4 ms·

Robert Scoble rips into Color

18 points by ssclafani 16y ago

klochner 16y ago
Does cinchcast offer a transcription? It's rare that I have the time to listen to audio. tl;dr would receive my upvote
- kristofferR 16y ago
  That would have been a great way for Cinch to make some money actually. They should offer pro accounts for a couple of dollars a month providing a quick and painless (no action from the user required) transcription service.
jschuur 16y ago
For the amount of money they got, they really could have made a fancy video better explaining what its use case is. Adam Lisagor needs to eat too, you know.
- andrewf 16y ago
  Maybe they did. The general public has no way of knowing what Color's investors have seen.
  - lurch_mojoff 16y ago
    I think jschuur's suggestion is that they should have made a video targeted at the general public. The use case of many of these mobile services and apps is not inherently obvious, not the the general public anyway. Compare the information you get from Color's website to the information you get from the lonelysandwich video promo for a similar app - Everyday, on its website: http://everyday-app.com/ http://everyday-app.com/
    - jschuur 16y ago
      Yep. I was thinking specifically of a lonelysandwich style video like Adam did for Everdyday. Or even one of those animated paper ones that Google used to do. Have your web site evangelize your product better at launch, for the users benefit. Don't just ignore it because you're already getting funding and press.
SkyMarshal 16y ago
TLDR: There are no second chances on app stores. If you launch, get featured (top billing & visibility in app store), and have terrible initial reviews (1,2,3 stars), odds are you won't get featured again, which will make it extremely difficult to gain traction organically as your app improves, since you're now competing with "five hundred thousand other apps" for eyeballs down in the pile. First reaction to your app is hugely important now, not like a website 'where you can come back and come back again'. He compares to Path and some other apps, Path had same problem - bad first experience. No one else in Half Moon Bay using these local photo apps yet, so useless there on launch (and presumably anywhere else there aren't many initial local users). Foodspotting on the other hand had pics from the middle of Montana. Problem when you take so much money ($41 million for Color.com), too much pressure to go large on first night, leading to disaster in this case. Should have done what Foursquare did - limit launch to SF and NYC, make sure it works, get alot of content and traction there, then scale it out. Hundreds of entrepreneurs emailing Scoble with competing apps, most of which are better.
- innes 16y ago
  Also, Color is some mobile phone program to do with taking photos and location and social and yadda yadda yadda.
- bradleyland 16y ago
  Thank you for the summary. With all due respect for Robert Scoble, he's got a voice for blogging. Is Cinch a project in his portfolio? I'm trying to figure out why such a prolific writer and investor would choose audio as the medium to publish this message.
  - SkyMarshal 16y ago
    I was tempted to mention the same thing. Sounded very whiny. A good reminder that proof-listening your recorded audio is just as necessary as your proofreading your writings before publishing/sending them.
wyclif 16y ago
So, $41M of VC investment in a photo sharing app. $350K just for the primary domain. Tech bubble, anyone? Is there any sane reasoning behind that kind of investment?
- RuadhanMc 16y ago
  It is pretty staggering that they got $41M for this. Is this is a situation where you would argue that the investors are investing in the team rather than the product? Must be a pretty bloody awesome team.
- geoffw8 16y ago
  Step 1. Assemble fantastic team, Step 2. Take what should be a feature of Facebook, develop it, Step 3. Be acquired by Facebook for stock, all get roles within the rapidly growing beast and watch your stock grow beyond your wildest dreams

18 points by ssclafani 16y ago

klochner 16y ago

Does cinchcast offer a transcription? It's rare that I have the time to listen to audio. tl;dr would receive my upvote

kristofferR 16y ago
That would have been a great way for Cinch to make some money actually. They should offer pro accounts for a couple of dollars a month providing a quick and painless (no action from the user required) transcription service.

jschuur 16y ago

For the amount of money they got, they really could have made a fancy video better explaining what its use case is. Adam Lisagor needs to eat too, you know.

andrewf 16y ago
Maybe they did. The general public has no way of knowing what Color's investors have seen.
- lurch_mojoff 16y ago
  I think jschuur's suggestion is that they should have made a video targeted at the general public. The use case of many of these mobile services and apps is not inherently obvious, not the the general public anyway. Compare the information you get from Color's website to the information you get from the lonelysandwich video promo for a similar app - Everyday, on its website: http://everyday-app.com/ http://everyday-app.com/
  - jschuur 16y ago
    Yep. I was thinking specifically of a lonelysandwich style video like Adam did for Everdyday. Or even one of those animated paper ones that Google used to do. Have your web site evangelize your product better at launch, for the users benefit. Don't just ignore it because you're already getting funding and press.

SkyMarshal 16y ago

TLDR: There are no second chances on app stores. If you launch, get featured (top billing & visibility in app store), and have terrible initial reviews (1,2,3 stars), odds are you won't get featured again, which will make it extremely difficult to gain traction organically as your app improves, since you're now competing with "five hundred thousand other apps" for eyeballs down in the pile. First reaction to your app is hugely important now, not like a website 'where you can come back and come back again'. He compares to Path and some other apps, Path had same problem - bad first experience. No one else in Half Moon Bay using these local photo apps yet, so useless there on launch (and presumably anywhere else there aren't many initial local users). Foodspotting on the other hand had pics from the middle of Montana. Problem when you take so much money ($41 million for Color.com), too much pressure to go large on first night, leading to disaster in this case. Should have done what Foursquare did - limit launch to SF and NYC, make sure it works, get alot of content and traction there, then scale it out. Hundreds of entrepreneurs emailing Scoble with competing apps, most of which are better.

innes 16y ago
Also, Color is some mobile phone program to do with taking photos and location and social and yadda yadda yadda.
bradleyland 16y ago
Thank you for the summary. With all due respect for Robert Scoble, he's got a voice for blogging. Is Cinch a project in his portfolio? I'm trying to figure out why such a prolific writer and investor would choose audio as the medium to publish this message.
- SkyMarshal 16y ago
  I was tempted to mention the same thing. Sounded very whiny. A good reminder that proof-listening your recorded audio is just as necessary as your proofreading your writings before publishing/sending them.

wyclif 16y ago

So, $41M of VC investment in a photo sharing app. $350K just for the primary domain. Tech bubble, anyone? Is there any sane reasoning behind that kind of investment?

RuadhanMc 16y ago
It is pretty staggering that they got $41M for this. Is this is a situation where you would argue that the investors are investing in the team rather than the product? Must be a pretty bloody awesome team.
geoffw8 16y ago
Step 1. Assemble fantastic team, Step 2. Take what should be a feature of Facebook, develop it, Step 3. Be acquired by Facebook for stock, all get roles within the rapidly growing beast and watch your stock grow beyond your wildest dreams