Show HN: Startup Threads Monthly - Subscription Swag Service | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Startup Threads Monthly - Subscription Swag Service

startupthreadsmonthly.com

82 pointsfrankdenbow55 comments

so I'm supposed to pay money to promote some random startup?

in order to get a shirt, that they give away for free at their booths all over the place?

+ $20/mo to get a shirt is way overpriced...at that price, I might as well get a shirt from threadless that I like instead of "randomstartup.com!" one.

The business model should be flipped. Startups should pay you...to distribute shirts for free. And allow them to make it local....i.e. 300 shirts to people in los angeles.

Cost wise just charge them the same $20 per shirt. $10K for a one time marketing cost is nothing really. And getting 500 people to wear shirts would be worth it.

Well we are getting interesting startups and designing custom gear each month (so you wouldnt actually be able to get this from other sources). Its also not just a t-shirt, but stickers and other added things (discounts/free credit for services/etc).

That said you definitely have an interesting concept there, that we may be able to push as we continue to increase our numbers

I've paid $35 for a shirt at a concert. I'd pay $25 for this. At $15 + shipping that's the cost of an American Apparel tshirt with nothing on it. It's pretty reasonable imho.

Much cheaper ways to market yourself unless you're hoping to target entrepreneurs/startups.

Making it locally targeted is a brilliant idea.

In regards to cost, I told Frank I'd be willing to pay up to $30/mo for a shirt. Personally, I'd rock a Twilio shirt over anything I see on threadless.com.

You'd change your mind after wearing a Twilio shirt. They're paper thin and the giant circle logo that wraps around the side of your abdomen is stiff and scratchy. I have a lot of startup shirts from the old Startup Schwag, Twilio's is the only one I can't wear.

That's the super old design. Email me your size and address and I'll send you the new nice one with the tasteful design. You'll love it, I promise. jsheehan@twilio.com

YC startups start companies that sell to other YC startups that sell services to other startups that sell t-shirts to people who are doing startups... When we gonna reach the actual companies that provide the thick value?

Well my main project is a music app, but in order to bootstrap that I put this together. I'm not YC (although Alexis Ohanian and Adam Goldstein have been helpful getting setup).

It sounds just like the now defunct Valleyschwag from 2006, http://techcrunch.com/2006/05/04/get-web-20-schwag-from-vall...

Yep, it is similar, but we print most of the merchandise ourselves. Valleyschwag shut down and Startup Schwag ended up being the next in line, and I hope Startup Threads picks up where they left off when Startup Schwag shut down in 2010.

What happened to valleyschwag/startup schwag? Why did they shut down?

ValleySchwag went on to start GetSatisfaction. StartupSchwag (which I ran) shut down b/c after 31 months, it was time for other projects. Really excited to see this coming back and I've already signed up!

Hopefully, Valley Threads won't pick up from you a few years from now :)

Awesome service, by the way.

I think to begin with ValleySwag were open to either receiving shirts or printing them (esp as it was all local companies in SoMa)... but over time I think they decided to only do print-runs with their own suppliers, presumably to add to their margin.

Great product Frank. It took me less than 10 seconds to decide to sign up. Group the $14.95 and the $5.00 shipping in to a flat $20/mo quote. There's no need for the breakdown.

Hey HN! I put together Startup Threads Monthly to be a service that sends out startup merchandise (t-shirts, stickers, trinkets, discounts, etc) every month to consumers. It has been done in the past, and with some advice and guidance from Roddy (who ran Startup Schwag for a few years) I decided to bring it back.

Would love to get your feedback on the project.

Can you opt out of months if you don't want the particular schwag and not get charged $15?

Hmm, I hadn't thought of this but you are the second person to mention this. Its something I'll definitely consider but havent added this functionality yet.

I second this, the service could be awesome, but I don't necessarily know if I will like the tshirt each month.

Ya, that's big.

I wouldn't commit to a subscription like this (especially not knowing what I'm going to get), but I would be tempted to get individual packages, especially for companies I like. Why not instead operate more like Woot!, and feature a single package every week (or month or day)? I'd add that to my RSS reader.

Will be rolling out a page for just getting one offs asap

I have been looking for a service like this. Some questions I have: 1. Is there a way to view what the t-shirt will look like? 2. The monthly package we receive, are all the goodies from one company? Or will the sticker and surprise be from a different company? 3. Will you be able to opt out of certain months?

