8 ms·

Show HN: The Crowdtilt Mobile App

35 points by ajaymehta 13y ago

jf22 13y ago
I've done everything from paying for group t-shirts to sports teams to shared vacation homes and I've never thought the problem was hard enough to need an app for it.
- jvrossb 13y ago
  How about splitting a bill at dinner? Or contributing to a campaign on the go before it sells out?
  - dingaling 13y ago
    > How about splitting a bill at dinner? 1. Divide food bill between number of attendees 2. Divide drinks bill between number of drinkers 3. Each individual adds 1 + 2 and ponies-up accordingly Apologies if I have misunderstood.
  - jf22 13y ago
    Stupid easy. Add up what you ordered, write name of card you are using to pay on the back with the amount. Pass the check to the next person.
pudquick 13y ago
Just a commentary on your methodology, not your product - I'm not sure I appreciate a submission to HN that goes to a URL that (on an iOS device at least) opens straight to the App Store app page (even if it is free). I'm reading HN on my iPhone using one of the various alternative mobile interfaces running in Safari. Clicking your link, to learn anything about what you made, requires switching to the App Store. Completely disrupts my normal news flow. ... Is there a reason you don't have a one page splash covering the highlights and features of the app? Can anyone without an iOS device even learn what you've done?
- ajaymehta 13y ago
  Hey, sorry about that! The app just launched today, so I wanted to throw up a link. Here's a blog post that can hopefully give you some additional clarification: http://blog.crowdtilt.com/post/61679155794/put-change-in-your-pocket-the-crowdtilt-mobile-app-is http://blog.crowdtilt.com/post/61679155794/put-change-in-you...
  - pudquick 13y ago
    Thank you.
bkanber 13y ago
I don't love the idea that someone might be so disinterested in their own crowdfunding campaign to have to launch it from a smartphone, rather than spending the time to do it from a proper computer.
- prawn 13y ago
  I agree. Starting with "Finally" seems like a bit of a stretch. Solution in need of a problem?
- bigiain 13y ago
  I've got exactly the same first reaction. Trying to read something useful and/or noble into this effort though – I do have friends who don't own a "proper computer", and manage all their non-work internet on their phones. I do find it hard to make a jump from "I don't have a computer, but I've got an idea that other people might fund on something like Kickstarter" to "I know, I'll download an app and run my Kickstarter from my iPhone".
- marek12886 13y ago
  This app is more geared towards casual/everyday use cases and lowers the barrier to make those things happen. This isn't necessarily for large scale crowdfunding projects.
- ddinh 13y ago
  A mobile dev at Crowdtilt told me a few weeks ago that the app was meant for small-scale situations such as splitting a dinner bill between friends. I doubt any large-scale public campaign would be started from a phone.
- DesaiAshu 13y ago
  Consider this: I see a pothole on my street, I hate it so I take a picture and tweet about how I wish it was gone. Enter crowdtilt, instead, I take a picture and create a campaign, it gets shared on facebook and twitter and suddenly a movement to fix the pothole has started. Worst case the campaign doesn't tilt and it's the equivalent of a tweet, best case we raise money to actually fix the damn thing, talk about putting your money where your mouth is! While this behavior may not exist yet, I see a future where this app enables people to make much stronger statements about change they would like to see and gives them a dead simple way to contribute to those changes (plus all the fun spontaneous social stuff :).
jvrossb 13y ago
Just a few cases for the app other (as of 50 minutes since post time) commenters aren't appreciating: -I want to split a bill at dinner with friends -I want to contribute to a charity fundraiser while at the event they are holding -I want to snag tickets to an event that might sell out while out and about and don't want to wait till I get back to my computer to do it -I want to snag tickets to an event while at the entrance to that event
- arkonaut 13y ago
  Yeah, I've been following Crowdtilt for a while (interviewed there), and their use case has never really been about the Kickstarter type of crowdfunding. It's more of a bite-size type of crowdfunding model (with A LOT of retention; they mentioned their stats on repeat use) instead of elaborate projects. This app actually makes a lot of sense.
  - jjb123 13y ago
    Thank you (co-founder of crowdtilt here). And yes, our view has basically been that we want to build the most open and accessible crowdfunding tools for the entire web/world. Crowdtilt.com might be for medium size campaigns, Crowdhoster (built by us and powered by our API) is for large-scale ones like Soylent, and now with our mobile app, we want to see if people will want to take the mechanics of crowdfunding models and want to go small with them. If Crowdhoster is like the wordpress (hostable, customizable, open-source), then the Crowdtilt app type of campaigns (launched from the app, at least) is like the twitter of crowdfunding, or perhaps more appropriately, for anytime a group would interact around a small, casual financial objective. There's no guarantee the behavior will become our primary creation driver, of course, but as devs, it's exciting to try and take something as conventionally complex as crowdfunding/fundraising/pooling money with a group and simplify it down to something easy to digest in a mobile experience. If you download the app and have any suggestions or feedback on our approach to tackle this problem, would love to hear it at jb@crowdtilt.com. And another lens to view our approach toward mobile is this - 7/8ths of the world will never own a computer. Like, ever.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
sarreph 13y ago
Why is the only way to receive a link/register via SMS?
akhilcacharya 13y ago
Android version?
lukifer 13y ago
How does the actual collection take place? I'm sure 30% is too steep a cut for splitting a dinner check. Has Apple loosened its policies on third-party payment processors?
- cnowacek 13y ago
  Collection takes place through our payment service provider, not IAP. There is no 30% cut.
  - liuhenry 13y ago
    Yep - IIRC, in-app purchases only apply if the purchase itself is delivered through the app (usually content) This is how apps like Uber, Lyft, InstantCab, Instacart, etc. let you pay through your phone, and why Netflix and Hulu don't even let you sign up for their service on iOS.

