I'll briefly preface my comments with the fact that when I've submitted sites to YC in the past, people have tended to focus on superficial things (IMHO). Maybe because it's easier to do that in a short span of time.
You've got a nice start, so take all of my comments with a grain of salt, of course:
- The front page is generally boring (screenshot? at least a photo of happy people?). I think other people have touched on this.
- There are too many things to click on the front page. Why are there two links to the "about" and "faq" pages? Are these the elements that you want people to focus on?
- In the same vein, there's too much text in general. I think engineers tend to overestimate the amount that people actually read on the web. I don't think you need to "dumb down" your site -- it's just that showing, rather than telling, tends to communicate more.
- The "create event" page is snazzily designed, but ultimately seems more like work than like fun, and it's one of the core interactions of your site.
- You can purchase contact importing scripts online for less than $100; I'd recommend it.
- Random: why have a FAQ if there aren't many users to A Q F? My experience has been that I nearly always guess incorrectly the questions people might ask.
- Why is the "logout" link under "Profile"? I had to click around awhile to find it.
- There's a lot of talk of "friends," but how much do you want to integrate social-networking features into the site? The more friction you have for other people to use the site (eg, if invited people have to "sign up"), the less likely they are to use it.
- General thought: How do you plan to differentiate yourself from Facebook, Renkoo, Evite, Skobee, and many other startups who have tried (and mostly failed) to solve the problem you're solving?
You bring up some very good points, most of which we have been concerned with and have been debating about as well.
Quick Question:
- In terms of too much text, are you referring to the about us and FAQ pages? Or was that an "across the board" comment?
We're taking the approach of a little goes a long way. A lot of sites inundate you with content and functionality...they give you a pneumatic nailer when all you needed was a pushpin. We're trying to give you a pushpin and maybe some picture instructions. As you pointed out, many other sites have failed at this already, so it's key for us to receive and closely analyze user feedback to see if this is indeed the correct approach to be taking.
Thanks again for your candid feedback...it is greatly appreciated!
I was speaking in general terms, but the specific thing that brought that to my attention was the welcome notification -- the yellow box filled with "stuff you can/should do" after you sign up. My hunch is that it would be intimidating to new users -- there's too much text and perhaps too much ambiguity as to what's the next step.
It sounds like you guys have a good attitude for improving the site -- my only other suggestion is to log every single action users take, and base your product changes on such data, not on hunches like the one I offered above. :)
Completely agree about too much wording. Eliminate half of the words on the page, and then cut the remainder in half again, right?
We're trying to walk the fine line between an intimidating amount of words and not having enough content to accurately convey what we want to say. The welcome and all other wordy areas could definitely use another once over.
You've got a nice start, so take all of my comments with a grain of salt, of course:
- The front page is generally boring (screenshot? at least a photo of happy people?). I think other people have touched on this.
- There are too many things to click on the front page. Why are there two links to the "about" and "faq" pages? Are these the elements that you want people to focus on?
- In the same vein, there's too much text in general. I think engineers tend to overestimate the amount that people actually read on the web. I don't think you need to "dumb down" your site -- it's just that showing, rather than telling, tends to communicate more.
- The "create event" page is snazzily designed, but ultimately seems more like work than like fun, and it's one of the core interactions of your site.
- You can purchase contact importing scripts online for less than $100; I'd recommend it.
- Random: why have a FAQ if there aren't many users to A Q F? My experience has been that I nearly always guess incorrectly the questions people might ask.
- Why is the "logout" link under "Profile"? I had to click around awhile to find it.
- There's a lot of talk of "friends," but how much do you want to integrate social-networking features into the site? The more friction you have for other people to use the site (eg, if invited people have to "sign up"), the less likely they are to use it.
- General thought: How do you plan to differentiate yourself from Facebook, Renkoo, Evite, Skobee, and many other startups who have tried (and mostly failed) to solve the problem you're solving?
Congrats on launching and best of luck.