Comment by iambateman | Hacker News Reader

Comment by iambateman | Hacker News Reader

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Ok, Brandon, let me rant for a second. This isn't your fault, you're a part of a much bigger trend. But bro, a validation test is no excuse for being hasty.

Just because you're in validation stage doesn't mean the marketing page only deserves 2 hours. When the Lean Startup came out, Eric Ries was pushing back against people who devote thousands of dollars and hours before they knew if a product would work out not.

AppSumo has made it cool to test w/ quickly-conceived pages. But a minimum viable product still needs to be viable.

Maybe I'm a hater. If so, sorry I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I just think it's worth pushing for higher-quality in validation tests. A few more hours could greatly affect your results.

For example: what are examples of brands of salsa you'll be delivering? Is this an email newsletter, or a paid service? What if I don't like the salsa this month? Is it crazy-wacky mango salsas or interesting tomato-based salsa?

Answering those questions might push your needle in the right direction. :)

One of the points of a validation test like this is to be broad in your product offering, and seek feedback to guide the development/refinement of your product and its features.

Your own questions provide exactly that- Maybe nobody cares what type or brand of salsa it is, just that it’s different each month. Or maybe 2/3s of potential users ask that question, and he knows he should add that as a feature/description.

Or maybe he hears people want guacamole and sour cream delivered as well, and he then tests that offering out. Or nobody signs up, it fails, and he’s only lost a few hours of his time.

yep! All of that is definitely true as well. People seem to be receptive to salsa in general, and from there I can see what types of flavors everyone likes and settle on a fair price point

I appreciate the constructive criticism, and I agree with your points.

Your comments, along with a ton of others, are definitely helping. To answer your questions this is both a newsletter and I will be selling independently owned salsa brands, both as a monthly subscription and through an e-commerce section. The landing page is very basic, probably too basic, but it’s serving as a way to keep in touch with other salsa enthusiasts until I can get everything up and running.

Again, I appreciate your comments. All feedback is important!

Cool man! Really not trying to crush your dreams. salsa of the month has a market somewhere. The biggest question is if you can access that market.

haha, no worries! I’m just doing this for fun anyway. It’s definitely a good learning experience.

Brandon, update the copyright in the footer at least. "copyright your company" ....

Will do Brian!

Agree completely. I can tell this was made with UnBounce, and i could duplicate it in roughly 6 minutes.

If you have an idea worth testing, it's probably worth spending 5-10 hours on the test, assuming you want to receive decision making data.

I would expect any landing page like this to "prove" the idea was terrible, when it in fact could have legs. I for one would like a salsa of the month club.

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