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How HN Helped Manpacks Take Off
- zacharycohn 16y agoI think this is a great idea. I'm only 1/2 through the interview, but it seems like it's inspired by things Amazon Fresh, etc. What does <demographic> hate to do? Shop for food, shop for boring types of clothes.
- zaidf 16y agoI posted this on HN. I'm always interested in how messages spread, so here's the breakdown AFAIK: 1. manpacks guys make the product. 2. post facebook ad 3. my brother see fb ad(nice targeting?) 4. bro shares link with me on gtalk 5. i post on HN 6. <lots more coverage?> 7. profit??? The real thanks should goto my brother Shadab! Here's our original chat between me and my bro from March 8(he works in advertising so I thought he was doing a campaign for them): 12:46 AM Shadab: http://manpacks.com/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=what2&utm_content=intel2 http://manpacks.com/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&... LOL 12:47 AM me: LOL! doing campaign for tht? Shadab: clicked on FB ad hahahahahaha What I'd like to know from them is what other marketing ideas they tried? How much did they spend on FB? How did they go about targeting? How are they scaling sales now(all WOM)? I'm yet to watch the interview so I'm sure they've answered some of that there!
- tbeseda 16y agoMy 3rd manpack will ship this weekend. Found via HN.
- AndrewWarner 16y agoI'm a customer too, thanks to zaidf.
- zaidf 16y agoTiny correction: so it was the facebook ad which my brother saw which then made it to me; not springwise as you guys credit in the interview :)
- ajb 16y agoCurrently, http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=manpack http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=manpack shows luggable military radios. Wonder how long that will take to change.
- rsheridan6 16y agoI'd like to see something like manpacks, but with food (not pizza-style junkfood crap, but something good and healthy like you would cook at home if you were inclined to cook).
- spydertennis 16y agoZerocater.com solves this problem for small businesses.
- dot 16y agowow. i'm not sure about the financial potential, but i like that idea a lot... pick a dish, how many people you want to cook for and when you want it delivered... or the weekly featured dish in a subscription.
- yaknow 16y agowww.graze.com is doing snack subscriptions over in the UK. Haven't found a similar service in the US yet.
- _dan 16y agoIt's a great idea, and the snacks they send are varied and interesting. But they're really not "meals", and it's far too easy to scarf an entire box. I found myself eating normally PLUS whatever they sent, which kinda defeated the purpose for me. (Their website is stunningly good, though)
- jrockway 16y agoThis exists, but is a local thing. I subscribe to Organic Life in Chicago. 3 medium-calorie organic meals a day, delivered 3 times a week. Other cities have services like this too, you just have to Google it. For dry goods / energy drinks / etc., there is Amazon Subscribe & Save. I rarely need to go to the store with this and Amazon Prime. It's great to have 6 months of laundry detergent on hand :)
- DevX101 16y agoSee http://www.nutrisystem.com http://www.nutrisystem.com. They're making north of $120M per year doing just this.
- jrockway 16y agoI am not that excited by Manpacks, and I hate shopping. It's the typical web startup. Web 2.0 design. A few famous brands. Lots of logos from "traditional media". Then you look at the product and it's nearly twice as expensive as Amazon, if you are willing to get 6 pairs of underwear at once. So who does this target? People who are too poor to afford 12 socks at once? Not compelling. Amazon is trusted and less expensive. Where is the value add?
- noodle 16y agoi tend to agree. my major gripe is the cost. something i've been considering creating for a while is a manpacks alternative.
- yaknow 16y agoHN and Reddit have always been very helpful in pointing out Manpacks' price competitiveness with Amazon. :) To put it into perspective, using Hanes crew necks (that seem to be a baseline for comparison) you're paying a "discounted" $12.99 for a 3-pack on Amazon. Not including shipping -- or what you pre-pay using Prime -- that's $4.33 a shirt. Manpacks lists them at $5, with free shipping on orders above $30. If you just don't see the value in not having to think about or shop for the basics, then that 67¢ savings will be the deciding factor.
- noodle 16y agogoogle shopping shows me 5 packs at sub-$10. just sayin'.
- yaknow 16y agoMake sure you are comparing apples to apples, not men's shirts to boy's. Etc.
- noodle 16y agothats fair. i see the exact same 3-pack at around $9. regardless, though, you're right, its about convenience and margins. i've not done the legwork, so i don't know what the margins look like on something like this.
- davi 16y agoInteresting that HN now has enough reach that mainstream media mine it for new stories. From the transcript -- Andrew: How about that “Inc.” article? There was an article in “Inc.” which announced Manpacks, and then it asked other entrepreneurs to give feedback and suggestions for Manpacks. How did you guys get that article written about you? Ken: The editor reached out to us in March. He said they would be interested in doing an article on Manpacks. Would you be interested in an interview? I said, of course. Andrew: Okay. Was this after the Hacker News hit? Ken: Yes. It was maybe a week and a half after. Andrew: That’s so interesting. By the way, I found that other reporters will look at Hacker News and come up with stories. And then those stories end up just kind of growing and growing and feeding on each other.