Really inspiring! Can't wait to use and explore the platform.
I am pretty sure that this will help me on a daily basis and I won't withhold anymore my doubts and concerns about crucial everyday business problems. I'm super excited to see that this kind of platform can come true and I believe this will be a great hand for a lot of peeps out there.
Please holler when you launch it.
4
Very cool (and thorough read).
I'd be interested in using the platform, as a consumer. While I've spanned the breadth of design, product, engineering, leadership, operations, I'm grossly inexperienced in marketing.
But marketing is essential to a business. If the people on the platform can help give me actionable steps to generate traffic, that would be huge. If they can't, it's not worth it for me.
One question–how are you going to "launch"? I tend to avoid dual-sided marketplaces because you need to seed both supply and demand to make the system work.
Thanks for sharing your story!
2
Hi Elijah,
Thanks for the positive feedback, and absolutely, if you want to focus on actionable "lets get down to business" marketing topics - that's your prerogative, and honestly what we envision most people will do.
Regarding your question about how we're going to "launch," well that depends completely on the results of our BETA. We're optimistic though!
4
Looking forward to seeing what mentors you manage to get on the platform!
Big fan of connecting with people and shooting about business!
2
Who are your competitions? I'm going to be a devil's advocate here. If I want validation for my ideas, why can't I post something on Indie Hackers, some Facebook group, or Medium.com? I can attend a few meetups, get free food, and talk to lots of people who are knowledgable and willing to give me feedback for free. There are also lots of experts out there who keep blogs. If you do a bit a googling, you could find articles that validate or challenges your ideas. Why would I to pay to talk to an "expert" on your site when I can get what I need for free?
1
Hi Xiaoyun,
Thanks for playing devil's advocate!
Meetups are great, but what if you're in a city that doesn't have a big startup ecosystem? Beyond that, it's not really practical to have that as your "go to" solution for feedback. You have to get dressed, drive, park, and then hope that there are cool people there. Don't get me wrong, I love meetups (when I can find them in my small city) and they are awesome for networking.
Then there are the community sites like this one.
Huge fan of them, but there are some issues with relying exclusively on platforms like these for your feedback:
You're not in control of who will answer you.
It's time-consuming. You have to wait to get answers, then when you reply back, you have to wait again for them to read it/process it, and reply again (if they even bother to reply).
It's on a public channel. What if you're not yet ready to go full monty with your idea?
It's all text/written based feedback. When you verbalise your ideas out loud you activate the left frontal lobe of the brain ie. the dominant hemisphere. Magical things happen when you massage that part of the brain. This article describes it well -> https://litemind.com/solve-your-problems-simply-by-saying-them-out-loud/
Regards to other competitors, the most direct competitor I can think of is definitely www.clarity.fm
Regards,
Fotis
2
I am hopefully not the only one, but I have an incredibly hard time learning and understanding difficult or new concepts from someone with an accent. I've had teachers pronounce "method" as "Mess-or".
If you could provide the primary and secondary languages to each mentor / teacher that would be awesome.
I WILL be using the product on launch - I love this! Thank you!
1
Hi Philip,
Thanks for the awesome feedback.
While we haven't made a provision for primary vs. secondary language per se, we've done something else which is even better in our opinion.
If you take a look at the screenshot below, the mentors have to distinguish between where they are originally from, and where they're living in now.
Loads of people speak English at an almost native level, yet "technically" English is not their primary language. I know many international people that I can understand a lot more clearly than certain people from Alabama or Manchester, so asking them to denote which is their primary language seemed a bit unfair.
What a valuable resource this will be for all business and startup owners seeking guidance. Looking forward to the launch!
1
Fotis, I'm so glad I came across this post. While reading it I was reminded of this quote:
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts."
-Bertrand Russell
Personally, I'm someone who's TERRIBLE at decision making. Self-doubt is one reason. Perfectionism is another. I think you hit the nail on the head with the issues I have when trying to make progress in my endeavors.
I'm very excited to see how you execute on this and believe you're on the right path. I really like your idea of help posts. This gives both parties opportunities to prepare and gives the customer confidence in their decision. It feels like other services you must take a leap by jumping on the phone with someone and being charged by the minute. I'm not worried about that issue with your product.
This opportunity looks to be challenging and exciting and I'm wishing you the best and continued success!
1
Signed up for beta Fotis! We are a fast growing SaaS business in the Amazon niche and we have advert and overall growth needs. :-)
1
Great idea!
I want to sell eco-friendly products online but I know next to nothing about managing/marketing an e-commerce business. Coming from a non-technical background I think it will be great to be able to get advice from someone who knows how to promote the site and probably also how to set up some automation for orders and stuff like that. For now, I'm on my own and it's kind of a side plan, so it's great to think that I'll have this as an option if I ever get stuck or have trouble building traction.
I like what you said about using a learning process. I don't think it makes sense to try and outsource all the technical stuff (SEO, automations etc.) right off the bat just because it's daunting. If you don't try to do it now, how will you ever know if the freelancers/employees you might hire to do it in the future are doing a good job!?
Really inspiring! Can't wait to use and explore the platform.
