4 ms·

My startup. Comments?

31 points by joe 19y ago

Wondering what you all think of this. Does it make sense? Would you use it? Comments in general?

staunch 19y ago
Congratulations on the very nice idea and beautiful site. Critique: The top logo area is so tall that it pushes down the rest of the content down to half the page at lower resolutions. Definitely check it out in 1024x768 if you haven't.
indie01 19y ago
Nice! The only thing it lacks is a groovy favicon. Favicons can be one of the most memorable features of a website . . . and keeping with your target audience, I would suggest something like a music note. Otherwise, very nice site design, and a great idea. I so want to hide behind my code right now . . . way to make people like me feel all kinds of amateur. :)
curi 19y ago
Drop the verification emails, then drop the text about them which is the only thing on your site I read besides the word "music".
zach 19y ago
The Scriggler is what's money. Show it off first, middle and last. Don't hide it after a bunch of text. Put the ad copy over background images of the laptop with the Scriggler on it. Honestly, it would be better if you had one of those images as your header instead of the album-cover satellite art. Which is great, and yes, it lets us know you're cool, but you're not in the satellite business. Also, I now have 2 in a Room stuck in my head.
r7000 19y ago
Have you had any luck at underground marketing/promotion?
- joe 19y ago
  Some. Word of mouth has worked really well. We also get quite a few signups from people who see it in use and check it out.
dfranke 19y ago
The typography and the white-on-gray color scheme hurt my eyes. The animation is annoying: every time it changes, my attention jumps back to it and I'm distracted from whatever else on the page I was reading. Oh, and <grahambot>take half the text off your front page</grahambot>.
some 19y ago
I went to your website. I read it all. I have a question: What is it about?? This is not a joke.
- nailer 19y ago
  Scriggle It. Start of Byline: Get in contact with your fans. End of byline.
- redrory 19y ago
  also had this problem....
- joe 19y ago
  > What is it about?? That is the kind of feedback I was looking for. One of the things we struggle with is good information presentation. It's a mailing list management system for bands. Or it was. Now we call it "fan management and data collection", and we have client-side software that lets fans sign up for bands' mailing lists at concerts. And there's more snazzy stuff in the works that we'll be unveiling in (hopefully) a week or so.
  - henning 19y ago
    However you choose to describe it, do it using words that your users will use. That is what they will search for and that is what they will understand.
  - nickb 19y ago
    Very interesting idea but I'd have to agree with the original poster: it's very hard to figure out what it's about! I went to the site, started reading text to the left and was distracted by the flash animation to the right. So I watched it. And guess what, I couldn't make heads or tails of it! I don't know if it's the style, the fonts or what... but I was clueless as to what the app does. Only when I watched it the second time did I make a connection. PS: The background of the flash anim is HORRIBLE! It's EXTREMELY distracting.... never use high contrast backgrounds. Never!
  - falsestprophet 19y ago
jsjenkins168 19y ago
My one suggestion comes straight from the mouth of Steve Krug: "Take out half of the words on the page. Then whatever is left, take out half of that"
twism 19y ago
scriggleit.com is way better than scriggle-it.com
- joe 19y ago
  Yeah, we own both addresses. I linked to the hyphenated address for clarity's sake. But you're right. We use the non-hyphenated version in all email correspondence and the like.
SwellJoe 19y ago
Nice looking design. I've been involved in the music industry, and I grokked pretty immediately what you're selling--so you might not need to take the comments to the contrary here too seriously. It might be a bit wordy for musicians, particularly bass players, though, so you might try to pare it down a bit. Any musician knows about the merch table, and they know they want the customers name and address fast and in a format that they can read (probably a quarter or more of paper mailing list signups are illegible and lost). They also know they've got a laptop on the road with them. You might make it clear that the installed software doesn't need internet access (because clubs don't consistently have wifi). I assume that to be the case, since I know you'd have no other reason for making an installable app. URL is a bit long and tough. Couldn't get "scriggle.com"? Maybe try a different name, instead of adding a special character (hyphen is hard to remember, and scriggleit would be hard to read). Just a thought. I don't think it'll kill you, but word of mouth will suffer--and word of mouth is how this thing will spread. Musicians talk before and after the show with the bands they're playing with...someone will ask, loudly because clubs are never quiet, "Hey, what's that software you're using? scribblit? wiggleit? fizzlemit? Oh, squiggleit! I got it. Cool, I'll go check it out when I get to the hotel tonight." If you send stickers and cards and other logo-encrusted schwag to your customers, they might remember to hand them out when people ask...but I wouldn't bet on it.