Good questions:

1) Right now we don't have the design for the month posted. Will do that soon, though. First month will be this Hipmunk design: http://i.imgur.com/bIL5v.jpg

2) The shirt and sticker will be from the same company. The rest will be from others

3. Not yet, but this has been the #1 request so far

I signed up for this last week and I'm excited to start receiving some great swag next month. Living in Victoria, BC it's not so easy to get your hands on some shirts from the companies you use, follow, and hear about so this is a great new service. Thanks Frank!

Nice! Hope you like the first shipment

I love the idea of a startup raising money by selling their own shirts.

Startups will probably subsidize all your inventory if you get some traction, and make it easy for them. You're an advertising platform, the AdSense of high-value torsos.

Agreed! AdSense of high-value torsos could be the new tagline

Take a cue from the car wraps business: If you could quantify the value of a torso (that person rides the train every day, or walks 2 miles in SOMA, or works at Google, or is the 4sq mayor of 20 hip joints), then the owner of that torso can get your monthly shirt for free... and the startups will pay for that. In fact, any brand would pay for that, so you may want to expand the positioning to take any company's schwag.

The guys who run GetSatisfaction used to run ValleySwag (an identical service). It's cool to see ideas coming around again and finding (hopefully) new feasibility.

It could be totally cool if you considered a "vintage" section, where you sell genuine one-off threads (think JavaSoft, DEC, Windows 3.11, ...)

That would be cool if we could find those

your customers are telling you what they want. don't find em, make em!

these vintage NJ devils t-shirts are brand new

http://www.fansedge.com/New-Jersey-Devils-Green-47-Brand-Vin...

Looks cool. I'd love to see a price range on the home page as well, just so I know if this is something I can afford. Maybe even a/b test different price points on a splash page (unbounce) and see what sticks.

whens the first box shipping?!

now i don't have to buy clothes anymore

I will definitely add the price to the home page.

First box ships at the end of February (its in the FAQ but it needs to be mentioned elsewhere)

My wardrobe is mostly startup t-shirts now.

Do the companies pay you for this distribution? They should. It's advertising for them, after all

Yep, we think its a good targeted way to do merchandise, getting it into the hands of the most passionate startup fans. The best part so far is that we are connecting to people around the world, especially in places where there isnt as strong of a startup community.

Just curious, are you concerned with distributing to non-startup fans?

Was not thinking of this currently. Do you think people outside of the startup world would be interested? I'm trying to make the designs interesting enough to appeal to others.

Totally. I just wouldn't make anything so centered around the idea of a startup. As long as people have reason to gravitate toward the design, people will want it. This goes beyond aesthetics, though. It's probably a difficult balance to achieve, but it's definitely doable.

Just a thought, I found the chat box popping up on every page to be quite annoying.

Will change the settings on this as it shouldn't pop up every time. Have gotten lots of good feedback from the widget, though.

I could see this being very popular. Whenever I wear startup swag (especially Twilio or Foursquare) I have people ask me where they can get it. When I say I got it at a user group or conference they seem disappointed.

Nice! We will have Twilio and hope to get Foursquare as well. Both do an excellent job of coming up with high quality gear.

I think this is a great idea. I have a bunch of civilian friends ask me to "steal" a shirt for them when I'm at a hackathon or a meeting. Now i can just point them here. Thanks Frank!

i think it may be wiser to get the startups themselves to subscribe to a swag subscription service (not consumers or fans). then each month the startups receive different types of products at their office. they could then order more of the ones they like. the subscription service introduces them to cool swag that they can give out (or sell?) to consumers & fans of their service. different approach, but i think it may make more sense.

Yes, we have heard this from a few people (was on the GiftRocket list of startup ideas) and are considering it in the future.

Mystery box, who can resist! cant wait for my first :)

Backordering could be a great addition if it goes well. All the best with this idea!

Thanks! Considering backorders as well.

This is a great concept. Visibility is key for any startup's success and thoughtful, on-the-ground swag is a huge part of this!

Great idea. I've been waiting fOr a sErvice like this.

really cool.

will there be more t-shirt styles/hoodies?

Not going to do hoodies yet since they are expensive, unless a startup wants to subsidize it and send them.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com