Ask HN: Review My Startup: Skinnyo - Weight loss challenge community | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Review My Startup: Skinnyo - Weight loss challenge community

28 pointstommoor31 comments

Hi All,

I'm looking for feedback on a startup I have been working on for many months now...

Skinnyo started as a simple platform for creating challenges for friends and colleagues to motivate each other into losing weight but has grown and could now be considered a small social network with user reputation and updates of friends activity and support.

The site opened in late October and since then we have had over 4500 users join (many of whom through the chrome webstore) and around 800 are active regularly...

I am particularly looking for feedback on potential business models aside from advertising. The users we have so far seem to appreciate that the site is kept clean and simple unlike everything else in this space. And I am also interested in ideas for sustainable growth.

Any other comments would be great, and all feedback is appreciated.

Cheers

http://skinnyo.com

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Some sort of premium paid membership for extra access/privileges? Maybe how-to videos or a mail-order DVD?

Limit the amount of certain functions to non-paid members. They are only allowed X type actions per day/week/month etc.

I also had a Groupon like idea, but not sure how you would implement that. For instance, if several friends are doing a weight-loss challenge, if they collectively lose Y lbs within a specific time period, something is unlocked or given. Maybe make this a premium-only membership.

You could also have page for healthy foods/supplements that link to amazon's affiliate program.

You are on something. I really like it.

Read "4 hour body" by Tim Ferriss and build a lot of the site around the buzz of this book.

Communicate stronger in "Fat loss" and less "Weight loss"

Also introduce "TI" (total inches - sum of body measures)

Also introduce Bodyfat % and auto calculate the actual fatloss.

Thanks,

We have had a lot of people request the ability to add in other measurements than weight. It is one of the most requested items.

The problem is keeping it simple as it would seem like a mistake to move too much in the direction of dailyburn et al. People like that it is simple.

I agree, that is the one feature I really need.

I agree about simplicity.

But you have a missunderstanding. You do should not have a page about weight loss. It should be about fatloss. % Fat is minimum.

Clickable: http://skinnyo.com

At a glance, I like it. Hard to compete with Traineo and SparkPeople though. Maybe if you carved off different niches of weight loss with sub-micro sites, with things like "losing the baby weight" or "people over 400 pounds" etc.

You might want to jump on the Tim Ferriss "Four Hour Body" bandwagon and milk related topics like the kettlebell swing.

I had a related idea that I doubt I'll develop. Sort of a cross between this and Kickstarter where a user could sign up and their friends could "bet" them that they can't reach a goal weight.

I second the superniche idea. And I like the betting idea, it's evil enough to be viral.

And I'm a little scared to ask what "milk related topics like the kettlebell swing" means ;) -> edit: some Googling http://www.google.com/images?q=kettlebell+swing + some imagination and I figured it out.

http://www.google.com/trends?q=kettlebell+swing,+kettlebell,...

A few people have mentioned the idea of getting friends to 'bet' or 'pledge' money or prizes to help you out.. a recurring theme! thanks

A simple business model that would be coherent with your current users would be let them mention what they do to loose weight, identify commercial elements (not just weight-loss powder, but also say, iTunes apps, or a organic walnut producer) to sell mentions, or better coupons to groups that pledge to follow a similar regimen. That way, you can have not only friends, but stranger who use the same technique to help you out.

Sponsoring would be a good idea if you fail to identify anything relevant automatically: let the users name a product that they use to loose weight, and associate their gains to it.

I'm not sure how competitive you want this too be (hopefully, not too much) but you might also encourage treats to your members. Let them tell they friends (on Facebook/twitter) about it, and their friends pledge a present if they reach certain goals and get a recommendation fee from those merchants. Maybe consider a two- or three-sided gift not too punish and burden too much those who failed: a trip to Paris below a certain threshold, a wine & walk tour of California below a higher threshold, and a sweat-your pants off in a Cheyenne lodge otherwise.

I really like the idea of pledging gifts... it isn't something that has come up in our brainstorms so far either.

I wonder how many people would need to pledge to build up enough for something the size of a holiday? Although a much smaller gift might not provide enough of a motivation...