- joe 19y ago
  Awesome. Thank you for the suggestions and commentary. :)
henning 19y ago
Go easy on the egregious Flash animation. Also, realize that you're getting feedback from Paul Graham fanboys and people who read "productivity blogs" and "startup news" websites.
- joe 19y ago
  Duly noted, on both counts.
- wastedbrains 19y ago
  Yeah the flash with the moving words on the circular background actually gave me a bit of a head ache, seizure like... Besides that I really like the site and the product I know a band that had me write a similar one off app in rails so they could have a laptop and have people sign up at their merch table.
dottertrotter 19y ago
Gotta get a domain name without a dash.
- joe 19y ago
  We do have one. As I noted elsewhere, I linked to the dashed version for clarity's sake, but it was probably a bad idea. The non-hyphenated one is in "production" use.
samb 19y ago
i'd cut the initial sign-up form to the essentials.
champion 19y ago
Cool idea! Couple thoughts: - Agree that the front page is very busy and wordy. - I expected that you could click on any of the icons on the left (Code, Mail, Kit, etc.) to learn more about the offerings. "About" has more about the products, but I usually expect About to describe the founders or contact info, etc. - I would leave off all the "coming soon" features. Announce them when they are ready. - Agree with the poster that news.yc isn't your target market. I'd find some bands, buy them a coffee, have them look at your laptop & get their opinion. - Bonus comment ;-) Bands must get sick of trying to get their gigs listed on all the different sites (myspace, purevolume, etc.), having a solution that could push that info to all those different sites would be interesting part of promoting shows.
- joe 19y ago
  Thank you for your thoughtful comments. They're definitely appreciated. > Bands must get sick of trying to get their gigs listed on all the different sites (myspace, purevolume, etc.), having a solution that could push that info to all those different sites would be interesting part of promoting shows. In the works!
mattmaroon 19y ago
Scriggle it. Just a little bit.
sweeper 19y ago
Scriggler is DEFINITELY the money. Guy who wrote it must be AWESOME. >.>
limeade 19y ago
My attention span is far too short to understand what this is.
portLAN 19y ago
Is this a YC applicant/winner?
- joe 19y ago
  Nope. Actually we've never taken/sought VC, and we've been working on the thing for about a year.
rokhayakebe 19y ago
Remember that album promoters who will use your site are most likely the one who promote their own work. So i would make that clear and loud. Instead of spending time and $ running around with posters and Flyers, this is the one place where they can do it all. I like the SMS thing in it. You could add another simple feature where they can upload a piece of mp3 and distribute their own ringtone too. Good job man.
david 19y ago
I have trouble reading the tiny text in the "what you get" boxes.
thinman 19y ago
Hey, scriggleit.com designer here. Thanks for the incredible feedback, seriously. I agree with 95% of you. Thanks for the complements. Feel free to drop me an email if your interested in some of my work bluecommons (at) gmail.com
- joe 19y ago
  Fwiw, this guy works with me and designed the Scriggle-it site. I'm the programmer.
Alex3917 19y ago
Looks great. It's immediately obvious what it does, and the site design is attractive and clean. One suggestion though would be to rearrange the features. "Code" is more of an advanced feature since not every musician will understand how to embed code into an HTML page, and so it shouldn't be the lead item.
daniel-cussen 19y ago
Get a good domain name, even if you have to pay a hundreds for it.
- joe 19y ago
  I think we have one.
  - daniel-cussen 19y ago
    The name made sense to me. I just feel your domain name is hindering word of mouth in noisy environments. That doesn't seem like it will matter much because you will do business directly with the bands. It could be better, though. Look at octopart and weebly; their names are easier to spread virally.
pistoriusp 19y ago
It would be interesting, and possibly profitable, to take the user information provided to you by the bands and figure out which combination of bands would do well in an area if they did a concert together... shrug
webwright 19y ago
TAGLINE- Say what it does right next to the logo. Or as a headline. SCREENSHOT - Show what it does, first thing. Show a screenshot of the data collection screen at a table. Next to that (not in a flash sequence-- two pics), should the admin interface, etc. Something like BlinkSale's home page, mebbe? http://www.blinksale.com/home http://www.blinksale.com/home Overall tho-- nice niche, pretty design. Congrats! Speaking of the logo, I'm not sure how much the "it" part of it is clear. I'd go with a simple wordmark. URL with a dash isn't wonderful, but I know how painful domains are.
sammyo 19y ago
I know what it was about instantly, but software geeks are not your customer. Your demographic probably needs some flash glitz but get to the point quicker.

