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Why AwesomenessReminders is Actually Really Awesome

41 points by jasonshen 16y ago

zackattack 16y ago
Jennifer is one of my new favorite people ever. She's going to be so happy to read your post. for the record, I'm a/b testing the counter to see if it makes a difference. Thanks to some help from Hiten Shah, at http://www.KissMetrics.com http://www.KissMetrics.com, i was able to set up the a/b test in 5 minutes using javascript. Five minutes!!!
jacquesm 16y ago
http://Awesomenessreminders.com http://Awesomenessreminders.com is going to go out of the ballpark, I'm pretty sure of it. There is work to be done (price points, the nuisance factor in some cases) but that's all doable. The first imitations are already appearing which is always a sign that you're on the right track. Zack has a little goldmine here and I'm 100% sure he'll strike it big. It's interesting how something that strikes everybody as 'dead obvious' at first sight has never been done before. 1K subscribers now, on to the second thousand, in less than another month ? If it goes (more) viral then it has every chance of doing that. The bottleneck will then become to find good callers.
zeteo 16y ago
"2) It boosts office morale. When Ryan and I set up AwesomenessReminders, we had it rotate through our team – so everyone would get a turn at being awesome. [...] We all like to stop what we’re doing, put the call on speakerphone and cheer when they tell us we’re awesome." Funny to see this on the same day that http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1707170 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1707170 made the front page.
- jasonshen 16y ago
  I saw that Economist article. Have to say - those British guys seem like squares. =) My understanding is that Zappos put "fun" and "weird" into their culture because everyone already felt that way. And the example they cite from Mad Men (drinking at work, having affairs) is way more disruptive/unproductive than a 30 second phone call.
freshfey 16y ago
Interesting article. I think the financial factor sells me on the concept. I actually didn't believe that it would work, but apparently it does; would love to get some more numbers. Maybe in a mixergy interview? @Zach: kudos to you, my man.
blhack 16y ago
Hmm... I got this for a friend of mine about a month ago when it was mentioned. A couple of things: They didn't call her every day, it was more random. They should offer a way to pass-it-on (maybe they do and I just don't know?). That way my friend can go "HOLY CRAP THIS IS COOL!" and forward the reminder to one of her friends.
slay2k 16y ago
From HN guidelines: If the original title begins with a number or number + gratuitous adjective, we'd appreciate it if you'd crop it.
- kgermino 16y ago
  Why the downvotes? As far as I can tell it was a polite reminder of the guidelines for headlines by someone who I would argue has been around long enough to say it (account age >400 Days). Not to mention that it was the first thing I thought when I saw the headline.
  - jasonshen 16y ago
    I've had an account for a long time but mostly have been lurking/dormant. Just started submitting more stuff - but yeah, I'm going to carefully read over the guidelines now.
- jasonshen 16y ago
  I wasn't aware of this. Thanks for letting me know.
cing 16y ago
Phone calls just seem a little antiquated to me. I wish I could pay someone $10/month to read my blog and make positive comments on it once a day!

41 points by jasonshen 16y ago

Jennifer is one of my new favorite people ever. She's going to be so happy to read your post. for the record, I'm a/b testing the counter to see if it makes a difference. Thanks to some help from Hiten Shah, at http://www.KissMetrics.com http://www.KissMetrics.com, i was able to set up the a/b test in 5 minutes using javascript. Five minutes!!!

jacquesm 16y ago

http://Awesomenessreminders.com http://Awesomenessreminders.com is going to go out of the ballpark, I'm pretty sure of it. There is work to be done (price points, the nuisance factor in some cases) but that's all doable. The first imitations are already appearing which is always a sign that you're on the right track. Zack has a little goldmine here and I'm 100% sure he'll strike it big. It's interesting how something that strikes everybody as 'dead obvious' at first sight has never been done before. 1K subscribers now, on to the second thousand, in less than another month ? If it goes (more) viral then it has every chance of doing that. The bottleneck will then become to find good callers.

zeteo 16y ago

"2) It boosts office morale. When Ryan and I set up AwesomenessReminders, we had it rotate through our team – so everyone would get a turn at being awesome. [...] We all like to stop what we’re doing, put the call on speakerphone and cheer when they tell us we’re awesome." Funny to see this on the same day that http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1707170 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1707170 made the front page.

jasonshen 16y ago
I saw that Economist article. Have to say - those British guys seem like squares. =) My understanding is that Zappos put "fun" and "weird" into their culture because everyone already felt that way. And the example they cite from Mad Men (drinking at work, having affairs) is way more disruptive/unproductive than a 30 second phone call.

freshfey 16y ago

Interesting article. I think the financial factor sells me on the concept. I actually didn't believe that it would work, but apparently it does; would love to get some more numbers. Maybe in a mixergy interview? @Zach: kudos to you, my man.

blhack 16y ago

Hmm... I got this for a friend of mine about a month ago when it was mentioned. A couple of things: They didn't call her every day, it was more random. They should offer a way to pass-it-on (maybe they do and I just don't know?). That way my friend can go "HOLY CRAP THIS IS COOL!" and forward the reminder to one of her friends.

slay2k 16y ago

From HN guidelines: If the original title begins with a number or number + gratuitous adjective, we'd appreciate it if you'd crop it.

kgermino 16y ago
Why the downvotes? As far as I can tell it was a polite reminder of the guidelines for headlines by someone who I would argue has been around long enough to say it (account age >400 Days). Not to mention that it was the first thing I thought when I saw the headline.
- jasonshen 16y ago
  I've had an account for a long time but mostly have been lurking/dormant. Just started submitting more stuff - but yeah, I'm going to carefully read over the guidelines now.
jasonshen 16y ago
I wasn't aware of this. Thanks for letting me know.

cing 16y ago

Phone calls just seem a little antiquated to me. I wish I could pay someone $10/month to read my blog and make positive comments on it once a day!