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Ask HN: How to turn my web application into a lifestyle business?

• pedalpete 17y ago
  First off, that site is amazing in it's simplicity. Even your sign-up process is the easiest I've seen (though I'd make it more clear that it is a sign-up, because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to already have an account). As far as monetizing, with the volume of todo lists available, you may have difficulty monetizing in such a direct way as getting users to pay monthly. You mention Covey, and clearly you are influenced by his work. Have you considered contacting them and seeing if they'd be interested in partnering with you? They could use your services to build their brand online, and help with defining new features, while you do what you do (which we can see you do very well). The Covey site (https://www.stephencovey.com/ https://www.stephencovey.com/) mentions that they have online tools, but maybe your stuff is better, and maybe you could sell them on it. Or other competitors who are in a similar market.
  • aymeric 17y ago
    Correct, I considered contacting FranklinCovey but I think WeekPlan.net needs more traction before it can be taken seriously. They do have a http://PlanPlusOnline.com http://PlanPlusOnline.com offering that looks great and provide similar features but the registration form scared me away. (I believe FranklinCovey is very much corporate oriented, you can't even know how much they charge for PlanPlusOnline.)
• steveklabnik 17y ago
  Read everything by our own patio11: http://www.kalzumeus.com/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/ specifically this post: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/03/20/running-a-software-business-on-5-hours-a-week/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/03/20/running-a-software-busin... I'd also suggesting reading Getting Real (or Rework, if you want to pay, I think it's worth it) by 37signals: http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ http://gettingreal.37signals.com/
  • aymeric 17y ago
    I will re-read them, thanks for the reminders.
• eliot_sykes 17y ago
  Clickable link http://weekplan.net/ http://weekplan.net/
• adammichaelc 17y ago
  Start charging. 3 plans -- good better best. use the money to hire another developer. maybe eventually build an iphone app; charge $5 for it. build an iPad app. charge $15 or $20 for it -- you're still selling to early adopters who have money so they will buy. i think the Getting Real book would be a good read, as @steveklabnik mentioned. How many visitors do you get to the site currently? With a decent landing page with the paid option you could probably start out around a 0.5% - 1% +- conversion rate, and improve from there with some intense A/B testing. What's your free conversion rate? Other random ideas: 1. Partner with a small company that has a popular paper day-planner but no technology. Grow together and cross-pollinate. 2. Partner with a huge company that has a popular paper day-planner but whose technology is lacking. 3. Partner with another planning company, Apiggo (ToDo) and work out a deal to play off each other's strengths somehow 4. Add team-tasking and sell that version to businesses 5. Partner with somebody that sells to people that love productivity stuff, like David Allen. There's probably somebody at HN that knows him, or knows somebody that knows him. Anyway, you're an awesome designer! Great work. Good luck.
  • aymeric 17y ago
    Adam, thanks for taking the time to answer. An iphone application has been a frequently asked feature from my users and I considered setting up an API for them to develop the iphone app. I don't like the iphone/ipad model (one-off sales versus subscriptions) but it is true that it would make my application more Premium. I haven't thought about it but what @nudge said is true, the Covey system is more than a todo application and my application can have a premium aspect. I thought of the team-tasking and it sounds like a viable idea to me too. I am getting enough traffic per day to get relevant data from A/B testing. The reason I haven't started them is because I am not sure if this is a viable market or not. I should probably survey the users to ask them. Thank you, your message was very helpful. (I consider myself a developer, not a designer :) I can barely use photoshop so I guess it is a nice compliment, thanks)
    • MaysonL 17y ago
      If you don't like the one-off sale model, make a free basic iPhone app that has an in-app subscription available to your premium features.
• nudge 17y ago
  pedalpete is right about the number of other online todo lists available, so you need to be quite careful about your monetization, but I think it can still be done. The Covey model is more than a todo list anyway, right? It's kind of like todo plus. It's already a premium entity. It takes more effort to use, but with the promise or more return. I think your users - your repeat users - will already therefore be slightly more convertible than the users of any other todo list. If it were me, I would sell things that are not necessarily features but which still emphasise the premium aspect of the service, and allow the user to demonstrate their commitment to their own self-improvement through committing monetarily to you. Kind of like people going out and buying a very expensive filofax, if you know what I mean. Some examples of things you could charge for: - Themes for the plan page (see Tumblr and their premium themes) - A small visual token of my premium status, e.g. a star icon that appears next to my username or the logo (you may think this is worthless, but it has been known to convert quite effectively when users of a website are committed to it - see kdice for example) Also, you could take the rememberthemilk strategy of selling certain extras, like mobile apps. I think that would work quite well for you. Just don't sell yourself short. You don't want to compete at the bottom end of the todo list market - you want to be a far more sensibly priced Covey system, so the low end of the top end of the market. A $5 iphone app (maybe more?) wouldn't be out of the question if people were really finding your site useful.
  • aymeric 17y ago
    Your answer made me realize something important. The Covey system is premium, and targets a different group of people. Thank you for that, it is very valuable and will probably shape the way I present my web application to the world :)
    • nudge 17y ago
      Happy to help. Come back and let us know how you're getting on from time to time!
• ig1 17y ago
  Ads, you've got a valuable source of information, a list of thing people want to do. Give them relevant ads related to their todo list and you'll get a much higher click-through rate than usual. People are in an "action" mode when going through thier todo list, take advantage of that !
• adamtmca 17y ago
  Two ideas, one is straight forward and one is probably crazy. Either way I think it's going to take a variety of strategies to make it work. Definitely figure out if people will pay, but don't "Rework" yourself into thinking that business models don't have any room for creativity either. First, and it's been said in various forms but what about selling other self-help & organization related products alongside through affiliate links or, a store? Books planners, calendars etc. I think you might be able to get a better return than ads this way especially if you built up a community that trusted your recommendations. Second, I always thought it'd be cool to build a planner/ to do list application that had a concierge/secretary service linked into it. Sort of your man in india deal but interfaced through the planner software.