6 ms·

Review my startup - infostripe.com

18 points by hxf148 16y ago

"It's a customizable way to connect all the information you want to share about anything, universally formatted for any device." I'll leave it to you to discover it.

jcr 16y ago
It is probably just me being confused (it's very late and I'm very tired), but the text doesn't really explain what/why your site does? Can you name some of the compelling benefits? A good story of why I would want to sign up? What is a "cloud notebook"? If you're doing any type of integration with video hosting services, you should probably look at blip.tv since they tend to be more friendly to all devices and use cases (specifically, allowing video files to be downloaded without headaches). If this is "storage" solution of some sort, and you want users to be able to upload video directly to your site (rather than host it elsewhere), you might want to also check out zencoder.com and encoding.com to handle transcoding into the multiple formats required for maximum portability. EDIT: Um no, the questions are not for the sake of you answering them here on HN, but for the sake of them not needing to be asked when reading your site.
timerickson 16y ago
You create phone formatted profile pages. 4 words. It honestly took me a while to understand what the service does because you didn't just say it in 4 words.
scottchin 16y ago
Good job for putting this up! Here is some quick initial feedback. The main issue I had was that I didn't understand what the site does. The answer to "What is an infostripe?" seemed very open-ended to me and I didn't understand what it was saying. I read it about five times. The rest of the text didn't help me understand either. Sorry I dont' have any concrete suggestions on how to change the text. Maybe you could try explaining it with a specific example? I'm not sure. Keep it up!
timerickson 16y ago
I think you should position yourself as a digital business card service. Instead of handing out a piece of paper, people can send them to infostripe.com/timerickson Though, I'd suggest you pick a shorter domain name if this is meant to be used on phones.
- mryall 16y ago
  > Though, I'd suggest you pick a shorter domain name if this is meant to be used on phones. Yeah, you definitely should consider a shorter domain name. Peru has a TLD for .pe if you want to shave a few characters off with http://infostri.pe http://infostri.pe. It looks like the shorter option of http://stri.pe http://stri.pe is already taken.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
pringle 16y ago
I don't think it's difficult to understand at all. The way I would describe it is: about.me with different design and a focus (though not exclusively) on mobile devices. I like it.
revorad 16y ago
It looks nice. What's your aim with this? A few suggestions: Don't welcome people with a form. First tell us what you are all about and why we need it. Then show us how others use it. Then ask us to sign up. In the social tab, put the most popular ones right at the top. Having to scroll all the way down for Twitter is no fun. What is an infostripe? It's a customizable way to connect all the information you want to share about anything, universally formatted for any device. Please don't position yourself as the "everything for everything, used by everyone, forever and ever more!". Really, tell us what's different about you. Your site looks like it's designed for mobile phones, so why do you say universally formatted for any device?
- hxf148 16y ago
  Our aim is to provide the service to as many people, business and things as we can reach. Thank you for your suggestions they are being integrated.
justbeingme 16y ago
I really like it. As some of the commentors said, it is not very clear what you are trying to provide. I first thought an infostripe was a left-handed side column, for blogs. (Which would also be great). Then after looking at the "featured favourites", I knew what I could use it for. A mobile business card. And I really don't get what a cloud notebook is. I would try to ditch the word cloud.
- hxf148 16y ago
  infostripe are embedable with iframes. We are working on an official solution to embed the stripe in any site but for an iframe works nicely.
- hxf148 16y ago
  infostripe are embedable with iframes. We are working on an official solution to embed the stripe in any site but for an iframe works nicely.
aymeric 16y ago
Is that like http://robo.to http://robo.to?
karterk 16y ago
Like others on the thread, I also initially did not "get" what your site was all about immediately. I suggest having that information above your sign up form - because I am not going to sign up for the service unless I know what it does.
hxf148 16y ago
Wow great replies. I will take action on some if these suggestions right away. More please :)
hxf148 16y ago
I have switched the order of the form and the question. The question is now first. I guess it was silly to have the form up front first. I've tried rewording things.. I am still working on it. More of a programmer then a poet so any suggestions welcome. Thanks for the great feedback!
photogirl 16y ago
It looks super usable to me. I agree with some of the suggestions below such as adding the most used social medias to the top of the social tab. Love the easy customization of colours and all the options. 180+ social networks is great too. Never seen that many in one spot before.
failednerd 16y ago
The format is great, it's easy to use and read and looks very user friendly... it also sounds like people can see the value in this once they figure out what it does. I agree with comments suggesting that the purpose of the tool and benefits to the user be quickly and clearly described up front, rather than arriving on a page that has the form for sign up. I can see this being very useful as more pages are created!
rashkie 16y ago
I really like the fact that it gives me to option to customize my main profile page - options of colours etc is great way to make sites unique to users. I also like that you just go to the "one stop shop" to get info on people - no need to search for much it's all there. Only suggestions (for the non-techies): I would of loved to have a header but I don't have the right stuff...could have some pre-fabricated to pick from... overall...I LOVE IT!
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
jirvine 16y ago
This looks great. I see how it could really benefit my business by linking all my info in one place.
mmjohnson 16y ago
I am not super techy (obviously since I don't even really know what you call a person who is tech savvy) but this looks like a really cool way to have an electronic business card. It makes me want to create an infostripe and then start using all the other application you can link up to on your infostripe. I am just starting to think about ways to market my husband's business more and this seems like a user-friendly way to start out. Thanks for developing it. Now if I can just conquer my fear of the internet. Spoooooky. I also really love the design of the site. Love how it is so sleek and centered.
hxf148 16y ago
We have changed the Social tab and now feature a dozen or so of the more popular sites at the top.
hxf148 16y ago
Suggestions for the Favorite social networks list?

