Show HN: Hashtags for Email | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Hashtags for Email

11 pointschany28 comments

Website & Signup @ http://chany2.github.io

Demo @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69mqGL08_hc

Hashtagging Important Emails

==

Problems Being Solved:

1) Personal - Help organize your important emails and group conversation threads regardless of subject header.

2) Team Projects - Much of the content lives in the emails. Hashtagging relevant and milestone project emails into a central team access hub or a Sharepoint for Emails. This enable project progression tracking as oppose to creating a separate project log typically with Excel.

3) Work - Replaces overwhelming, unnecessary or less-critical CC'ed emails. Instead, invite users onto a Hashtag thread for them to read at their own time.

4) Search - Existing Search features are inadequate. Really requires the user to remember the content/context of the email before search can begin.

5) Sharepoint - Mostly use as storing files. Lacks files context and project description.

==

Experience:

- Organizing through hashtag in the email content is a more fluent experience than reorganizing your emails into folders, which is only for personal view, and not team based.

- Max numbers of hashtags in emails can be set.

- New social rules would be created that I cannot control. Within a professional setting, if employees are using hashtags in excess, they would be flown upon.

==

Testing Assumption:

- Market would be focusing largely on professionals and will also have an Enterprise-dedicated product.

- Hashtag currently associates with entertainment. Social fear of it in professional communications.

- Frequency of use. Crux of inbox overload from massive unnecessary emails. Organizing important threads from non-important messages.

- Quotes and Research @ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RQtgYl44iBnr_p4toc4G7_N0DG9bZ35JKHTLBNqtG0c/edit?usp=sharing

- Please sign up on the website and leave feedback at the bottom.

I like the idea. Recently, I've thought about two similar concepts:

a.) Ad-Hoc mailing lists / discussion groups you can subscribe to or drop out of at any time. b.) Discussions and status updates you can merely follow (and save for later) instead of participate in without those updates clogging your inbox.

The use case for both would be situations where - especially in larger companies - lots of people get CCed or BCCed because the just need to be in the loop but don't actually have to contribute anything.

I very much like you hashtag approach. It seems like the right solution to this problem. However, I don't quite understand why you took a mobile-first approach. At least in settings I have in mind a web or desktop app would make a lot more sense.

If you'd like to discuss this in more detail I'm looking forward to an eMail from you (contact form / contact details under http://wilmsmann.fullmontymedia.com/ ).

I believe what you are discussing about is very similar to CCLoop

- http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/24/can-ccloop-rid-us-of-our-co...

- http://www.quora.com/ccLoop/Why-did-ccLoop-pivot

If I am correct, the challenge of CCLoop or mailing lists is that it only works if everyone is part of it.

The hashtag concept works starting off as "Evernote for your Emails" - helping you organize first. With the inclusion of other teammates picking it up, then the added effect is that it becomes a "Sharepoint for Emails".

You're right, ccLoop sounds a lot like what I'm suggesting. Your Evernote / Sharepoint analogies are quite good, too.

Having read reasoning behind the ccLoop pivot though, I was wondering how exactly to sell such a tool to enterprises. Michael Wolfe makes a good point when he says that with B2B software you must sell:

a.) Solutions that generate revenue.

b.) Solutions that save money.

c.) Solutions that are required for purposes of governance, compliance, security, and reporting.

While I certainly see how an "Evernote for your Emails" could streamline processes and alleviate some pain what you're selling essentially is a soft value proposition, i.e. your tool might simplify my work but how exactly does it save me money or generate revenue?

I don't want to appear overly critical but I'd even have a hard time selling this to a client of mine who clearly has exactly the problem your product could solve. Unless there's some hard, quantifiable benefit the client's highly unlikely to buy your product (unless you're IBM or Oracle but that's an entirely different matter).

Correct those are great questions. How I can get interest of organizations to invest in such an email solution?

So hashtagging contents once adopted would be the base platform of plentiful features that can be used on top of it. Quick examples:

1. Accessing content in emails to build a Powerpoint Deck with one button.

2.Or contributing to a CRM / Relationship Development application.

Essentially how do I first demonstrate the need. You can also review this IBM research paper @ http://lifehacker.com/5848244/email-folders-might-actually-d...

This seems like a great idea for businesses. It's not clear from your video why you are using a mobile app. I mean, it's great to offer a mobile app, but I feel like the first piece would be getting this to work on desktop, like with a chrome plugin or something, no?

Long answer: In the future, Mobile / Tablet would be more prominent in our professional setting. The requirement of a device centric experience becomes a must have.

Short answer: It would double up as a web version. Just didn't show it in the demo.

I like the idea. I can see its usage in an enterprise setting.

Thanks for the support. Please do sign up @ http://www.sharemoto.io for early beta access.

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