35 points by ajaymehta 13y ago

jf22 13y ago

I've done everything from paying for group t-shirts to sports teams to shared vacation homes and I've never thought the problem was hard enough to need an app for it.

jvrossb 13y ago
How about splitting a bill at dinner? Or contributing to a campaign on the go before it sells out?
- dingaling 13y ago
  > How about splitting a bill at dinner? 1. Divide food bill between number of attendees 2. Divide drinks bill between number of drinkers 3. Each individual adds 1 + 2 and ponies-up accordingly Apologies if I have misunderstood.
- jf22 13y ago
  Stupid easy. Add up what you ordered, write name of card you are using to pay on the back with the amount. Pass the check to the next person.

pudquick 13y ago

Just a commentary on your methodology, not your product - I'm not sure I appreciate a submission to HN that goes to a URL that (on an iOS device at least) opens straight to the App Store app page (even if it is free). I'm reading HN on my iPhone using one of the various alternative mobile interfaces running in Safari. Clicking your link, to learn anything about what you made, requires switching to the App Store. Completely disrupts my normal news flow. ... Is there a reason you don't have a one page splash covering the highlights and features of the app? Can anyone without an iOS device even learn what you've done?

ajaymehta 13y ago
Hey, sorry about that! The app just launched today, so I wanted to throw up a link. Here's a blog post that can hopefully give you some additional clarification: http://blog.crowdtilt.com/post/61679155794/put-change-in-your-pocket-the-crowdtilt-mobile-app-is http://blog.crowdtilt.com/post/61679155794/put-change-in-you...
- pudquick 13y ago
  Thank you.

bkanber 13y ago

I don't love the idea that someone might be so disinterested in their own crowdfunding campaign to have to launch it from a smartphone, rather than spending the time to do it from a proper computer.

prawn 13y ago
I agree. Starting with "Finally" seems like a bit of a stretch. Solution in need of a problem?
bigiain 13y ago
I've got exactly the same first reaction. Trying to read something useful and/or noble into this effort though – I do have friends who don't own a "proper computer", and manage all their non-work internet on their phones. I do find it hard to make a jump from "I don't have a computer, but I've got an idea that other people might fund on something like Kickstarter" to "I know, I'll download an app and run my Kickstarter from my iPhone".
marek12886 13y ago
This app is more geared towards casual/everyday use cases and lowers the barrier to make those things happen. This isn't necessarily for large scale crowdfunding projects.
ddinh 13y ago
A mobile dev at Crowdtilt told me a few weeks ago that the app was meant for small-scale situations such as splitting a dinner bill between friends. I doubt any large-scale public campaign would be started from a phone.
DesaiAshu 13y ago
Consider this: I see a pothole on my street, I hate it so I take a picture and tweet about how I wish it was gone. Enter crowdtilt, instead, I take a picture and create a campaign, it gets shared on facebook and twitter and suddenly a movement to fix the pothole has started. Worst case the campaign doesn't tilt and it's the equivalent of a tweet, best case we raise money to actually fix the damn thing, talk about putting your money where your mouth is! While this behavior may not exist yet, I see a future where this app enables people to make much stronger statements about change they would like to see and gives them a dead simple way to contribute to those changes (plus all the fun spontaneous social stuff :).

jvrossb 13y ago

Just a few cases for the app other (as of 50 minutes since post time) commenters aren't appreciating: -I want to split a bill at dinner with friends -I want to contribute to a charity fundraiser while at the event they are holding -I want to snag tickets to an event that might sell out while out and about and don't want to wait till I get back to my computer to do it -I want to snag tickets to an event while at the entrance to that event

arkonaut 13y ago
Yeah, I've been following Crowdtilt for a while (interviewed there), and their use case has never really been about the Kickstarter type of crowdfunding. It's more of a bite-size type of crowdfunding model (with A LOT of retention; they mentioned their stats on repeat use) instead of elaborate projects. This app actually makes a lot of sense.
- jjb123 13y ago
  Thank you (co-founder of crowdtilt here). And yes, our view has basically been that we want to build the most open and accessible crowdfunding tools for the entire web/world. Crowdtilt.com might be for medium size campaigns, Crowdhoster (built by us and powered by our API) is for large-scale ones like Soylent, and now with our mobile app, we want to see if people will want to take the mechanics of crowdfunding models and want to go small with them. If Crowdhoster is like the wordpress (hostable, customizable, open-source), then the Crowdtilt app type of campaigns (launched from the app, at least) is like the twitter of crowdfunding, or perhaps more appropriately, for anytime a group would interact around a small, casual financial objective. There's no guarantee the behavior will become our primary creation driver, of course, but as devs, it's exciting to try and take something as conventionally complex as crowdfunding/fundraising/pooling money with a group and simplify it down to something easy to digest in a mobile experience. If you download the app and have any suggestions or feedback on our approach to tackle this problem, would love to hear it at jb@crowdtilt.com. And another lens to view our approach toward mobile is this - 7/8ths of the world will never own a computer. Like, ever.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

sarreph 13y ago

Why is the only way to receive a link/register via SMS?

akhilcacharya 13y ago

Android version?

lukifer 13y ago

How does the actual collection take place? I'm sure 30% is too steep a cut for splitting a dinner check. Has Apple loosened its policies on third-party payment processors?

cnowacek 13y ago
Collection takes place through our payment service provider, not IAP. There is no 30% cut.
- liuhenry 13y ago
  Yep - IIRC, in-app purchases only apply if the purchase itself is delivered through the app (usually content) This is how apps like Uber, Lyft, InstantCab, Instacart, etc. let you pay through your phone, and why Netflix and Hulu don't even let you sign up for their service on iOS.