHARPX does these as well, but takes it further by solving the real problem: client retention. Barber Example: SHARPX member purchases 3 haircuts/month which translate into "Swipes". Swipes can be used to get a haircut at any shop participating in SHARPX. Haircuts are typically $25, but with SHARPX the price decreases 10% (give or take) for every swipe bought. So buying 2 haircut swipes brings the unit price down to $22.50($46/month), and 3 haircut swipes brings unit price to $20.25 ($60/month). Swipes are use or lose. Payouts from membership swipes for each vertical will be set, but to account for cost of living, shops decide what they services they will offer for a swipe. Payouts will be set such that most fall in the sweet spot. This system allows the customer to get their hair cut anywhere, but also guarantees repeat business for the service provider. Pay-As-You-Go: For those who are scared of commitment, the app will also have Pay-As-You-Go options to buy ad-hoc. Monetizing ----------------------- SHARPX will follow the OpenTable model. SP’s pay a fixed price per month plus a small percentage of every client check-in via swipe. Questions? Constructive Criticism? Fire away.

nojvek 11y ago
how many users do you have? how are you growing? the discount model seems complicated. How much are you spending on marketing?
- PDunlop 11y ago
  Hi there! Users SHARPX is currently in prototype phase (Which is what you see in the video). No users at the moment. Initial numbers are based on the (purposely lowballed) estimate that barbershops perform 400 haircuts a month. Assuming 4 barbers, that's 25 cuts per barber per week. The OpenTable model we're currently using projects that a $25/month fixed fee from 4 barbers, $1-$2 per check-in from users, and 10% from Pay-As-You-Go customers will net about $500/month from one shop, which equates to $6000 per year. Growth The current plan (once launched) is to accept sign-ups from service providers and client users in every state. How many are let onto the platform and how quickly will depend on traffic vs. resources. We currently do not have numbers on this yet. Discount Our research shows that the average cost of a haircut between 72 US cities is $18.30. The high was $26 in San Fran (of course) to a low of $14 in Indianapolis. The goal of membership is to set a single number that MOST clients/providers are comfortable with, and discount at a fixed rate from there. The number in the example is $25, and the discount is 10% off every additional swipe. This allows a SHARPX member to use their swipe anywhere regardless of cost of living. In Indiana, the swipe may get them the royal treatment. In San Fran, a livable haircut. The market gets to (are required to) decide. Marketing Less than $5000 in marketing dollars spent up to this point have been to explain the concept (video, website, branding). The marketing push to attract users will come once we've reached development, but no numbers there yet.
buss 11y ago
This seems like it'll be more expensive, on average, for the consumer because I'll inevitably miss a haircut. How do you convince someone to use you, and will you have to resort to gym-like cancellation difficulties to keep your revenue up?
- PDunlop 11y ago
  Thanks for your question! The concept assumes that you, the consumer will choose a number of haircut swipes that you're comfortable with. Since your swipes are use or lose, this will be a key decision for you to make. What happens if you don't use your swipes: IF the client only uses 1/3 swipes for the month: The funding for the 2 unused swipes goes to the service provider. IF the client only uses 2/3 swipes at different shops for the month: The funding for the remaining unused swipe is split between the two shops. IF the client doesn't use any if their swipes for the month: The funding for the unused swipes goes to the SHARPX app. -- Advantages for the consumer: 1. Your swipes are good anywhere. San Francisco or Indiana, you pay the same amount every month. 2. Booking convenience. You'll always know when you're up next. 3. Search. You'll always know where a shop is located whether at home or on travel. 4. Digital payments. No cash. If you're unsure of membership, there's also Pay-As-You-Go. -- Cancellations: Members are locked in as explained above. For Pay-As-You-Go, we will look into cancellation fees if the client booked an appointment and did not show up. Needless to say, there will be push notifications/email to remind of upcoming appointments.
  - buss 11y ago
    I still don't see the value as a user. > 1. Your swipes are good anywhere. San Francisco or Indiana, you pay the same amount every month. The vast majority of my time is spent in one city; this is true for most people. Also my preferred barber is in my city, so if I were going to travel I would get the haircut before I left. > 2. Booking convenience. You'll always know when you're up next. My experience here is limited, since booking a haircut just consists of calling up my preferred place and seeing if they have an opening that day. I understand some people book haircuts weeks in advance, but I can't see those people using your service. If they're booking so far out, they probably have one person they will see regardless of wait and cost. > 3. Search. You'll always know where a shop is located whether at home or on travel Do you actually believe this? Yelp and Google maps gives me all of the information I would ever need. What will you provide that Yelp or Google don't? > 4. Digital payments. No cash This worked for AirBNB due to the awkwardness of paying someone that wasn't explicitly running a business. And for Uber because using a CC in a taxi sucks since I'm just trying to get out of the car. But this is really not a problem in a regular store where the totally normal, accepted, and painless way to pay is with cash or card. > If you're unsure of membership, there's also Pay-As-You-Go. This is exactly how haircuts work now. Where is your value? > Cancellations: Members are locked in as explained above. For Pay-As-You-Go, we will look into cancellation fees if the client booked an appointment and did not show up. This is just strictly worse than my current options. Who is your market? Is it the great-clips crowd? Or is it high-end haircuts? Why would either demographic use this?
kumarski 11y ago
What are your thoughts on Squire and StyleSeat?
- PDunlop 11y ago
  SHARPX is a platform that will cover many verticals and cater to many different kinds of people. We believe two things: 1. That there is strength (and profitability) in diversifying; and 2. If you pay attention to and solve a shops pain-points, even the ones they don't know they have, they will adopt and evangelize. Other services tend to brand themselves into a corner. Some market primarily to women, some primarily to men, some are just for one niche, etc. SHARPX will pay attention to every demographic in as many verticals as make sense. When I started working on SHARPX I was surprised that shops do not evangelize the other services, especially the ones that have been around for a while, in this space.

