vanelsas

8 ms·

31.
by vanelsas 15y ago
We do wish Apple would provide better ways too, but using the processes isn't going to get you to a 100% anyways. We are (luckily) not dependent entirely on system processes and will (in a few days) see if we can ramp up our app detection w
32.
by vanelsas 16y ago
because not every user wants that, and tbh we're a bit unhappy with the reliability of both FB and Twitter.
33.
by vanelsas 16y ago
We have thought about things like that but to be honest, we want to keep the experience focussed on your friends. There are already enough top app lists around. What makes Zwapp different imo is that it gives you direct access to the apps a
34.
by vanelsas 16y ago
There is only one point in the app where we ask (politely) if you are willing to tweet about Zwapp. That is in the autoshare section of Settings. You remain in control at all times about posts. You can turn sharing to social networks on/off
35.
by vanelsas 16y ago
We really want to do an Android version, it is a great platform too. We are working on Android already. We want to strengthen our Android team so if you know any good Android devs they can contact us for a job!
36.
by vanelsas 16y ago
We have affiliate links set up which will provide some revenue. The site is still very clean, almost Instagr.am -ish, but we are also working on a web view where you can see and share each others app profiles (see http://www.zwapp.com/user
37.
by vanelsas 16y ago
we do two things: 1) We check on custom schemes (btw: watch that space as we will open source our work on that shortly!) 2) We check processes on iOS4 devices and match those as well. The algorithm learns and will detect better and more wit
38.
by vanelsas 16y ago
Just connect with your friends (using Facebook, Twitter, or your contact list) and you can then browse your friends apps. Zwapp detects apps automatically on your device with a few clever tricks. Also the real-time feed shows you the apps y
39.
by vanelsas 16y ago
Its a three month project that we did. The app is free and will remain free. It is born out of a frustration that finding apps is becoming more difficult and that browsing the App Store just isn't working. In real life, the first thing we d
40.
by vanelsas 16y ago
Where are you accessing it from? Seems to work fine here, although we are getting a spike in traffic now
41.
Rate my startup: Zwapp, a unique social view of the App Store(zwapp.com)
44 points by vanelsas 16y ago|21 comments
42.
by vanelsas 16y ago
OUr rebranding costs less than the $250 K color spent on their domain. But if I could have avoided our costs by selecting a better name to start with I would have.
43.
by vanelsas 16y ago
True. I am very happy with this discussion on HN, but I do hope others will learn from this and not be tempted to make the same mistake. I'd rather would have had an excellent review on TechCrunch and then lots of people signing up from all
44.
by vanelsas 16y ago
I guess it depends on whether they would know what it is you offer, and where to find you, would define if that was an issue or not. Choosing a name has advantages and always unexpected side effects. It doesn't always have to be negative th
45.
by vanelsas 16y ago
+1, I agree.
46.
by vanelsas 16y ago
It is hard to measure the potential damage. Did we lose users/customers? We don't know. We certainly didn't gain German devs on board. Did we lose investors? We got ourselves a great investment ( $500K), but it may hurt future rounds. This
47.
by vanelsas 16y ago
I would say, choose something that you feel comfortable with first, and then wonder if your customer/user would feel comfortable with it too. That matters too. Don't try to satisfy the entire world. That won't work ;-)
48.
by vanelsas 16y ago
Besides the obvious successes of companies generating huge distribution on other channels, I would still say that having a great domain name will help a startup get on its way. It isn't nearly as important as providing great value, but if n
49.
by vanelsas 16y ago
I fully agree that the basis for becoming memorable is by providing value. Picture a meeting with a customer or VC that understands German (and there are many!). It took us valuable distraction time to get away from the name of the service
50.
by vanelsas 16y ago
+1!
51.
by vanelsas 16y ago
See my other comment below. Think about the costs involved, both in terms of cash (startups want to manage cash!), design and development time spent to fix this. At some point you find that your brand is in MANY places. For example. We can
52.
by vanelsas 16y ago
I'm afraid that's a tough one to solve too. We thought about it, asked a few native English speaking friends to take a look at it. We liked Zwapp very much because to us it associates with our idea that friends would like to swap apps. That
53.
by vanelsas 16y ago
It was actually a visualization of the inside of an apple. We seemed to have failed at that too (LOL).
54.
by vanelsas 16y ago
It didn't hurt us (yet) as we were just starting out. But remember, meetings with VC's became awkward, and as said, I am still awaiting the first German app developer to use the service. So, in the end, it got us traffic (which didn't hurt)
55.
by vanelsas 16y ago
The rules are so simple, but getting a name right (and getting a domain for it), just isn't simple. And, as the post shows, shouldn't be decided upon lightly :-(
56.
by vanelsas 16y ago
In my opinion 'free publicity' really doesn't exist. It always comes at a cost. In this case, we got loads of traffic, but only from German people that had a good laugh. There wasn't a way (we could think of) that would help us turn that tr
57.
by vanelsas 16y ago
We actually assumed that PinkelStar would be something that was meaningless. It just sounded good at the time. We checked domain names, but didn't check what Pinkel could mean (star seemed pretty obvious at the time). A pretty expensive ove
58.
Why picking a name for a startup does matter(blog.pinkelstar.com)
32 points by vanelsas 16y ago|42 comments
59.
by vanelsas 16y ago
I second that. I love Pivotal.
60.
by vanelsas 16y ago
If you want mobile social analytics then try www.pinkelstar.com

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