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Some honest feedback: describe your product/tool without using a competitor’s name. I’m on mobile and the landing page only tells me “recording software” and “L

Some honest feedback: describe your product/tool without using a competitor’s name. I’m on mobile and the landing page only tells me “recording software” and “Loom” before it drops into Twitter like 3rd party comments. I honestly have never used Loom. I don’t know what it is. Do you really want me to have to go look up “the competition” just to know who you are?

pooriar 2y ago
I think it's really useful to describe your product as an alternative to a well known product. Most people will instantly get it, much more so than a long re-definition of the original product.
- ezconnect 2y ago
  I have no idea what Loom is, I also have the same issue I didn't tell me what the product is and just got confuse and didn't explore further.
  - ARandomerDude 2y ago
    Same. I’ve never heard of Loom and (therefore?) I’m honestly not sure how this would be different on a Mac than a QuickTime screen recording. And since the promo images are from a Mac, my first thought is Quicktime is probably safer.
    - memset 2y ago
      Just to address this comment chain: loom does make it easier to do screen recordings and demos, and additionally has features like timestamped comments and notes and sharing functionality. The target customer is a business who is making demo videos and needs these kinds of tracking/collaboration/commenting features. Folks interested in open source maybe want a better offering, don’t want to be locked in, want more favorable pricing, or want a self hosted version. As someone who has used loom, the value proposition is clear from the title without even going to the website.
      - gmueckl 2y ago
        It wouldn't hurt if the key sentence from your first paragraph was in the top two paragraphs of the landing page.
- stephenr 2y ago
  Apparently not that well known - I've never heard of it either.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
avodonosov 2y ago
Yes, I thought of Java virtual threads - the Project Loom. Have never heard of the other Loom.
- gmueckl 2y ago
  When I heard of Loom, my first thought went to that classic Lucas Arts adventure game. The name is shared by so many different things, it isn't descriptive of anything.
  - blkhawk 2y ago
    yes same for me - I thought it was a a reimplemention at first :)
memset 2y ago
I disagree - the fact you don’t know what Loom is probably means you’re not in the market for this kind of software. Better, at this stage, to focus on users who will immediately get it rather than explain to folks who don’t currently have a need.
- muglug 2y ago
  People may well use Loom-like functionality that’s integrated into other tools they use without knowing the name “Loom”. Loom had a head-start, but other companies (e.g. Vimeo) copied the feature pretty quickly. And also, more importantly, this is a “Show HN” post, so reasonable for people here to question the comparison.
  - bestnameever 2y ago
    Loom in the title got my attention. It is the only reason I clicked on the link. It is unfortunate this is being discussed rather than the product.
    - Flam 2y ago
      +1 same. If this was a generic screen recording software I’d have skipped it.
    - Moru 2y ago
      Same here. However I was very disappointed because it was nothing like what I was expecting from the name.
- j45 2y ago
  I think that might be true for a small group of people. Calling it a replacement screen recording tool like Loom is probably ideal to hit both markets. Loom made the work around the recording step easier, something that other options seem to be adopting. Still, lots of people recorded lots of screens before Loom, kind of like loom. Camtasia, Jing, and plenty of other tools out there. Jing in particular would record and upload automatically and put the link to the video in your clipboard, years in advance of Loom registering potentially questionable patents to parts of that. Loom was ultimately acquired by Atlassian as a video capture tool for JIRA, etc an won't likely grow much feature wise for the masses. It will be great for that. I'm still a paying customer of loom. There are a lot of features missing in Loom though that is going to spark a lot of alternatives to continue from where Loom left off. If anything Loom's growth seemed to have stalled relative to how much they were acquired for. Average people are using apps like tiktok to produce videos instead. Calling it a screen recording tool is a good thing. A lot of people don't even know how easy it is to do a screen recording on a computer.
mcilroy 2y ago
Definitely agree with what you're saying. It's easier for us at the start to get some attention from Loom specific users by mentioning Loom directly, but it's not a sustainable strategy going forward. Will update the marketing copy etc over the coming weeks/months to be more about the problem we're solving specifically.
- xahrepap 2y ago
  Yeah. I get that. And I’m sure there’s some SEO-style positive feedback you get for it. But also being able to pitch it to me in a simple way and then using Loom as an example I think would be more helpful. “Screen recording software that emphasizes simple sharing. An open source alternative to Loom”. Still super simple but is more useful to people less exposed to your world.