31 points by joe 19y ago

Wondering what you all think of this. Does it make sense? Would you use it? Comments in general?

Congratulations on the very nice idea and beautiful site. Critique: The top logo area is so tall that it pushes down the rest of the content down to half the page at lower resolutions. Definitely check it out in 1024x768 if you haven't.

indie01 19y ago

Nice! The only thing it lacks is a groovy favicon. Favicons can be one of the most memorable features of a website . . . and keeping with your target audience, I would suggest something like a music note. Otherwise, very nice site design, and a great idea. I so want to hide behind my code right now . . . way to make people like me feel all kinds of amateur. :)

curi 19y ago

Drop the verification emails, then drop the text about them which is the only thing on your site I read besides the word "music".

zach 19y ago

The Scriggler is what's money. Show it off first, middle and last. Don't hide it after a bunch of text. Put the ad copy over background images of the laptop with the Scriggler on it. Honestly, it would be better if you had one of those images as your header instead of the album-cover satellite art. Which is great, and yes, it lets us know you're cool, but you're not in the satellite business. Also, I now have 2 in a Room stuck in my head.

r7000 19y ago

Have you had any luck at underground marketing/promotion?

joe 19y ago
Some. Word of mouth has worked really well. We also get quite a few signups from people who see it in use and check it out.

dfranke 19y ago

The typography and the white-on-gray color scheme hurt my eyes. The animation is annoying: every time it changes, my attention jumps back to it and I'm distracted from whatever else on the page I was reading. Oh, and <grahambot>take half the text off your front page</grahambot>.

some 19y ago

I went to your website. I read it all. I have a question: What is it about?? This is not a joke.

nailer 19y ago
Scriggle It. Start of Byline: Get in contact with your fans. End of byline.
redrory 19y ago
also had this problem....
joe 19y ago
> What is it about?? That is the kind of feedback I was looking for. One of the things we struggle with is good information presentation. It's a mailing list management system for bands. Or it was. Now we call it "fan management and data collection", and we have client-side software that lets fans sign up for bands' mailing lists at concerts. And there's more snazzy stuff in the works that we'll be unveiling in (hopefully) a week or so.
- henning 19y ago
  However you choose to describe it, do it using words that your users will use. That is what they will search for and that is what they will understand.
- nickb 19y ago
  Very interesting idea but I'd have to agree with the original poster: it's very hard to figure out what it's about! I went to the site, started reading text to the left and was distracted by the flash animation to the right. So I watched it. And guess what, I couldn't make heads or tails of it! I don't know if it's the style, the fonts or what... but I was clueless as to what the app does. Only when I watched it the second time did I make a connection. PS: The background of the flash anim is HORRIBLE! It's EXTREMELY distracting.... never use high contrast backgrounds. Never!
- falsestprophet 19y ago

jsjenkins168 19y ago

My one suggestion comes straight from the mouth of Steve Krug: "Take out half of the words on the page. Then whatever is left, take out half of that"

twism 19y ago

scriggleit.com is way better than scriggle-it.com

joe 19y ago
Yeah, we own both addresses. I linked to the hyphenated address for clarity's sake. But you're right. We use the non-hyphenated version in all email correspondence and the like.

SwellJoe 19y ago

Nice looking design. I've been involved in the music industry, and I grokked pretty immediately what you're selling--so you might not need to take the comments to the contrary here too seriously. It might be a bit wordy for musicians, particularly bass players, though, so you might try to pare it down a bit. Any musician knows about the merch table, and they know they want the customers name and address fast and in a format that they can read (probably a quarter or more of paper mailing list signups are illegible and lost). They also know they've got a laptop on the road with them. You might make it clear that the installed software doesn't need internet access (because clubs don't consistently have wifi). I assume that to be the case, since I know you'd have no other reason for making an installable app. URL is a bit long and tough. Couldn't get "scriggle.com"? Maybe try a different name, instead of adding a special character (hyphen is hard to remember, and scriggleit would be hard to read). Just a thought. I don't think it'll kill you, but word of mouth will suffer--and word of mouth is how this thing will spread. Musicians talk before and after the show with the bands they're playing with...someone will ask, loudly because clubs are never quiet, "Hey, what's that software you're using? scribblit? wiggleit? fizzlemit? Oh, squiggleit! I got it. Cool, I'll go check it out when I get to the hotel tonight." If you send stickers and cards and other logo-encrusted schwag to your customers, they might remember to hand them out when people ask...but I wouldn't bet on it.

