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Based on IH feedback, my second "launch"!

Hey IH,

I posted the first “launch” of my app, 144blocks, here in early March and got a ton of great feedback from everyone.
https://144blocks.com/

The app is a tool for you to track where your time goes on a daily basis in an easy to use, fun way.

Two of the biggest things I heard from you on my first launch was:

  1. Remove the login gate so people can use the app without having to sign up.
  2. Allow for customization of activities so users can better tailor the activities to what they do every day.

Both of these features, along with a few smaller ones are now implemented 🎉

I would love any feedback from anyone interested in trying it out.

Two of my biggest questions still are:

  1. What types of insights would you be interested in seeing in how you spend your time in a day, week, or month?
  2. Should I try to monetize this idea, and put the majority of the features, including customization, behind a paid “Pro” wall?

https://144blocks.com/

Thanks!!

  1. 1

    I'm surprised but I really like this actually. I could see my self using it.

    There's a couple of visual bugs (for example some of the pie chart labels are truncated in my browser) and I feel like selecting the activity type should be faster (perhaps keyboard shortcuts or search/filtering) and I actually hit some JS errors when navigating back from the categories page but I like where it's going.

  2. 1

    I know this works fine on a mobile browser but if you want more users who aren't technical, you may want to make iOS and Android shell apps that just point to your web app. (That's on my todo list as well.) Pretty sure that's all wikipedia mobile apps are.

    Other than that this is pretty cool

    1. 1

      Thank you! And thanks for the idea, I've never done that before but I'll look into what it would take get done.

  3. 1

    Nice! I'll use it :D
    Re: monetization I'd first try asking for BTC, ETH or USD donation. It's super easy to set up.

    1. 1

      Thanks for the recommendation! What service do you recommend using to set up the donation process?

      1. 1

        For USD Paypal Pools, for BTC and ETH just generate your "wallets" on http://bitaddress.org and https://www.myetherwallet.com.

  4. 1

    Would love to hear some stats in a few weeks / months how implementing 1. "Remove the login gate" worked out for you in terms of conversions, time on site, etc.

    All the best!

  5. 1

    The screen shot doesn't load for me (chrome on Android), so it didn't answer my immediate question - how onerous is inputting the data? It made me think of the rescue time app. The beauty of that one is that it's collecting data in the background without requiring data entry.

    To me, the data entry piece is the most crucial hurdle and the payoff for that work should be worth it. For fitness apps, it's about tracking progress. For food apps, it's about seeing diet results. What is the payoff for this? I get that it's about seeing how you spend your day, but I can ballpark that without spending a bunch of time entering data.

    1. 1

      That's a good question, and one I've been trying to answer myself. I feel like the existence of the app rests on that question. I've had positive feedback on people using it, but no real stickiness which I believe relates back to what's the payoff?

      I still need to flush that out...

  6. 1

    Hi Brendan, congrats on the relaunch!

    What types of insights would you be interested in seeing in how you spend your time in a day, week, or month?

    • This feels like a solution in search of a problem. That's not a great way to build a product for other people. If you're looking to turn this into a business, I'd take a step back and talk to people/users about challenges they have around staying on track, time wasting, and being productive in general. Hopefully you can find something there which your app solves.

    Should I try to monetize this idea, and put the majority of the features, including customization, behind a paid “Pro” wall?

    • I'm not sure it matters right now to be honest. I think you really need to gain a thorough understanding of the problem your solving for your users first. When you know that, then by all means include a Pro plan if you want to make money :)

    Good luck!

    1. 1

      Thanks Louis, I agree with both of your points. When I was building the initial prototype I had intentions to build the paid version up front but felt that I better needed to understand how people were going to use the app first, before asking them for money.