4 ms·

Show HN: My new running app, Vima

25 points by clarky07 12y ago

clarky07 12y ago
OP Here. Feel free to ask any questions. I'd love to get some feedback on it from anyone that runs or bikes etc. If you're curious, Vima is Greek for "Pace"
- omarforgotpwd 12y ago
  Like the app. If you ever want a job, I'd love for you to come help us at PredPol (jobs@predpol.com). We predict where crime is going to happen in the future so cops can stop is before it happens, and mobile is going to be a big part of that.
  - clarky07 12y ago
    Thanks, glad you like it. I'm not looking for anything right now, but that looks pretty sweet. Best of luck to you.
- auston 12y ago
  Why should I use this over Strava?
  - clarky07 12y ago
    That's tough, because Strava is a great app. In our mind though it has a lot of stuff that isn't really needed that complicates things. If you like that stuff, you might as well stick with it. The selling point of our app (at least in my mind) though is the simplicity and ease of use. There are a lot of people who like Strava and RunKeeper and the others, but there are also a lot of people that don't want to login to run. They don't want to have their run data on a server somewhere. They just want a great app that lets them keep track of their exercise progress. We are hoping to carve out a niche for those people. Hopefully keeping things as simple as possible while still providing as many of the other great features we can. Things like the voice updates while running are a good example. It's a great feature that a lot of people love, but it doesn't change the interface one bit.
- davkal 12y ago
  Nice app! I'm a Runkeeper user and I'm missing two things there: track your friends in the same map when meeting for a run (useful if starting point is not the same), and some sort of soundcloud integration (the track could be included in the facebook post after the run). The graphics look very good and the color scheme is well balanced. Is this native or html5? Any particular UI framework used?
  - clarky07 12y ago
    Thanks. It is all native. No special UI frameworks.
andrewljohnson 12y ago
I don't consider this an "MVP" for a running app. The market is too far along, and I think this lacks a certain kernel of innovation that would set it apart in spite of lacking features. It has a nice, kind of Yahoo-weather like feel to the app. For a commercial success, I think the app does not even embody 1% of the necessary work: * Without some sort of web+mobile experience, you are way behind everyone else that is established in the space (runkeeper, runtastic, strava, mapmyrun). * The competitors are well-funded and start-uppy - so, even as you perhaps start to add necessary features like route-making, elevation-correction, etc - they will still be innovating and making new stuff. * You integrated with Pebble, but the other hardware in the space probably makes more sense (like heart rate watches), so that's more work. Or nutritional stuff like MyFitnessPal. For the marketing, I'd say: * The app ends up being a demo because of the restriction on number of runs, while the competitors offer something fully functional, including Vima's paid features, for free. Is this going to work? * The name is probably bad - take it from the guy who likes greek mythology for names. If it's a running app, you might as well say so. Runtastic, Runkeeper, MapMyRun - there's a theme here. * I don't see any way I can join the community, so Vima can email me later and follow up to see why I'm not using the app after I downloaded it. I've thought about making a fitness app, and I have some infrastructure such that I can get to market with a more feature-complete product than Vima, in just a few weeks. It's a big brawl to walk into though.
- clarky07 12y ago
  Thanks for the brutal honesty. >Without some sort of web+mobile experience, you are way behind everyone else that is established in the space (runkeeper, runtastic, strava, mapmyrun). perhaps, but I'm not convinced the web features are that exciting or necessary for success. (Note that I make apps for a living, but I don't need 1 app to carry all of the weight. It would be nice to have a huge success that turns into something more, but it isn't required) >The competitors are well-funded and start-uppy Yeah that sucks. I agree. >The app ends up being a demo because of the restriction on number of runs, while the competitors offer something fully functional, including Vima's paid features, for free. Is this going to work? I have no idea honestly, but I've had success with this style of limitation in the past. I STRONGLY considered no limits, but I wanted to do it this way to start. I can remove the limits later and only make people happy. Can't start with no limits and go back easily. Also, I hate banner ads. So ugly. So not useful. With no limit I'd really have to put ads in it. which may happen, but I'd love for this to work. It's an experiment. >The name is probably bad - take it from the guy who likes greek mythology for names. If it's a running app, you might as well say so. Runtastic, Runkeeper, MapMyRun - there's a theme here. Possibly, but you've also got Strava and Endomondo as counterpoints >I don't consider this an "MVP" for a running app. I think that's pretty harsh. We are obviously competing against mapmy and runkeeper etc, but that doesn't mean we have to make the same app. I believe that there is a market for a simpler version that does the basics (time, distance, maps, etc.) with an easier to use interface. We have some more advanced features planned, like interval training and more charts etc, but the idea we were going for was the simplicity. Now, the monetization strategy was an entirely new experiment that may or may not work. It's a lot cheaper than the competitors options, but as you pointed out doesn't do as much.
irongeek 12y ago
Personally I want access to my running data in json or rss. Without that I would not consider using a new app.
geff82 12y ago
The most important small feature for me in Runtastic is that it tells me how many calories I've burned. As I try to lose some pounds I run until I burned 1000 calories (or whatever the goal of the day is).
fataliss 12y ago
"Metric" is the standard unless the target for your app is only the US market...

