v3 of the Hackerstash landing page is now live! Please let me know what's working, and what isn't 🙏
We recently shared v2 of our landing page and received loads of awesome feedback from the indiehacker community 😍. We've implemented most of it in v3 which is now live on:
Naturally we're mainly focused on building the app itself (will share a video update on that later this week for feedback), but we'll keep tweaking the landing page every few weeks whilst we prepare for launch.
So, what do you think? What's working, what's not? If you've not come across the project yet, do you get it? Are you tempted to join the waitlist? If not...is there something we could be doing that would twist your arm 🤓?
One thing I think would be awesome when we go live is to have a live feed of the leaderboard and prize pool, but can't really do that before we get going!
We have a blog set up now too, but it's not got any posts yet, will start sharing articles there next week though. We used ghost and found it pretty decent actually, if anyone's looking for a tool to power their blog that isn't wordpress!
Good work on iterating on this!
My main feedback on this is that the H1 (community-led microfinance) doesn't jive with the rest of the description of what Hackerstash is. You seem to be leading with funding as the main problem, but most of the benefits seem to be around building a community, supporting ideas, getting and staying motivated. I would suggest writing out a few different H1s arounds those value props. My concern about this one is that it's very investment focused but I don't think the $$ will be the big draw, at least not until you hit thousands of users and the pot is substantive enough.
Other small feedback:
Thanks @opebukola, recurring theme today I think 😊- what do you think about the 'Fantasy football for startups' sort of angle?
I agree with you about the 'Why you should join' to be honest, in my gut I felt it was too wordy but I just went with it anyway, will definitely look to refine this list in v4!
I like fantasy football and tournament angle a lot! It's easier for me to understand what it is upfront and to get excited about being a part of it.
Assuming people read from right to left, the signup form is a little misplaced imho. When my eyes met the signup form I didn't understand yet what I would sign up for. And to quickly scan what your page is about, there is too much text I think. Perhaps you can highlight or emphasize important sentences to make it more scannable.
Furthermore, I like the colours being used and after taking the time to read everything I like the concept as well. Not sure if I would pay for it since I think I can succeed without funding for now.
Ps. We're launcing in June, must be launching?
Well spotted on the typo, we'll get that fixed in a minute!
I think you're right about highlighting a few bits of text too, I'll see what we can do 🙂.
Regarding the layout, I know what you mean, it didn't really look balanced visually the other way around, but ultimately the information hierarchy is more important so we should look to change that around, thanks!
Nice to hear you like the idea too 😊
I did not even see there are already 48 people waiting to start! But dude that's definitely not bad.
@stefanonthenet highlighted a good point about the community. If you can find some really interesting folks who join the community people would join easier. Especially if you can create a community of sharing value to each other.
Yes definitely 😊 It's really hard to find the balance of explaining the community element and altruistic nature of it, but still make clear it is a tournament, and the best 10% of projects will be the greatest beneficiaries financially - though you could come last but receive loads of awesome advice, or good data to support whether to continue your project or not!
We want to go through 3-4 more landing page iterations pre-launch to get the messaging right, I really appreciate you feedback, thanks again!
EDIT - sack that, just checked your Twitter and updates in Pioneer rather than on this page. Congrats!!
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This is super cool. Very clean website and easy to understand - with a potentially large global audience once you get around to launching in July.
Would to hear of more updates!
Thanks Janey 😊 I didn't get around to ready the message before the edit, if you have any question let me know. Our launch is pushed back a few weeks, but not long now! if you follow @HackerStash on twitter or join the waitlist we'll let you know when we launch 🙂
Hey Chris! No problemo. Super excited to follow the journey 😊
Wonderful tweak @blunicorn
The landing page looks nice and the description seems promising. I'd know to "see" how it works instead of reading, would be awesome if you can improve that :)
I'm also improving my site, keen to know your feedback!
Thanks @felix12777 , glad you like it 😊. I like your site, nice and simple - I've seen similar things where they have an airtable with like 20 vcs (for example) and then ask you to join the newsletter, or signup for like $5 to get 200 more. I like that yours doesn't do that, but at the same time, I guess I'm curious if that would help for monetisation? What next for your project might I ask?
I agree with @MrAtiebatie, think the signup form is a bit misplaced.
Think you should put it next to the headline. The “ Finding ways to fund my projects sucks ” doesn't really bring any additional value / insight.
The headline "Community-lead micro finance for hackers and entrepreneurs." doesn't really resonate with me either. On first glance, that makes it sound like it's an investment platform. Or perhaps that's how you'd like for it to be perceived?
"Join the 48 people who are already waiting to start!" I would personally remove the number, 48 people is a not large number to boast and doesn't quite have the same effect as saying "Join the 10,000 people who are already waiting to start!".
I'm curious what the benefit is of using HackerStash? Personally I don't feel like it's properly explained. If money is an issue for me to continue working on my project, every penny counts. In that case, why would I then spend $12 per month to potentially win the cash prize? I feel like the selling point is lost along the way. I'm unsure if I'm paying for the subscription to get funding, to fund others or if it's simply to be part of a community.
Hey @stefanonthenet , thanks for the feedback!
The benefits are listed on the page, but there's quite a few so it's hard to highlight the ones that make sense for different visitors at the moment, what benefits do you think are most compelling? For me the top 3 would be:
Thanks for the thoughts on the headline, interesting to hear it sounded like an investment platform...in a way it is, but it's founders investing in one another, no equity involved either. Do you have any good ideas for the main heading? It is quite hard, it's quite a novel concept - I heard one person describe it as a fantasy football league for startups which was interesting.
The 48 signups thing is quite deliberate even if the current number is low. A central characteristic of the project is radical transparency, e.g. we'll also be providing access to the source code that powers the voting, so we're going to keep that count visible, even if some find it an odd choice. It's dynamic and at current growth rate will be in triple digits reasonable quickly 🤞
Yeah, it could perhaps be due to the design of the page as well, making it difficult to digest all of the content.
To respond to your three points:
I personally believe that you shouldn't find validation from other makers (if makers / entrepreneurs aren't your target audience). As you mention with your second point, we all see wish for others to succeed so you can't take that validation for face value.
I understand this point, however you may want to fund a project that the majority don't agree with. In that case you'll not really help them with funding. If I wanted to fund people's projects I would either turn to Kickstarter or Patreon.
Are you able to enter with a new product each month? My understanding was that you could only compete with one product.
Yeah, I think fantasy football league for startups describes the concept better (at least for me).
Alright, in that case then it's understandable.
Yeah, it's a monthly rolling tournament, with all scores wiped each month so nobody develops some advantage that compounds over time. You could indeed switch out the project description each month if you like and run a different idea 🙂.
I take you points in 1 and 2 above, certainly an interesting counterargument and valuable for us to think about in how we're framing the idea 😊. I guess for me patroen/kickstarter don't feel like places for people making digital projects (or less so, and less about a broader community). I would find people voting on my project, possibly at the expense of their own project, quite helpful too.
Thanks again for the awesome and thoughtful feedback, lots to digest and take into account for the next iteration!