ASK HN: Would you sign up for this service?
signup.frapp.it
signup.frapp.it
1) As @lmm mentioned, you can get free t-shirts from just about anywhere and it's not worth having a huge ad on your back 2) Launchrock is one of the most annoying 'Coming Soon' pages out there. Why would I share your service/product on Twitter/FB/Email to my friends and family when I haven't even ever used it
Thanks for the responses btw :)
Also, it seems like a relatively significant commitment from a person who signed up because you're asking them to upload three pictures of themselves in the t-shirt (for either another free t-shirt or "credit").
However, I'm interested to hear more about your business model and I hope your idea does well.
Presumably,and I may be way off here, you're sub-contracting out the screen-printing of the t-shirts. And, as I understand it, the cost of producing t-shirts can be significant and you would probably have to hold a large inventory of t-shirts in various sizes.
- What kind of advertiser are you trying to appeal to?
- Does an advertiser pay only when there's evidence that the t-shirts are worn? Or why do you have to upload three pictures of yourself in the t-shirt?
- Roughly, what kind of margins are you expecting to get?
- Are you trying to focus in a local region or nationally?
- What happens with any left over inventory?
Lastly, I may be interested in a t-shirt that combines an advertising with "pop art", but that's just a quick idea...
Edit: Clarified the first sentence.
The system I intend to implement should make this relatively painless.
Presumably,and I may be way off here, you're sub-contracting out the screen-printing of the t-shirts. And, as I understand it, the cost of producing t-shirts can be significant and you would probably have to hold a large inventory of t-shirts in various sizes.
Entirely true. But if Lockerz story is any indication of how it can work out, inventory turnover is likely to be ridiculously fast.
- What kind of advertiser are you trying to appeal to?
Large consumer goods and local stores. Got a nifty solution in mind on how this'll scale.
* Does an advertiser pay only when there's evidence that the t-shirts are worn? Or why do you have to upload three pictures of yourself in the t-shirt?*
No, pay up front. Receive elaborate statistics afterwards.
- Roughly, what kind of margins are you expecting to get?
Back of napkin style; profit margins somewhere between 30%-50%. Margins on t-shirts alone 50%-75%.
Are you trying to focus in a local region or nationally?
International user base. Allow advertisers to segment their target users by region/age/interests.
What happens with any left over inventory?
Promote them to first time users. Loyal users get cooler/more shirts.
Lastly, I may be interested in a t-shirt that combines an advertising with "pop art", but that's just a quick idea...
Definitely a great design idea. The one that's currently on the site is a drawing an ex-girlfriend of mine made over a year ago. I thought it was pretty amazing and asked her whether I could print that instead of my own terrible attempt at a mash-up of several freely available vectors.
I do have reservations about going after international and hyper-local markets at the same time. And I have a concern that it sounds like you do not have a graphic designer to create the t-shirt designs.
However, I do like your idea of reserving the "cooler" t-shirts to more loyal users (because that, for the most part, solves my issue with requiring a relatively significant commitment from a user).
Again, I hope your idea becomes successful.
I do have reservations about going after international and hyper-local markets at the same time.
International + hyper-local is more of an end goal than the begin stage. See http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4013608
And I have a concern that it sounds like you do not have a graphic designer to create the t-shirt designs
I know some contractors that are likely willing to help me out. Currently, I do not have anyone to structurally think/discuss/build this. I have reserved the summer to work on this and attend a bunch of networking events, hopefully someone will turn up!
Btw, if you think of anything else you'd like to discuss; don't hesitate to contact me at garm@frapp.it
If you market it well (I would suggest aiming at end of high school / start of college age people) it could really take off. I don't think posting it here will get you much useful feedback, the HN demographic aren't really the sort of people this will appeal to.
That's what I figured. Lockerz grew enormously until it imploded due to many factors. Rethink their business model, go niche and this is where I ended up at.
the HN demographic aren't really the sort of people this will appeal to
But at least they are likely to provide slightly more insightful feedback than the average feedback I've received from friends/family.
