Personally I see a few red flags here
There is no detailed information on what you actually do for startups?
I see this:
First point grammatically needs amending and what makes it 'premium directory'?
Second point mentions being discovered by using growth hacking. In my experience 'growth hacking' comes across as spammy and doesn't lead to very authentic/good results (example, tweet the phrase and see what fake stuff happens).
Third point doesn't explain what you do to help at all....
As a founder I'd feel skeptical submitting my startup here.
There are others like Beta List and Startup List etc that do a great job here already. How will you compete?
@bentossell Hi Joshua, thanks a lot for your comments.
We understand that we need to be more clear on our value proposition and methodologies. However, we are still trying to expand the services that we can do for startups.
Yes, currently we are basically a startup directory yet we have around 150 paying customers. Our mobile apps have recently launched and they will be positioned as a discovery of startups submitted to Startup Buffer.
With respect to other directories, we are still very small but we are in no rush to compete with them, we are just trying to create a beautiful and useful platform for startups who are trying to get traction.
About the 'growth hacking' wording, I must admit, for now it is just a marketing buzz word but we are working on creating small marketing tools to help startups.
Thanks a lot for your time, I appreciate the questions :) If you have more questions, you can always contact us over hi{{@]]startupbuffer.com
@malibey So what is it that you do to help startups? What do you provide to those 150 paying customers currently?
What are the 'growth hacking' techniques you implement to 'help get startups discovered'? Genuinely curious
I think that everybody is being a bit hostile to this product! And I also think that product hunt is not a place of hatred,of course I am with you guys that it feels a bit weird and I am not getting why someone would pay to just add a startup on there site when you can give product hunt a go and if you get fetured you will get much more bigger exposure! My personal opinion is that they managed to get some users to pay and now there are trying to figure out what the real value of their product is, i feel that's also the case with some other projects also! So that's why they don't have a clear answer to give! The best thing to do is to try to help them! ✌
@tnsrig I often try to ask the hard questions but by no means am I trying to be hostile!
I'm genuinely trying to dive in to the value prop of this product and how it may be seen by others in a situation that I, myself, was in not long ago.
@malibey@tnsrig it is by no means a personal dig at you or your product.
Many may notice that across many products featured on PH I like to ask the hard questions.
For me I think its the most valuable way to help founders. Rather than saying "great job". I like to get to the nitty gritty and fine out reasons for various things and how I perceive that at first glance.
I try and put on my head from seeing so many products launch on PH and also from a founder who went through the same process :)
I feel like starting out with some sort of free model would not only help your case (with ProductHunters and everyone else), but also allow you to build a large enough base that people may see the value more clearly.
Also, you mentioned you just checked the numbers, and submitted startups are getting 200-300 hits through your site. I'm assuming these numbers include portions of time that you've been featured on ProductHunt? What's your plan for traffic in the future?
@melissamonteee Hi Melissa, actually it is free to submit projects, you only pay if you wish to get on to the homepage and our social networks.
About the hits, actually those numbers were from before the PH effect. For traffic, we are trying things on social media and lately on SEO. We have also tried Facebook ads as well but we need to build a few things to measure ROI on paid acquisitions.
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