I am pretty sure that this will help me on a daily basis and I won't withhold anymore my doubts and concerns about crucial everyday business problems. I'm super excited to see that this kind of platform can come true and I believe this will be a great hand for a lot of peeps out there.
Please holler when you launch it.
Very cool (and thorough read).
I'd be interested in using the platform, as a consumer. While I've spanned the breadth of design, product, engineering, leadership, operations, I'm grossly inexperienced in marketing.
But marketing is essential to a business. If the people on the platform can help give me actionable steps to generate traffic, that would be huge. If they can't, it's not worth it for me.
One question–how are you going to "launch"? I tend to avoid dual-sided marketplaces because you need to seed both supply and demand to make the system work.
Thanks for sharing your story!
Hi Elijah,
Thanks for the positive feedback, and absolutely, if you want to focus on actionable "lets get down to business" marketing topics - that's your prerogative, and honestly what we envision most people will do.
Regarding your question about how we're going to "launch," well that depends completely on the results of our BETA. We're optimistic though!
Looking forward to seeing what mentors you manage to get on the platform!
Big fan of connecting with people and shooting about business!
Who are your competitions? I'm going to be a devil's advocate here. If I want validation for my ideas, why can't I post something on Indie Hackers, some Facebook group, or Medium.com? I can attend a few meetups, get free food, and talk to lots of people who are knowledgable and willing to give me feedback for free. There are also lots of experts out there who keep blogs. If you do a bit a googling, you could find articles that validate or challenges your ideas. Why would I to pay to talk to an "expert" on your site when I can get what I need for free?
Hi Xiaoyun,
Thanks for playing devil's advocate!
Meetups are great, but what if you're in a city that doesn't have a big startup ecosystem? Beyond that, it's not really practical to have that as your "go to" solution for feedback. You have to get dressed, drive, park, and then hope that there are cool people there. Don't get me wrong, I love meetups (when I can find them in my small city) and they are awesome for networking.
Then there are the community sites like this one.
Huge fan of them, but there are some issues with relying exclusively on platforms like these for your feedback:
You're not in control of who will answer you.
It's time-consuming. You have to wait to get answers, then when you reply back, you have to wait again for them to read it/process it, and reply again (if they even bother to reply).
It's on a public channel. What if you're not yet ready to go full monty with your idea?
It's all text/written based feedback. When you verbalise your ideas out loud you activate the left frontal lobe of the brain ie. the dominant hemisphere. Magical things happen when you massage that part of the brain. This article describes it well -> https://litemind.com/solve-your-problems-simply-by-saying-them-out-loud/
Regards to other competitors, the most direct competitor I can think of is definitely www.clarity.fm
Regards,
Fotis
I am hopefully not the only one, but I have an incredibly hard time learning and understanding difficult or new concepts from someone with an accent. I've had teachers pronounce "method" as "Mess-or".
If you could provide the primary and secondary languages to each mentor / teacher that would be awesome.
I WILL be using the product on launch - I love this! Thank you!
Hi Philip,
Thanks for the awesome feedback.
While we haven't made a provision for primary vs. secondary language per se, we've done something else which is even better in our opinion.
If you take a look at the screenshot below, the mentors have to distinguish between where they are originally from, and where they're living in now.
Loads of people speak English at an almost native level, yet "technically" English is not their primary language. I know many international people that I can understand a lot more clearly than certain people from Alabama or Manchester, so asking them to denote which is their primary language seemed a bit unfair.
This method is a bit more subtle.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wczyoumt18lojp7/Screenshot 2018-06-07 19.25.22.png?dl=0
What a valuable resource this will be for all business and startup owners seeking guidance. Looking forward to the launch!
Fotis, I'm so glad I came across this post. While reading it I was reminded of this quote:
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts."
-Bertrand Russell
Personally, I'm someone who's TERRIBLE at decision making. Self-doubt is one reason. Perfectionism is another. I think you hit the nail on the head with the issues I have when trying to make progress in my endeavors.
I'm very excited to see how you execute on this and believe you're on the right path. I really like your idea of help posts. This gives both parties opportunities to prepare and gives the customer confidence in their decision. It feels like other services you must take a leap by jumping on the phone with someone and being charged by the minute. I'm not worried about that issue with your product.
This opportunity looks to be challenging and exciting and I'm wishing you the best and continued success!
Signed up for beta Fotis! We are a fast growing SaaS business in the Amazon niche and we have advert and overall growth needs. :-)
Great idea!
I want to sell eco-friendly products online but I know next to nothing about managing/marketing an e-commerce business. Coming from a non-technical background I think it will be great to be able to get advice from someone who knows how to promote the site and probably also how to set up some automation for orders and stuff like that. For now, I'm on my own and it's kind of a side plan, so it's great to think that I'll have this as an option if I ever get stuck or have trouble building traction.
I like what you said about using a learning process. I don't think it makes sense to try and outsource all the technical stuff (SEO, automations etc.) right off the bat just because it's daunting. If you don't try to do it now, how will you ever know if the freelancers/employees you might hire to do it in the future are doing a good job!?
Thanks for the awesome post and good luck!