Yet another project management SaaS | Hacker News Reader

Yet another project management SaaS

plan-b.today

23 pointskristis50 comments

Interesting choice of name. Aside from the controversial nature of the subject, my immediate association is "not as good as what Plan A should've been".

But the biggest thing for me is the lack of screenshots. This is text-heavy, and the text is pretty generic. For example:

> "Our project management SaaS stands out due to its emphasis on simplicity and structured configurations. Unlike numerous tools offering extensive customization options, we've prioritized key functionalities crucial for effective project management. This deliberate approach ensures a user-friendly experience while adhering to best practices. We aim to provide a streamlined, focused platform that simplifies project management processes, enabling teams to concentrate on tasks rather than getting lost in intricate configurations."

> "Dynamic Project Management: Plan B cuts through the chaos with intuitive project planning, real-time tracking, and seamless integration of all your resources. It's about bringing clarity and calm to the storm."

Okay. I'm sure JIRA and Asana also "aim to provide a streamlined, focused platform that simplifies project management processes, enabling teams to concentrate on tasks rather than getting lost in intricate configurations."

That's a lot of promises - which of these features have you implemented? Show me, don't just tell me what everyone else is also saying. Nobody sets out to build a convoluted, distracting project management tool.

Despite this, I logged in, and you actually have a working product, which is awesome! I think you should really showcase the most crucial features with screenshots and gifs instead of droning on and on about your philosophy.

Finally, and this is a smaller thing, but the landing page is sloppy. The headings are blurred out on the right. One of the subtitles is latin placeholder text ("Quis tellus eget adipiscing...")

I had the same feeling about the name. "Plan B" sounds like the 2nd best choice, not the best choice.

Yeah the lack of screenshots made me lose interest immediately.

the logo is already taken by https://pocketbase.io

That’s interesting. The shape is not just similar, but identical down to the curvature on the letters.

It's the exact same SVG with two stroke colors changed. I believe this is known as "stealing"

https://pocketbase.io/images/logo.svg

I copied an SVG from a site that said it was free to use. Clearly, it looks like I shouldn't have done that and it wasn't free to use. I'll change the logo very soon. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

I knew I recognized it from somewhere, thank you!

probably on which this app is built!

The value prop needs more work. There is no clear and immediate explanation on the landing page of how this project management is more streamlined or better in a meaningful way. Nor is there any screenshots or visual examples of workflows. What is the hook?

Why do you still have latin-placeholder text on your landing page :P

Adding to the feedback of others about the name, there are other products sharing the name, notably an emergency birth control.

> As an emergency birth control, sold under the brand names Plan B One-Step and Julie, among others, it is useful within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levonorgestrel

—

Alternative name ideas:

- Canteengency (canteen of contingency)

- Othra (Bugzilla, Godzilla - Jira, Mothra - Othra)

- Plan C (simple, quirky, best of the above, only proving point)

Oooh, I like Plan C!

Update: if you choose one of these names, I’d like a lifetime free account please.

Apart from the criticism in this comment section - I hate it with passion when I have to guess who I do business with. Besides a missing privacy policy from the landing pages, no names, no location- this isn’t a drug deal, it’s supposed to be a b2b app.

Plan B founder here. I take your comments with passion ;) Clearly, the landing page does not stand out. Regarding the privacy not in the footer, that's a miss, this happens when you build the landing page in a rush! I had MVP ready and just wanted it out. I Appreciate the feedback!

Quis tellus eget adipiscing convallis sit sit eget aliquet quis. Suspendisse eget egestas a elementum pulvinar et feugiat blandit at. In mi viverra elit nunc

Interesting to see this so high up on HN. As many other commentators have mentioned it's a real "me too" space, even your title says that. No screenshots. Odd domain, dubious name.. etc.

But I think it's because of that which you're seeing a spike. Because those aspects are all comment worthy.

Brazenly using the same brand as PocketBase doesn't entice me to try your SaaS.

In my opinion, having screenshots prominently displayed on the front page, preferably above the fold, is essential. I scrolled all the way to the bottom and still haven't seen any screenshots.

I thought the name is pretty funny in a self-deprecating way. Just commenting because everyone seems to hate it so far. I didn't know about the drug, though.

Congrats on the build. Just FYI, looks like you still have placeholder text under "everything you need to build". Down to give it a try.

Indeed, launched the project a couple of hours ago, and that one stayed by mistake, thanks

I would hope enterprise users think carefully about data loss policies before signing up and placing corporate data on it...

