Seriously, the product focuses on personal and independent content, primarily published on websites, but the app only works in iOS. That seems like a fundamental mismatch.
Translation: You, Android user, is a second class citizen. And you, you are using the browser??? I won't even describe you, because you are less than that.
We don’t boost any authors/publishers/pieces. We don’t have any specific plan to monetize right now, but many AI-based products seem to work well as paid subscriptions vs using an advertising model.
This is what I'm using Hacker News for. It doesn't require an app, it's super fast, the curating is done by real people (not by AI), and often the comments add a lot of value to the discussed article.
I didn't intend for my comment to be mean. Generally, I think that sometimes the most useful advice one can give a founder (like myself) is "you should consider to pivot". Sure it's not fun to hear, but it can save you a couple of months. In this specific case, I think it'll help the founders to consider that the pain they're aiming to solve might already be answered, better, by existing simpler solutions. I don't think the best comment to leave is always "Amazing idea, wonderful execution!!!".
I didn't think your comment was mean, I just think sometimes people are a little too quick to tell other makers their idea won't work without putting enough time/thought/consideration into if that's true.
When it comes to finding product market fit (and providing feedback into if it exists) sometimes it helps to consider whether or not you are in that market.
I am never buying a Labubu but you better believe there is product market fit there.
"I get a lot of value from HN: it's fast, doesn't require an app, curating is done by real people and the comments add a lot. I'd be curious to learn what types of content your product surfaces that's different from HN?"
How much research did you guys do on the name? This might be the most amazing product ever, but I'll never know. I'm not inclined to install anything with the name "X Buddy". For me, it brings the negative associations from this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BonziBuddy
It's not a knock on anything you've done, because it looks pretty nice. But, just based on the name, I'm not sure I know what it does or why I'd want it. That's a decent amount of inertia to overcome to get someone to install an app on their phone called "browser buddy". It just screams malware to me... but maybe I'm just paranoid.
I suspected you hadn't, which is why I wanted to bring it up. It's admittedly a pretty dated reference, but was really common right around 2000. At least, it was commonly installed where I was around 2001. I don't think it was malware right away (it's been a while), but by the end of it's run, it seemed sketchy at best.
It's a tough balance to get right... you want to be approachable and friendly so that people will try your app. But you don't want to come across as a big purple gorilla or Clippy. I do like the penguin!
I get you have this 'curated' dataset but how much better than a good prompt for ChatGPT do you think this is?
(not intending to be negative, I'm genuinely curious)
*Not available in a browser.
Happy to bring back the webapp if there’s strong interest!
Will you clearly indicate “boosted” authors/publishers/pieces?
YC has changed. It's like we're back in the late 90's!
You're right though, the community/comments add a ton of value and its something we're thinking on.
When it comes to finding product market fit (and providing feedback into if it exists) sometimes it helps to consider whether or not you are in that market.
I am never buying a Labubu but you better believe there is product market fit there.
"I get a lot of value from HN: it's fast, doesn't require an app, curating is done by real people and the comments add a lot. I'd be curious to learn what types of content your product surfaces that's different from HN?"
It's not a knock on anything you've done, because it looks pretty nice. But, just based on the name, I'm not sure I know what it does or why I'd want it. That's a decent amount of inertia to overcome to get someone to install an app on their phone called "browser buddy". It just screams malware to me... but maybe I'm just paranoid.
We picked "Browser Buddy" to name our surfing penguin logo.
It's a tough balance to get right... you want to be approachable and friendly so that people will try your app. But you don't want to come across as a big purple gorilla or Clippy. I do like the penguin!