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Show HN: Detect when VIPs (investors, journalists, etc) sign up for your product

5 points by mitchellshow 9y ago

buildbuildbuild 9y ago
Congratulations on your launch. Would love to see screenshots and a more to the point technical description of the methodology used. What's your edge? If you have some database of notable domains, aliases used by investors and celebrities when testing, etc - highlight that competitive advantage. My traditional approach for recognizing new customers is a live websocket dashboard of signups that everyone sees in the office: email, free or paid, minutes on site. Goal: finding first 100 people who love the product, celebrity or not.
- mitchellshow 9y ago
  Thanks for the feedback! If you have some database of notable domains, aliases used by investors and celebrities when testing, etc - highlight that competitive advantage. That's exactly what we have - if that isn't coming through via the landing page, we should probably focus more on it.
DrScump 9y ago
If I'm a true journalist, would I use my true primary email when signing up for a product I'm reviewing? Ready to get started? Upload your existing email list Well, it's a good way to harvest emails, anyway.
- mitchellshow 9y ago
  Great point. Our DB actually does include quite a few of these “hidden” gmails that some VIPs use - we’re getting better at that - but FWIW the vast majority of VIPs aren’t using those. Re your harvesting comment, we don’t even keep a temporary copy of the CSV you upload, for privacy reasons - it’s all handled on the frontend. Clearly, customer trust is paramount for a business like ours :)
pmiri 9y ago
Congrats on launching. The front page feels pretty cluttered with stuff like the code snippet acting as a link to the payment page(?). I think a monthly billing strategy is not beneficial. If I'm an early startup, I'm probably struggling to get signups in the first place, let alone VIPs. What about one-shot mass uploads? I only need you to check the data once and (unless your VIP db updates) the data I get back is settled once and for all. Could easily lead companies to pay you $19 to upload 10'000 emails and then cancel their account. Your market seems to be businesses who do many low-touch sales. Other than that, it's an interesting idea and I'm curious about seeing it in action.

5 points by mitchellshow 9y ago

Congratulations on your launch. Would love to see screenshots and a more to the point technical description of the methodology used. What's your edge? If you have some database of notable domains, aliases used by investors and celebrities when testing, etc - highlight that competitive advantage. My traditional approach for recognizing new customers is a live websocket dashboard of signups that everyone sees in the office: email, free or paid, minutes on site. Goal: finding first 100 people who love the product, celebrity or not.

mitchellshow 9y ago
Thanks for the feedback! If you have some database of notable domains, aliases used by investors and celebrities when testing, etc - highlight that competitive advantage. That's exactly what we have - if that isn't coming through via the landing page, we should probably focus more on it.

DrScump 9y ago

If I'm a true journalist, would I use my true primary email when signing up for a product I'm reviewing? Ready to get started? Upload your existing email list Well, it's a good way to harvest emails, anyway.

mitchellshow 9y ago
Great point. Our DB actually does include quite a few of these “hidden” gmails that some VIPs use - we’re getting better at that - but FWIW the vast majority of VIPs aren’t using those. Re your harvesting comment, we don’t even keep a temporary copy of the CSV you upload, for privacy reasons - it’s all handled on the frontend. Clearly, customer trust is paramount for a business like ours :)

pmiri 9y ago

Congrats on launching. The front page feels pretty cluttered with stuff like the code snippet acting as a link to the payment page(?). I think a monthly billing strategy is not beneficial. If I'm an early startup, I'm probably struggling to get signups in the first place, let alone VIPs. What about one-shot mass uploads? I only need you to check the data once and (unless your VIP db updates) the data I get back is settled once and for all. Could easily lead companies to pay you $19 to upload 10'000 emails and then cancel their account. Your market seems to be businesses who do many low-touch sales. Other than that, it's an interesting idea and I'm curious about seeing it in action.