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Ask HN: Would you use this service?
Explanation:
A question / answer site for asking / answering whether a product or service exists, based on a description.
Simple Example:
Q: "Is there a service that I can use to hail an independent driver via a phone app?"
A: "Yes, it's called Lyft." ✅
A: "Yes, it's called Uber."
The answers to this example question are both valid two years ago but are probably non-obvious to non-SF residents two years ago.
Market:
The primary market would be app developers that want to check for relevant competition before going down any rabbit holes. A relatively small audience would be required for critical mass, because many experts that keep tabs on Tech Crunch, Valley Wag, etc. are out there, and my hypothesis is that they, much like the experts on StackOverflow, would love to help by answering such questions.
Google can be used to find competitors, but it's sometimes ineffective because you might be asking the wrong questions. For example, if you wanted to find out if there was a service providing micropayments for news media, you might be searching for "pay wall", and you might have completely missed Blendle, which solves the same problem, but perhaps changes the paradigm sufficiently to obscure it to somebody searching for "pay wall".
Would you use this service? Why, or why not?
Side Note:
If a service already exists for this, it is ironic, because I don't know where it is to ask if it exists, etc.
- kaolinite 11y agoWhilst a nice idea, I suspect you might have a hard time growing the community when people can just use Quora for the same thing. That said, a service (perhaps this exists) where I can give you an idea and pay you a bit of money and in return receive a full market analysis, information on competitors, investments made, upcoming startups working in the area, etc - I feel that would be useful.
- mangeletti 11y agoThanks for the comment. I do like that demand-based approach to idea intell.
- tixocloud 11y agoAgreed. The value I would see is when I know how the other guys are doing and most importantly, help me decide where I should play. I believe CBInsights and Mattermark provide a service like that but they are marketed towards VCs and investors as opposed to individual app developers.
- hacym 11y agoI don't see a huge difference between that and creative Googling? https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=independent+driver+ride+apps https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e... Brings up lots of results about both of Lyft and Uber. I know this might be a pretty basic example, but if someone is considering entering a particular market, would they not already be doing this type of research?
- bbcbasic 11y agoI wouldn't use it unless it is very very good. And by good I mean as good as a hotel concierge and knowledgeable about every topic. Probably only the big G has the resources and data to pull it off. Although maybe Siri does this? (I don't know I don't have an iPhone)
- starshadowx2 11y agoSensay could be used for this. You just send a text message out asking for something you need and it get routed to someone who can answer. https://sensay.it/ https://sensay.it/