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Show HN: Whimsical – Get anything done, via SMS
- jstanley 12y agoIs this a Magic clone?
- minimaxir 12y agoYes, except it has zero information on how payment actually works.
- jameshk 12y agoI'll fix that right now. Check the FAQ. (https://whimsical.io/faq/ https://whimsical.io/faq/)
- jameshk 12y agoSimilar, but this is worldwide, and has other features.
- avalaunch 12y agoWas Magic a Jarvis clone?
- jameshk 12y agoI'll update the screenshots, ASAP. Thanks!
- jameshk 12y agoYou pay via an SSL link to a page with a Stripe payment form, for those want to know.
- frakkingcylons 12y agoIt's easier to read the phone number and dial if you format it like (###)-###-#### instead of ##########.
- humanarity 12y agoIt's like an API aggregator for the real world. Wow. Like Magic. I think Quintessentially has something similar, tho Whimsical (and Magic) seem to have democratised concierge (possibly with rational pricing.) Cool.
- nekinie 12y agoWhats the UK number?
- devonoel 12y agoYeah, I thought Magic was pretty cool too.
- hammeiam 12y agoWell done!
- vishaldpatel 12y agoIt's great to see that this is going to support Canada! =)
- jwcrux 12y agoHow is this any different than Magic?
- minimaxir 12y agoApparently, because it's Canada/US/UK instead of US only. ...which I'm not sure is actually an advantage, because it would make customer support 100x as difficult if something goes wrong in another country.
- smacleod 12y ago> Apparently, because it's Canada/US/UK instead of US only. ...which I'm extremely happy about. I've emailed magic several times asking if they will ever support Canada, or if I could use it in Canada with my US credit card - I've received 0 responses.
- vishaldpatel 12y agoIt's an advantage to Canadian and UK customers!
- beachwood23 12y agoWhat is the advantage of your service vs Magic?
- oliv__ 12y agoSorry to say this but I hate to see services that just pop up to clone something existing (and that barely even started) without adding any value. "Oh that's a good idea, lemme just change the name real quick, whip out the same website with a stock nyc image and post a link on HN"
- Raphmedia 12y agoThat's the market for you. If we are lucky, things will get less expensive and quality will go up for both products.
- minimaxir 12y agoThe problem is that there'a an explicit floor to the price: it can't be less than what the service pays to subcontract the request, or the service will lose money on the transaction. The little margins present will be eaten away. (Unless subsidized by venture capital like all the other startups with similar models)
- noir_lord 12y agoIf there are multiple players in the market such that you can't make a profit then you leave the market as will others until either a) the market stabilizes (or a clear brand winner emerges) b) disappears because it's fundamentally unprofitable.
- minimaxir 12y agoI'm pretty sure b) is already the case (Magic said they break even on transactions, which means they are losing money due to cost of human capital)
- avalaunch 12y agoI don't think that means it's fundamentally unprofitable. It's a pretty standard strategy to grow the market by subsidizing early adopters. They can try to raise prices over time or benefit from economics of scale. Perhaps, for example, when they get to a certain size, they'll have enough clout to get discounts on the various services they utilize.
- ComputerGuru 12y agoI am sorry for being so blunt, but makers of things like this are the very dregs of startup society. Cloning an idea concept-for-concept screenshot-for-screenshot that was posted just a month ago and went viral just hoping to capitalize on a previous company's success is pathetic. It might be successful (i.e. given that this includes zero original effort, any amount of income could be termed "success"), but it is despicable and should not be encouraged or even condoned. Taking an existing service and cloning it for a different userbase (e.g. making Twitter for China or Facebook for Jordan) are pretty lame and rank near-zero on the scales of creativity and respect. But something like this, that makes absolutely zero effort to differentiate itself in any way, shape, or form, hoping to only take leftovers from an existing (and original) service, and maybe someday overtake them via sheer brute force or persistence, are shameless and insulting. But I think most of all, what irks me is that the OP has the gall to post this as "Show HN" which has traditionally been the "let me show you something COOL or INSPIRING that I did" - do you really think no one here will catch that this is an exact clone of Magic and there's absolutely zero substance to it? It's insulting.
- noir_lord 12y agoCompetition is competition. I don't encourage it (edit: directly cloning ideas, competition is awesome) but I also wouldn't call it despicable. Executing on an idea better than a competitor is one of the fundamental concepts of a capitalistic system.
- jameshk 12y agoThis was mostly just a weekend side project, and I did not build it to capitalize on Magic's success, I did it because it was something I wanted, in Canada.
- namuol 12y agoIdeas are cheap, and execution is king. With a service as conceptually-simple as this, "added value" lies entirely in the difference in quality/price of the service. But I do agree that this doesn't belong among other "Show HN" posts, principally because this landing page eschews implementation details.
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- jameshk 12y agoI did not want to get viral, or for money. I just wanted something similar to Magic, that worked in Canada. I hope to make it different to Magic in the future, and meant no disrespect.
- vishaldpatel 12y agoI don't understand all this hate. Unlike US-only offerings, Whimsical is a service that's trying to open up to readers of Hacker News from other countries. As some have already pointed out, it is not easy to go International. On top of that, I'm sure by now you've realized that HackerNews has many international readers and they'd be very happy to see services that were previously only in the US with no plans of going international have some International competition. I'm sorry that some of you are not entertained, but for the rest of us, HackerNews is a great place to Show and talk about what we're working on and get advice on how we could do it better!
- jameshk 12y agoThank you for your constructive criticism. I never intended for this to offend or anger anyone. I just wanted to build a service, that people who lived in Canada could use. I'm sorry if this has angered anyone.
- asenna 12y agoAt first,I was like "oh, the magic team did some rebranding." And then I realized this was actually a complete clone, right to the screenshot.
- downandout 12y agoSo now I guess I need to build a service that compares prices for what you request between these two, and the next hundred knockoffs. I'll call it Witchcraft.