pooriar 2y ago

I think it's really useful to describe your product as an alternative to a well known product. Most people will instantly get it, much more so than a long re-definition of the original product.

ezconnect 2y ago
I have no idea what Loom is, I also have the same issue I didn't tell me what the product is and just got confuse and didn't explore further.
- ARandomerDude 2y ago
  Same. I’ve never heard of Loom and (therefore?) I’m honestly not sure how this would be different on a Mac than a QuickTime screen recording. And since the promo images are from a Mac, my first thought is Quicktime is probably safer.
  - memset 2y ago
    Just to address this comment chain: loom does make it easier to do screen recordings and demos, and additionally has features like timestamped comments and notes and sharing functionality. The target customer is a business who is making demo videos and needs these kinds of tracking/collaboration/commenting features. Folks interested in open source maybe want a better offering, don’t want to be locked in, want more favorable pricing, or want a self hosted version. As someone who has used loom, the value proposition is clear from the title without even going to the website.
    - gmueckl 2y ago
      It wouldn't hurt if the key sentence from your first paragraph was in the top two paragraphs of the landing page.
stephenr 2y ago
Apparently not that well known - I've never heard of it either.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

avodonosov 2y ago

Yes, I thought of Java virtual threads - the Project Loom. Have never heard of the other Loom.

gmueckl 2y ago
When I heard of Loom, my first thought went to that classic Lucas Arts adventure game. The name is shared by so many different things, it isn't descriptive of anything.
- blkhawk 2y ago
  yes same for me - I thought it was a a reimplemention at first :)

memset 2y ago

I disagree - the fact you don’t know what Loom is probably means you’re not in the market for this kind of software. Better, at this stage, to focus on users who will immediately get it rather than explain to folks who don’t currently have a need.

muglug 2y ago
People may well use Loom-like functionality that’s integrated into other tools they use without knowing the name “Loom”. Loom had a head-start, but other companies (e.g. Vimeo) copied the feature pretty quickly. And also, more importantly, this is a “Show HN” post, so reasonable for people here to question the comparison.
- bestnameever 2y ago
  Loom in the title got my attention. It is the only reason I clicked on the link. It is unfortunate this is being discussed rather than the product.
  - Flam 2y ago
    +1 same. If this was a generic screen recording software I’d have skipped it.
  - Moru 2y ago
    Same here. However I was very disappointed because it was nothing like what I was expecting from the name.
j45 2y ago
I think that might be true for a small group of people. Calling it a replacement screen recording tool like Loom is probably ideal to hit both markets. Loom made the work around the recording step easier, something that other options seem to be adopting. Still, lots of people recorded lots of screens before Loom, kind of like loom. Camtasia, Jing, and plenty of other tools out there. Jing in particular would record and upload automatically and put the link to the video in your clipboard, years in advance of Loom registering potentially questionable patents to parts of that. Loom was ultimately acquired by Atlassian as a video capture tool for JIRA, etc an won't likely grow much feature wise for the masses. It will be great for that. I'm still a paying customer of loom. There are a lot of features missing in Loom though that is going to spark a lot of alternatives to continue from where Loom left off. If anything Loom's growth seemed to have stalled relative to how much they were acquired for. Average people are using apps like tiktok to produce videos instead. Calling it a screen recording tool is a good thing. A lot of people don't even know how easy it is to do a screen recording on a computer.

mcilroy 2y ago

Definitely agree with what you're saying. It's easier for us at the start to get some attention from Loom specific users by mentioning Loom directly, but it's not a sustainable strategy going forward. Will update the marketing copy etc over the coming weeks/months to be more about the problem we're solving specifically.

xahrepap 2y ago
Yeah. I get that. And I’m sure there’s some SEO-style positive feedback you get for it. But also being able to pitch it to me in a simple way and then using Loom as an example I think would be more helpful. “Screen recording software that emphasizes simple sharing. An open source alternative to Loom”. Still super simple but is more useful to people less exposed to your world.