Would the business model here to take a percentage of the pledges?

You could let the user designate a charity and get friends to pledge donations if the user meets their goal. A smaller charitable gift may go a longer way psychologically for some folks, and it may be easier for them to get their friends to pledge as well.

Then, when you go to eat the bowl of ice-cream or skip your workout, you think: do I really want to screw the panda bears/starving children/cancer sufferers?

I really like the design, it's very clean and looks highly polished. Also I like the fast signup process. Business models might be a tricky one here. Can't think of one atm.

I second the praise, however you could really use some kind of tour that presents the functionality of the site without the need to signup first.

Thanks for the positive comments - a video tour is definitely on the list to do...

I agree, it's very nice. Who did it?

I did all of the design and code on this.

Wow, very nice. Congratulations! I'm currently working on something similar, but I am nowhere near as good at design.

It looks great, looks very simple to use too. Might get work involved on it.

At this point, what with the cornucopia of social fitness platforms, I'd like to know what makes your product different and better.

I'm slowly developing a tough skin against platforms like these, but I'm still vaguely interested, because no one seems to have done it well yet (they all just seem to join in for the hell of it).

The fact that you even use a .com and non-cute name already puts you ahead of most people.

I'd like to see an example of the site (example account, video, etc) before having to join. Just previewing the 1 page doesn't compel me.

The standard businessmodel for weightloss sites is this: offer a "risk-free trial". It sounds free, but they get charged from day 1, unless they cancel. Assume the average user will pay for 3 to 4 months. Charge more than your customer acquisition cost.

You may not want to go there and get creative with other options.

Big fan. Been using it for a few weeks. Really enjoy the competitive aspects (challenges, badges etc.) - good for the motivation.

Not sure if this is a reasonable business model but I'd certainly pay for an iPhone app..

Perhaps premium features? Admittedly I can't think of anything off the top of my head..

I like it, first look is great! Maybe you could partner up with some Youtubers, there's a couple that do weekly or almost daily workout videos. You could sell a personalized trainer which makes instructions just for you, then split the money with the trainers.

This looks very nice, this is something me and my college friends have been looking to do, challenge each other in weight loss. Maybe you should look into doing some marketing towards college students? Motivate them to get rid of that freshman 15.

Great, add me if you sign up :-)

I found a video of this that helps show the site a bit better for those who have not signed up yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efp1N4qOFyw

RE: "sustainable growth"

Consider what features you might need in order to keep current members as long term members. The problem with the focus on weight loss is that people will fall into one of two categories: 1) Yo-yo dieters who will keep coming back to lose the weight again or 2) People who make real changes to their lives, lose the weight and keep it off. Your current configuration most likely has long term appeal only for group one. In the long run, this could smack of failure in terms of the big picture: Do you really want to be known as the site that actively encourages people to regain the weight/be yo-yo dieters so they can come back (and line your pockets some more)?

Think on what "challenges" you can introduce to keep the actual successful people around and contributing members of the community. This might be stuff like "has kept it off for x period of time and counting". They could get kudos of some sort and held up as good examples for the rest of the community. It could differentiate into fitness challenges -- run that 5K, move on to a marathon (or whatever).

I agree with Mz that the most likely long term users aren't necessarily success stories. I think it's reasonable to expect that you're going to have significant churn.

When someone stops using the site regularly after achieving their goal, though, they are still very valuable to you. Find a way to follow up with those folks each 6 or 12 months and you can hopefully gather data to prove that your model works. The people that have been the most successful may very well want to talk about it.

Being able to say "5000 people have used Skinnyo to meet their weight goals and kept the weight off for 12 months" in big letters on the front page could help your conversion rate, and may even help current members stick with it.

Business model suggestion:

Sponsored Competitions by gyms/weightloss companies.

Hypothetical situation:

Virgin Active looks 5kg Challenge: Any one who passes the challenge gets 50% off membership dues.

Affiliate advertising: It is simply straight forward :)

Goodluck man!

Let me know when you launch 'MuscleV' ;)

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