Comment by nathan_f77 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nathan_f77 | Hacker News Reader

This was really interesting to read, since I'm about to rebrand my own startup. The stakes are a lot lower in my case, but hopefully it doesn't turn out like this.

I'm going to rename FormAPI [1] to DocSpring.com [2]. I'm also launching a new website, and you can see a preview on my staging servers [3]. The main reason for the rebrand is that FormAPI wasn't a very good name. The service is an API for filling out PDF forms, but FormAPI doesn't communicate that clearly. People would often spell it incorrectly, and I got tired of explaining it to people.

I also wanted to move to a decent .com domain. "FormAPI.io" feels like a small side project, and my theory is that "DocSpring.com" will feel a bit more trustworthy. (I'm still a solo founder with a small company, but I recently raised a small round from Earnest Capital [4], and I'm still around after 2 years [5]!)

I think I'll be launching the new site tomorrow, so wish me luck! And please let me know if you have any feedback about the new site (or in general.)

[1] https://formapi.io

[2] https://docspring.com

[3] https://staging.docspring.com

[4] https://earnestcapital.com

[5] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15427891

I don't know if I'm just being dim because its not a weekday, but, what do it do?

Is it for me to fill out forms on random sites, in which case how is it an API? Or is it for the people with the forms to make it quicker to fill them out (which makes sense, but doesn't match the one line of blurb on the site)?

If it's for form filling, why is the word "doc" in the name, which I'd assume meant document rather than relating to form data or personal data.

Looking on the staging page it makes more sense, it seems to be for the companies who have the forms rather than the people who have to fill them in.

But does it take a pdf and generate an electronic form from it, or take filled-in forms and pull the data out of them?

Or is it for companies who have data to use to fill in forms from that data?

Just quite confused, tho maybe I wouldn't be if I was a company with forms.. or data..?

While I think the FormAPI name is perfect, I can see why DocSpring is better suited to more mainstream customers. There’s a tiny potential for confusion with FormSpring, but since they’re not around anymore I don’t think it matters.

I like the new site, here’s my feedback:

1. I’d not set the main headline in all caps

2. The “Upload Template -> Set up fields“ thing on the old site is really good at explaining the the tool does - if I were you I’d put that on the new site too, and de-emphasize the screenshot.

3. The logo in the top left corner is slightly blurry, I’d use an SVG instead of a PNG.

Apart from those tiny notes the new site is a big improvement!

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