Ask HN: Review my startup, suggestashow.com | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Review my startup, suggestashow.com

3 pointsdavezatch10 comments

Hey HN, Suggestashow was created by myself and a co-founder. You put in the name of a tv show you like and it spits out recommendations, based on a whole slew of attributes we came up with. Sort of a 'TV show genome project', if you will.

Been working on it for a couple months now, mostly in our spare time, and feel like it's ready to go, at least the core product.

Frankly, though, we have virtually no traffic. The few 'users' we do have are mostly friends and family, which is nice, but not particularly great feedback.

So we would greatly appreciate thoughts on what works, what doesn't, and if anyone has any ideas they'd be willing to share re:getting the word out, that would be phenomenal.

Thanks, hope you like it!

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Aforementioned co-founder here. I think there is a lot room for improvement, but the site successfully does the core of what we set out to do. If we can't direct traffic to it now, the question is will continued improvements eventually lead people to use the site, or are we just putting lipstick on a pig.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

I don't see much value in it to the user. Your competition is the netflix algorithm...how do you differentiate?

The thing with Netflix is it only works after you've given them your money. They do have a great recommendation algorithm, but ours lets anyone get results, without requiring you to 1) be a paying customer and 2) already have chosen dozens of things you already like.

There's no barrier of entry.

That Netflix has one's money makes it profitable. Is this a for profit site you're designing?

True. Yes it is a for-profit site, although as of now only through amazon affiliate links. We have no plans for any kind of subscription model similar to theirs.

Netflix and similar algorithms are based on networks (I believe). Since Persons A and B liked the same show, let's recommend the other shows that Person B liked to Person A. They of course have the advantage of a huge database of user preferences, and teams of programmers.

This site allows you to put in one show after you finish it and gives other shows you might like. You don't have to rate other shows and develop a profile. Perhaps simplicity is the site's most important trait.

Our site has a database of shows that have been rated on various attributes pertaining to the type of show and its style. The hope is that rating shows based on these attributes similar to what Pandora does for music can allow for different types of recommendations compared to Netflix and recommending based on a network of user preference links.

Thanks for the feedback.

I choose what TV show to watch based on what's on while I'm sitting on the couch. In addition to that, it has to be agreeable with anyone else here. If I'm looking for a show to watch, I'd check tv guide before this site. If you integrated show times, that might make it more valuable to me personally.

I guess we're aiming more at the DVD-buying/heavy tv-watcher crowd. Granted, a lot of show discovery comes from those sitting on the couch, but I often find channel surfing to be rather tedious. If I already know what I like, flipping through Comcast's 1,000 channels often yields nothing.

And the TV guide doesn't do recommendations, just tells you what's on.

That said, we're looking into getting local times integrated with the results, as that would obviously be hugely useful.

1) Let me click on one of the attributes to search all within that attribute.

2) Include a description of the attributes and the process.

1) Making the attributes clickable is in the pipeline. 2) There's a brief blurb in the 'about' but you're right it's not clearly explained. Any thoughts on how to display that? Bottom of page? We've got some ideas for stuff to add but trying to keep it uncluttered.

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