2 points by PDunlop 11y ago

nojvek 11y ago

how many users do you have? how are you growing? the discount model seems complicated. How much are you spending on marketing?

PDunlop 11y ago
Hi there! Users SHARPX is currently in prototype phase (Which is what you see in the video). No users at the moment. Initial numbers are based on the (purposely lowballed) estimate that barbershops perform 400 haircuts a month. Assuming 4 barbers, that's 25 cuts per barber per week. The OpenTable model we're currently using projects that a $25/month fixed fee from 4 barbers, $1-$2 per check-in from users, and 10% from Pay-As-You-Go customers will net about $500/month from one shop, which equates to $6000 per year. Growth The current plan (once launched) is to accept sign-ups from service providers and client users in every state. How many are let onto the platform and how quickly will depend on traffic vs. resources. We currently do not have numbers on this yet. Discount Our research shows that the average cost of a haircut between 72 US cities is $18.30. The high was $26 in San Fran (of course) to a low of $14 in Indianapolis. The goal of membership is to set a single number that MOST clients/providers are comfortable with, and discount at a fixed rate from there. The number in the example is $25, and the discount is 10% off every additional swipe. This allows a SHARPX member to use their swipe anywhere regardless of cost of living. In Indiana, the swipe may get them the royal treatment. In San Fran, a livable haircut. The market gets to (are required to) decide. Marketing Less than $5000 in marketing dollars spent up to this point have been to explain the concept (video, website, branding). The marketing push to attract users will come once we've reached development, but no numbers there yet.

buss 11y ago

This seems like it'll be more expensive, on average, for the consumer because I'll inevitably miss a haircut. How do you convince someone to use you, and will you have to resort to gym-like cancellation difficulties to keep your revenue up?

PDunlop 11y ago
Thanks for your question! The concept assumes that you, the consumer will choose a number of haircut swipes that you're comfortable with. Since your swipes are use or lose, this will be a key decision for you to make. What happens if you don't use your swipes: IF the client only uses 1/3 swipes for the month: The funding for the 2 unused swipes goes to the service provider. IF the client only uses 2/3 swipes at different shops for the month: The funding for the remaining unused swipe is split between the two shops. IF the client doesn't use any if their swipes for the month: The funding for the unused swipes goes to the SHARPX app. -- Advantages for the consumer: 1. Your swipes are good anywhere. San Francisco or Indiana, you pay the same amount every month. 2. Booking convenience. You'll always know when you're up next. 3. Search. You'll always know where a shop is located whether at home or on travel. 4. Digital payments. No cash. If you're unsure of membership, there's also Pay-As-You-Go. -- Cancellations: Members are locked in as explained above. For Pay-As-You-Go, we will look into cancellation fees if the client booked an appointment and did not show up. Needless to say, there will be push notifications/email to remind of upcoming appointments.
- buss 11y ago
  I still don't see the value as a user. > 1. Your swipes are good anywhere. San Francisco or Indiana, you pay the same amount every month. The vast majority of my time is spent in one city; this is true for most people. Also my preferred barber is in my city, so if I were going to travel I would get the haircut before I left. > 2. Booking convenience. You'll always know when you're up next. My experience here is limited, since booking a haircut just consists of calling up my preferred place and seeing if they have an opening that day. I understand some people book haircuts weeks in advance, but I can't see those people using your service. If they're booking so far out, they probably have one person they will see regardless of wait and cost. > 3. Search. You'll always know where a shop is located whether at home or on travel Do you actually believe this? Yelp and Google maps gives me all of the information I would ever need. What will you provide that Yelp or Google don't? > 4. Digital payments. No cash This worked for AirBNB due to the awkwardness of paying someone that wasn't explicitly running a business. And for Uber because using a CC in a taxi sucks since I'm just trying to get out of the car. But this is really not a problem in a regular store where the totally normal, accepted, and painless way to pay is with cash or card. > If you're unsure of membership, there's also Pay-As-You-Go. This is exactly how haircuts work now. Where is your value? > Cancellations: Members are locked in as explained above. For Pay-As-You-Go, we will look into cancellation fees if the client booked an appointment and did not show up. This is just strictly worse than my current options. Who is your market? Is it the great-clips crowd? Or is it high-end haircuts? Why would either demographic use this?

kumarski 11y ago

What are your thoughts on Squire and StyleSeat?

PDunlop 11y ago
SHARPX is a platform that will cover many verticals and cater to many different kinds of people. We believe two things: 1. That there is strength (and profitability) in diversifying; and 2. If you pay attention to and solve a shops pain-points, even the ones they don't know they have, they will adopt and evangelize. Other services tend to brand themselves into a corner. Some market primarily to women, some primarily to men, some are just for one niche, etc. SHARPX will pay attention to every demographic in as many verticals as make sense. When I started working on SHARPX I was surprised that shops do not evangelize the other services, especially the ones that have been around for a while, in this space.