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Comment by adyer07 | Hacker News Reader

Looking at your website - I don't climb, but I used to use chalk for powerlifting - I desperately want to see photos of HANDS! My immediate question was "what is chalk cream", and that makes me want to see the product in use. Does it turn your hands white? Is it powdery? How could a wet cream do the same thing as dry chalk powder? This seems like a really tactile product, so I want photos that help me understand it on a tactile level. The mountain photos are beautiful but don't sell the product. The photos of tubes could be renders for all I know.

You could also try signing up for HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and scanning for outdoors or climbing-related pitch opportunities. A lot of the posts on there are trash but there's the occasional good one.

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Agreed! I found myself looking for a video demoing your product or showing the difference between typical chalk.

Agreed. I use chalk in the gym as well, and I'd like to see a picture of it to see how it's different from what people use currently.

As an aside, I was caught without chalk the other day and bought some liquid chalk from a climbing shop. I quite liked it as thicker than usual - more like a moisturiser than a pourable liquid.

Yeah. We worked on making the chalk "thicker" than the cheap brands because smell + texture influences quality perception the most. For the crystal chalk the different formula allows us to get rid of the "alcohol" smell. We even tried adding fragrance but that was a failed experiment, may revisit that later.

One other liquid chalk aspect you could maybe lean into - the alcohol must be a natural hand sanitiser. Obviously less of an issue for rock climbers, but might be a selling point for gym goers if that point could be emphasised or enhanced in the formula.]

Best of luck with the business!

We researched this & making hand sanitising claims would put is in the "biocide" category of products in the EU, which comes with a whole new bag of certification headaches. At best we can say something like "has light antibacterial properties".

I agree - lifting could be a tangential market that is actually bigger.

Yes. That's on our radar. Gyms are closed at the moment because of COVID so that's on the back-burner. We want to niche down on climbers first.

Gyms are open in some places now and will be open in many more places six and sixteen weeks from now.

It's fine (and smart) to be thoughtful about focusing on a niche, but don't do it because gyms are closed.

Don't forget that a lot of us have weights or other exercise setups at home now. I would definitely try something as an alternative to powdered chalk to keep my palms from getting slippery on my equipment. Especially now that summer is coming and I mostly train outside when I can.

Also, at least in Chicago, gyms have been open for months. They have reduced maximum capacity (I think it's 60% right now), but they were only closed for a short time. You may be severely artificially limiting your sales possibilities.

For most at-home exercises a pair of lifting gloves would be good enough

This is worth consideration. Many lifters who use chalk have spent money on building a home gym or attend gyms are open despite COVID restrictions.

We've been training in a soccer field set up for social-distancing training. I wouldn't make assumptions :)

Another interesting area of need is pole dancing chalk

Now that right there is a niche market ripe for the picking!

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