Not clear value prop.

Text "What makes Plan B different" reads:

- Has polls - Has 360 surveys - Something about integrating tools

Pretty sure other tools have all that

I am sure indeed other tools have that, indeed the value prop might not be as clear as I supposed it was, probably being heads down for the last few months made my vision blurry ;)

The first thing is that the methodology is different than what you can use potentially be used too. No ceremony, no estimation and more

Second thing is that I am not trying to rob you with an abusive pricing

Last is that I recognize the value of open source and decided to redistribute half the benefit to it

I hope this works out for you, as this space is really crowded! Best of lick to you!

- Your methology seems different, but I don't get/see that on your front page. What is different? Why is it different? And why is not everyone already doing it, if it's better? Try to focus your messages! Provide screenshot/short videos (GIF-style or so).

- You're probably not robbing me today. But why only 10$/month for everything if ithers can bill you the double amount per user? You're missing out tons of money people are ready to pay (I know that for sure, because people are already paying for it).

- I believe in fair price. I've noticed the end users pay for the inefficiency of those companies not because the product is worth this value.

You could tell me, well it is the value as soon as someone pay for it? But do we have a choice? I just want to give that choice. I am even tempted to offer a pay for what you think it is worth.

If I am wrong in my idea, you'll see me raise the prices ;)

Let people use it immediately without any type of sign up. I left when the form was presented.

The gradient on your section headers is nearly illegible towards the end of the word. The "Ready to dive in? Start your free trial today" at the bottom of the page is the worst offender

You might also want to update your copyright since we are now in 2024.

I'd make that dynamic ;)

Yeah the gradient is definitely not great, thanks for feedbacks,

They named it after an abortion drug? Strange hill to die on

I have said and read “Plan B” many times in my life, almost never in connection with an abortion drug. Searching on Google, “Plan B” is more connected with the musician and politicans’ speeches.

"Plan B morning after-pill" is the first page of hits on Google for me, and definitely is the first thing that popped into my head. Perhaps its a region-specific thing, though.

Yeah, US-centric, I wouldn’t have thought of that. My search results page for Plan B has a musician, a film, climate change advocacy... but the ads are all for pills.

The morning after pill, taken by people to prevent pregnancy after having sex without birth control, is very often referred to as 'Plan B' in the USA.

Plan B founder here, I am not from US and had no idea this name was linked to an abortion drug. As they say, there's no such thing as bad publicity!

People in America: 336m

People not in America: 7714m

I wish we had this in my last project!

I say this with a ton of experience in the domain name industry - this is a terrible domain choice. The hyphen and the TLD. Not the end of the world - but I would try to migrate off of the domain sooner than later. I would also consider a new name entirely. Plan B (in the US) is 'the pill' that women take after unprotected sex to prevent an accidental preganancy.

Generally, building trust for commercial transactions seems to be done by .com by far.

Some TLDs are trusted a bit more by different demographics but in no way the priority.

What‘s wrong with the tld? The rest i get.

.today is screams scammer. Spend the $3000 and get a "normal" looking domain name. Yes that sucks, but it's the world we live in.

1. The natural thought process is always to go .com

2. plan-b.com is also some sort of SaaS

Depends, no one took .so seriously before notion.so

Also, I own newyork.today for example... I think there is domains that the tld works with.

No one takes .so seriously even after notion.so. Hell, I'm sure countless people still try .com before giving up and Googling "notion" (or maybe that's just me, but I doubt it).

That's how people learn. The world can't stay on the dot com paradigm forever. The new startups coming out called something ridiculous like "wuua" just to snag a dot com should be a sign to everyone that it's time to move on to other TLDs.

The longest trust for ecommerce is with .com.

The "change your name if you can't get the .com" advice seems increasingly outdated. I don't claim to be a domain guru but I see the current climate as one where you can either choose a great alternative TLD (.io,.dev,.tech,.design) that works with your name, or you become one of those weirdly named forgettable companies with a .com. It's 2024. People aren't just typing your name directly into the address bar. They are finding you on Google search or scanning your QR code.

That said, the hyphen still looks bad and the name is an abortion pill in the US.

It might be outdated, but .com outperforms.

If content marketing and SEO is a part of the issue, being sure not to select a TLD that isn't penalized by google is important, as some TLDS (often the cheapest ones) have really bad reputations both for web, and sending spam.

.com doesn't need a weird name to be OK. Lots of ways to come up with a unique enough .com that sticks.

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