joe 19y ago
Awesome. Thank you for the suggestions and commentary. :)

henning 19y ago

Go easy on the egregious Flash animation. Also, realize that you're getting feedback from Paul Graham fanboys and people who read "productivity blogs" and "startup news" websites.

joe 19y ago
Duly noted, on both counts.
wastedbrains 19y ago
Yeah the flash with the moving words on the circular background actually gave me a bit of a head ache, seizure like... Besides that I really like the site and the product I know a band that had me write a similar one off app in rails so they could have a laptop and have people sign up at their merch table.

dottertrotter 19y ago

Gotta get a domain name without a dash.

joe 19y ago
We do have one. As I noted elsewhere, I linked to the dashed version for clarity's sake, but it was probably a bad idea. The non-hyphenated one is in "production" use.

samb 19y ago

i'd cut the initial sign-up form to the essentials.

champion 19y ago

Cool idea! Couple thoughts: - Agree that the front page is very busy and wordy. - I expected that you could click on any of the icons on the left (Code, Mail, Kit, etc.) to learn more about the offerings. "About" has more about the products, but I usually expect About to describe the founders or contact info, etc. - I would leave off all the "coming soon" features. Announce them when they are ready. - Agree with the poster that news.yc isn't your target market. I'd find some bands, buy them a coffee, have them look at your laptop & get their opinion. - Bonus comment ;-) Bands must get sick of trying to get their gigs listed on all the different sites (myspace, purevolume, etc.), having a solution that could push that info to all those different sites would be interesting part of promoting shows.

joe 19y ago
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. They're definitely appreciated. > Bands must get sick of trying to get their gigs listed on all the different sites (myspace, purevolume, etc.), having a solution that could push that info to all those different sites would be interesting part of promoting shows. In the works!

mattmaroon 19y ago

Scriggle it. Just a little bit.

sweeper 19y ago

Scriggler is DEFINITELY the money. Guy who wrote it must be AWESOME. >.>

limeade 19y ago

My attention span is far too short to understand what this is.

portLAN 19y ago

Is this a YC applicant/winner?

joe 19y ago
Nope. Actually we've never taken/sought VC, and we've been working on the thing for about a year.

rokhayakebe 19y ago

Remember that album promoters who will use your site are most likely the one who promote their own work. So i would make that clear and loud. Instead of spending time and $ running around with posters and Flyers, this is the one place where they can do it all. I like the SMS thing in it. You could add another simple feature where they can upload a piece of mp3 and distribute their own ringtone too. Good job man.

david 19y ago

I have trouble reading the tiny text in the "what you get" boxes.

thinman 19y ago

Hey, scriggleit.com designer here. Thanks for the incredible feedback, seriously. I agree with 95% of you. Thanks for the complements. Feel free to drop me an email if your interested in some of my work bluecommons (at) gmail.com

joe 19y ago
Fwiw, this guy works with me and designed the Scriggle-it site. I'm the programmer.

Alex3917 19y ago

Looks great. It's immediately obvious what it does, and the site design is attractive and clean. One suggestion though would be to rearrange the features. "Code" is more of an advanced feature since not every musician will understand how to embed code into an HTML page, and so it shouldn't be the lead item.

daniel-cussen 19y ago

Get a good domain name, even if you have to pay a hundreds for it.

joe 19y ago
I think we have one.
- daniel-cussen 19y ago
  The name made sense to me. I just feel your domain name is hindering word of mouth in noisy environments. That doesn't seem like it will matter much because you will do business directly with the bands. It could be better, though. Look at octopart and weebly; their names are easier to spread virally.

pistoriusp 19y ago

It would be interesting, and possibly profitable, to take the user information provided to you by the bands and figure out which combination of bands would do well in an area if they did a concert together... shrug

webwright 19y ago

TAGLINE- Say what it does right next to the logo. Or as a headline. SCREENSHOT - Show what it does, first thing. Show a screenshot of the data collection screen at a table. Next to that (not in a flash sequence-- two pics), should the admin interface, etc. Something like BlinkSale's home page, mebbe? http://www.blinksale.com/home http://www.blinksale.com/home Overall tho-- nice niche, pretty design. Congrats! Speaking of the logo, I'm not sure how much the "it" part of it is clear. I'd go with a simple wordmark. URL with a dash isn't wonderful, but I know how painful domains are.

sammyo 19y ago

I know what it was about instantly, but software geeks are not your customer. Your demographic probably needs some flash glitz but get to the point quicker.