Ask HN: Is my business idea going in the right direction? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is my business idea going in the right direction?

3 pointsmittermayr8 comments

I have spent about a year now to build the technology behind this and to find my first 1.000 users. I want to flip-around the recruiting process, by making companies inquire with matching individuals. It's like a mix of match.com with LinkedIn, in a way. Here's a video: http://www.twentypeople.com/site/page?view=employer

I know, the video should be better, I need to get a proper speaker and refine it. But I am at a point where I need to figure out if the idea needs further tweaking, like seriously, or if I can shift over and start polishing/marketing as full-time now.

I am a former Microsoft product planner and started this business almost a year ago. In the process, I created a bunch of spin-off ideas, most notably pareer.com - which is using the API I created with twentypeople.com.

This is more than a skill matching index... I have resume parsers worked out, accepting all major file formats, using statistics (over 80.000 skills trained) to figure out characteristics of someone who is able to program, say, in Ruby, CSS3 and also has a github account. With a good 1.000 users, I have enough data to make sense of the data and do stuff with it. I can tell you, as an individual, how unique your skill set is, if it's general or specialist knowledge, etc.

I am running this all by myself now, since I struggle finding the right folks to take on board, and more importantly, I wanted to clear up financing first to actually pay a worthwhile salary and get better talent.

Anyways, I'm ready to get burned now, internet. I would really, really, really love to hear any of your feedback, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Thanks guys, HN is the absolute most rewarding resource I can think of, being a founder.

Also, if you want me to look at your project (and I am aware of the fact that this could lead to a few hundred hours of work now) - I would be happy to do so. Tweet me at @mittermayr

Thanks.

So, I am not a programmer or a designer but have spent several years as a manager needing to hire talent so my two cents is from that perspective. I see your site like a self-serve online recruiter and it reminds me of the days that I would submit a job posting on Monster.com - only more detail and it looks like, better features. I especially like the ability to 'match' my employer needs in detail with an applicant's talent (similar to Match.com). I would use this if I needed to find tech talent! As far as the idea, design, and UI are concerned, nothing stood out as being unfriendly or difficult. I might suggest though that you change the icon for 'easy to use' to something different than the universal sign for 'handicapped'. My only other note is that psychologically ... you might want to consider adjusting the color scheme - black and grey are 'dark' and not necessarily conducive to a feeling of professional sharpness. You could change that by replacing the 'tan' color bars to match the bright blue ones that you use on other parts of the site. Hope this helped a little!

hey, thanks so much for your feedback. I totally thought nobody responded since I was traveling, then this! Thanks a lot! And yes, I agree, agree and agree. Had two of your suggestions on my TODO, so that motivates to jump at this now. Thanks!

Hey mittermayr,

I like the website and the progress you have made thus far. 1.000 users is a great mark be at and I definitely agree that this is a substantive base to survey for feedback. If they like the direction of things thus far, continue in that direction. Use their feedback (to some extent) to lead your product development.

Since I see that you are focusing on twentypeople.com, what is the status of pareer.com. Is this a site that you are currently working on or is it simply just up and running? What are your goals for pareer.com?

You need to follow me in order for me to message you on Twitter! I will take you up on your offer to comment on my project ... http://www.uencounter.me smile

If you have 1,000 users, I would turn to them to ask this question. Do a survey, offer an incentive to respond. Even try contacting several of your fanatical users directly and talking with them.

i myself rarely respond to such things, but you do have a point. who better to ask than those who believed in it from day one ... good point. will see what i can come up with, but this sounds reasonable!

Clickable: http://www.twentypeople.com/site/page?view=employer

thanks man!

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