18 points by hxf148 16y ago

"It's a customizable way to connect all the information you want to share about anything, universally formatted for any device." I'll leave it to you to discover it.

jcr 16y ago

It is probably just me being confused (it's very late and I'm very tired), but the text doesn't really explain what/why your site does? Can you name some of the compelling benefits? A good story of why I would want to sign up? What is a "cloud notebook"? If you're doing any type of integration with video hosting services, you should probably look at blip.tv since they tend to be more friendly to all devices and use cases (specifically, allowing video files to be downloaded without headaches). If this is "storage" solution of some sort, and you want users to be able to upload video directly to your site (rather than host it elsewhere), you might want to also check out zencoder.com and encoding.com to handle transcoding into the multiple formats required for maximum portability. EDIT: Um no, the questions are not for the sake of you answering them here on HN, but for the sake of them not needing to be asked when reading your site.

timerickson 16y ago

You create phone formatted profile pages. 4 words. It honestly took me a while to understand what the service does because you didn't just say it in 4 words.

scottchin 16y ago

Good job for putting this up! Here is some quick initial feedback. The main issue I had was that I didn't understand what the site does. The answer to "What is an infostripe?" seemed very open-ended to me and I didn't understand what it was saying. I read it about five times. The rest of the text didn't help me understand either. Sorry I dont' have any concrete suggestions on how to change the text. Maybe you could try explaining it with a specific example? I'm not sure. Keep it up!

timerickson 16y ago

I think you should position yourself as a digital business card service. Instead of handing out a piece of paper, people can send them to infostripe.com/timerickson Though, I'd suggest you pick a shorter domain name if this is meant to be used on phones.

mryall 16y ago
> Though, I'd suggest you pick a shorter domain name if this is meant to be used on phones. Yeah, you definitely should consider a shorter domain name. Peru has a TLD for .pe if you want to shave a few characters off with http://infostri.pe http://infostri.pe. It looks like the shorter option of http://stri.pe http://stri.pe is already taken.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

pringle 16y ago

I don't think it's difficult to understand at all. The way I would describe it is: about.me with different design and a focus (though not exclusively) on mobile devices. I like it.

revorad 16y ago

It looks nice. What's your aim with this? A few suggestions: Don't welcome people with a form. First tell us what you are all about and why we need it. Then show us how others use it. Then ask us to sign up. In the social tab, put the most popular ones right at the top. Having to scroll all the way down for Twitter is no fun. What is an infostripe? It's a customizable way to connect all the information you want to share about anything, universally formatted for any device. Please don't position yourself as the "everything for everything, used by everyone, forever and ever more!". Really, tell us what's different about you. Your site looks like it's designed for mobile phones, so why do you say universally formatted for any device?

hxf148 16y ago
Our aim is to provide the service to as many people, business and things as we can reach. Thank you for your suggestions they are being integrated.

justbeingme 16y ago

I really like it. As some of the commentors said, it is not very clear what you are trying to provide. I first thought an infostripe was a left-handed side column, for blogs. (Which would also be great). Then after looking at the "featured favourites", I knew what I could use it for. A mobile business card. And I really don't get what a cloud notebook is. I would try to ditch the word cloud.

hxf148 16y ago
infostripe are embedable with iframes. We are working on an official solution to embed the stripe in any site but for an iframe works nicely.
hxf148 16y ago
infostripe are embedable with iframes. We are working on an official solution to embed the stripe in any site but for an iframe works nicely.

aymeric 16y ago

Is that like http://robo.to http://robo.to?

karterk 16y ago

Like others on the thread, I also initially did not "get" what your site was all about immediately. I suggest having that information above your sign up form - because I am not going to sign up for the service unless I know what it does.

hxf148 16y ago

Wow great replies. I will take action on some if these suggestions right away. More please :)

hxf148 16y ago

I have switched the order of the form and the question. The question is now first. I guess it was silly to have the form up front first. I've tried rewording things.. I am still working on it. More of a programmer then a poet so any suggestions welcome. Thanks for the great feedback!

photogirl 16y ago

It looks super usable to me. I agree with some of the suggestions below such as adding the most used social medias to the top of the social tab. Love the easy customization of colours and all the options. 180+ social networks is great too. Never seen that many in one spot before.

failednerd 16y ago

The format is great, it's easy to use and read and looks very user friendly... it also sounds like people can see the value in this once they figure out what it does. I agree with comments suggesting that the purpose of the tool and benefits to the user be quickly and clearly described up front, rather than arriving on a page that has the form for sign up. I can see this being very useful as more pages are created!

rashkie 16y ago

I really like the fact that it gives me to option to customize my main profile page - options of colours etc is great way to make sites unique to users. I also like that you just go to the "one stop shop" to get info on people - no need to search for much it's all there. Only suggestions (for the non-techies): I would of loved to have a header but I don't have the right stuff...could have some pre-fabricated to pick from... overall...I LOVE IT!

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

jirvine 16y ago

This looks great. I see how it could really benefit my business by linking all my info in one place.

mmjohnson 16y ago

I am not super techy (obviously since I don't even really know what you call a person who is tech savvy) but this looks like a really cool way to have an electronic business card. It makes me want to create an infostripe and then start using all the other application you can link up to on your infostripe. I am just starting to think about ways to market my husband's business more and this seems like a user-friendly way to start out. Thanks for developing it. Now if I can just conquer my fear of the internet. Spoooooky. I also really love the design of the site. Love how it is so sleek and centered.

hxf148 16y ago

We have changed the Social tab and now feature a dozen or so of the more popular sites at the top.

hxf148 16y ago

Suggestions for the Favorite social networks list?