I like your landing page as potential wearing customer, but I don't think it would attract me to advertise with you. I would only change the pictures representing what kind of pictures people upload. Here you can't see that person wears T-shirt on an event or in a day in their life, you only see T-shirt and don't get the feeling person is wering it outside of their bedroom.
I think that feature of choosing what brand will you promote with this T-shirt is important. You can see that many commenters saw this as a problem. But I think that here is a problem from the side of companies who would advertise on your T-shirts as well. If I used your service for promotional purposes, I would like to know that in front side of T-shirt there would not be something opposite of what I would like my brand to be. But I think that for starters you can filter that out manually.
I wholeheartedly agree. However, this will change when an actual landing page is in place.
I would like to know that in front side of T-shirt there would not be something opposite of what I would like my brand to be
Manual filtering/personal design for the companies that advertise is probably the first step. Next comes incentivizing users to contribute their own design and let the smaller customers pick their company designs. I think that'll work out, though there's obviously no way of being sure.
Ideally, McDonalds-like t-shirts will be the minority of the t-shirts you will be able to choose from. What if it is a t-shirt courtesy of your local Radioshack?
Moreover, you'll be able to see in advance what company is sponsoring the shirt. Don't like McD? Choose another one!
What I meant is, I can't imagine a front so cool that the overall t-shirt would still be cool. (And if you came up with a t-shirt front that cool, you could sell it with a plain back for $50 and make a tidy profit without all the complexity of this idea).
>Moreover, you'll be able to see in advance what company is sponsoring the shirt. Don't like McD? Choose another one!
I'm not seeing that anywhere on the page. If true, that changes things; as long as the photo verification isn't too much faff I'd happily sign up for t-shirts from companies I actually like.
Can't please anyone, although it does not hurt to try.
I'm not seeing that anywhere on the page.
Pitched this idea once at some startup contest. Judges didn't get the concept. Spoke to other contestants and later stage judges that did get it; advice #1 'simplify, simplify, simplify'. Although I can talk on for an hour detailing the concept, it's best not too cause information overload.
Offering the people that are wearing the shirts a mix of back designs (say, three different ad designs to pick from for Whole Foods or any other advertiser) would be a plus to improve adoption.
What if the advertisers don't like the context in which I wear their t-shirts? If I upload three photos of myself wearing my t-shirt at a KKK rally, or being beaten by police officers at a protest, or throwing a puppy off of a bridge, will I continue to receive free t-shirts? Or would advertisers be able to black list certain frappers?
For the record, I signed up, and will probably be donating most of the ones I receive (if any, I do get beaten up a lot at KKK rallies for throwing puppies of bridges) to the homeless.
Someone launched a similar site years ago where they would give you giant stickers to put on your car doors and pay you $200 per month as long as you drive 20+ miles per day.
As others have said, whether I would wear the shirt depends on the ad. It would be great if I could see the ad before the shirt was sent.
Also, the word 'order' almost turned me off. it immediately suggests I'd have to pay.
Ad will be completely visible before the shirt is sent.
Thanks for the tip on order. Hadn't thought of it that way. Is receive better? Feels like it's less clear on how that t-shirt will end up at your place.
The pattern of "Get one, give back 3, receive something back" is the pyramid/Ponzi pattern. Basically your copy needs to change, it's heavy. Drop the numbered list, get to the point faster and more succulently.
Also, somewhat related. Have you seen this - http://www.iwearyourshirt.com ?
Copy definitely needs work. I'll be trying some different things in the future. Thanks for the tip :)
Hadn't heard of iwearyourshirt, very interesting proposition. Thanks again!
But that sounds like loss making venture to me - to give away the first free t-shirts to anyone who would order.
That said, I doubt if I would do this as collection of garments does not excite me. But if this means free t-shirt, I definitely know some who will do this.
If it was a cool brand which I would like to associate with, then yes, I would wear and photograph myself in it.
If it was a brand which I don't intend to associate myself with, then no, I wouldn't wear it much less have a photo of me in it
> It appears that something may be broken. We apologize for the problem. If you think you have reached this page in error, please head over to our support page.
Well, that's not appealing.