25 points by clarky07 12y ago

OP Here. Feel free to ask any questions. I'd love to get some feedback on it from anyone that runs or bikes etc. If you're curious, Vima is Greek for "Pace"

omarforgotpwd 12y ago
Like the app. If you ever want a job, I'd love for you to come help us at PredPol (jobs@predpol.com). We predict where crime is going to happen in the future so cops can stop is before it happens, and mobile is going to be a big part of that.
- clarky07 12y ago
  Thanks, glad you like it. I'm not looking for anything right now, but that looks pretty sweet. Best of luck to you.
auston 12y ago
Why should I use this over Strava?
- clarky07 12y ago
  That's tough, because Strava is a great app. In our mind though it has a lot of stuff that isn't really needed that complicates things. If you like that stuff, you might as well stick with it. The selling point of our app (at least in my mind) though is the simplicity and ease of use. There are a lot of people who like Strava and RunKeeper and the others, but there are also a lot of people that don't want to login to run. They don't want to have their run data on a server somewhere. They just want a great app that lets them keep track of their exercise progress. We are hoping to carve out a niche for those people. Hopefully keeping things as simple as possible while still providing as many of the other great features we can. Things like the voice updates while running are a good example. It's a great feature that a lot of people love, but it doesn't change the interface one bit.
davkal 12y ago
Nice app! I'm a Runkeeper user and I'm missing two things there: track your friends in the same map when meeting for a run (useful if starting point is not the same), and some sort of soundcloud integration (the track could be included in the facebook post after the run). The graphics look very good and the color scheme is well balanced. Is this native or html5? Any particular UI framework used?
- clarky07 12y ago
  Thanks. It is all native. No special UI frameworks.

andrewljohnson 12y ago

I don't consider this an "MVP" for a running app. The market is too far along, and I think this lacks a certain kernel of innovation that would set it apart in spite of lacking features. It has a nice, kind of Yahoo-weather like feel to the app. For a commercial success, I think the app does not even embody 1% of the necessary work: * Without some sort of web+mobile experience, you are way behind everyone else that is established in the space (runkeeper, runtastic, strava, mapmyrun). * The competitors are well-funded and start-uppy - so, even as you perhaps start to add necessary features like route-making, elevation-correction, etc - they will still be innovating and making new stuff. * You integrated with Pebble, but the other hardware in the space probably makes more sense (like heart rate watches), so that's more work. Or nutritional stuff like MyFitnessPal. For the marketing, I'd say: * The app ends up being a demo because of the restriction on number of runs, while the competitors offer something fully functional, including Vima's paid features, for free. Is this going to work? * The name is probably bad - take it from the guy who likes greek mythology for names. If it's a running app, you might as well say so. Runtastic, Runkeeper, MapMyRun - there's a theme here. * I don't see any way I can join the community, so Vima can email me later and follow up to see why I'm not using the app after I downloaded it. I've thought about making a fitness app, and I have some infrastructure such that I can get to market with a more feature-complete product than Vima, in just a few weeks. It's a big brawl to walk into though.

clarky07 12y ago
Thanks for the brutal honesty. >Without some sort of web+mobile experience, you are way behind everyone else that is established in the space (runkeeper, runtastic, strava, mapmyrun). perhaps, but I'm not convinced the web features are that exciting or necessary for success. (Note that I make apps for a living, but I don't need 1 app to carry all of the weight. It would be nice to have a huge success that turns into something more, but it isn't required) >The competitors are well-funded and start-uppy Yeah that sucks. I agree. >The app ends up being a demo because of the restriction on number of runs, while the competitors offer something fully functional, including Vima's paid features, for free. Is this going to work? I have no idea honestly, but I've had success with this style of limitation in the past. I STRONGLY considered no limits, but I wanted to do it this way to start. I can remove the limits later and only make people happy. Can't start with no limits and go back easily. Also, I hate banner ads. So ugly. So not useful. With no limit I'd really have to put ads in it. which may happen, but I'd love for this to work. It's an experiment. >The name is probably bad - take it from the guy who likes greek mythology for names. If it's a running app, you might as well say so. Runtastic, Runkeeper, MapMyRun - there's a theme here. Possibly, but you've also got Strava and Endomondo as counterpoints >I don't consider this an "MVP" for a running app. I think that's pretty harsh. We are obviously competing against mapmy and runkeeper etc, but that doesn't mean we have to make the same app. I believe that there is a market for a simpler version that does the basics (time, distance, maps, etc.) with an easier to use interface. We have some more advanced features planned, like interval training and more charts etc, but the idea we were going for was the simplicity. Now, the monetization strategy was an entirely new experiment that may or may not work. It's a lot cheaper than the competitors options, but as you pointed out doesn't do as much.

irongeek 12y ago

Personally I want access to my running data in json or rss. Without that I would not consider using a new app.

geff82 12y ago

The most important small feature for me in Runtastic is that it tells me how many calories I've burned. As I try to lose some pounds I run until I burned 1000 calories (or whatever the goal of the day is).

fataliss 12y ago

"Metric" is the standard unless the target for your app is only the US market...