Please review my startup - Flooha | Hacker News Reader

Please review my startup - Flooha

flooha.com

23 pointsflooha25 comments

While I think offering the hosting for such things is a neat angle, I don't know how relevant it is(or how you plan to make money). A default Wordpress install now allows you to search both its theme and plugin directory and install them without ever leaving the comfort of your administrative backend. I'm not quite sure what is available for drupal and the others in terms of plugins and such but it might be a good idea to market to those users in your screencast as apposed to the wordpress users who already have the features you offer available to them.

Most of the other services you have listed are also offered as 1 click installs by many web hosts with similar $/month price points for the paid hosting.

I agree, WordPress is not the best example now that it has the "plugin installer" in the administration control panel. I will probably change the app used in the video tour.

However, WordPress is the exception, not the rule when it comes to automated plugin installation. Even for apps like phpbb3, which have a mod called "automod" which installs mods automatically, the user still has to download the mod, and then upload it to their server, unzip it, put it in the right directory etc... Flooha eliminates all of that busy work.

The real exception is apps like MediaWiki (which runs Wikipedia) and osCommerce. The add-ons (extensions, contributions, etc...) for those apps often modify core code files and it is not as simple as uploading and unzipping. It can be extremely painful to install the easiest add-on for some users who aren't extremely comfortable working with source code.

Thanks for the tips!

Dude. I've been thinking about this for a while. I think its ABSOLUTELY genius. And I think it looks really neat.

The UI could be a bit better, but that will come with feedback and time...

Wow. Thanks so much!

I think the general idea has been out there for a long time. Many people have written app specific "add-on installers", myself included. I wrote one in php for osCommerce, then realized that the real opportunity was for all apps. Thanks again.

Yeah, at first I was like "another free host, WTF." But then I realized that you're really closing the "last mile" of open source web site deployment and hosting by automating the process. It is pretty ambitious.

One benefit to the user is that the add-ons/ plug-ins are sort of "Flooha-certified" which is helpful as there are a lot of junk/insecure modules floating around out there.

Another cool feature would be the ability to auto-migrate between different CMS.

But, what is the revenue model in all this?

Good luck and keep us posted!

"...you're really closing the "last mile" of open source web site deployment and hosting by automating the process."

Right, and even when experienced developers use the site, I think they will appreciate the automation. A hacker doesn't want to spend time doing all the boring stuff like un/zipping, find, copy, paste, create db, etc... Flooha allows them to skip all the fluff and get down to the fun stuff like hacking. Similarly, normal users can skip all of what they consider BS and just get down to adding their content.

"But, what is the revenue model in all this?"

Well, the free hosting is pretty limited at 100MB. Initially, we'll generate revenue from the premium hosting accounts. However the potential is so much more. Here's a short list.

1. Job listings and rent-a-coder type projects.

We hope to develop a community where users can find designers and hackers to further customize their sites.

2. Paid apps and addons.

Think "iPhone App Store" on this one. There was a story here recently (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=659303) about WordPress plugin developers who can't make any money from their plugins. Well, imagine if they had a way to charge just a dollar or two and thousands of users used their plugin on their website... There is also an opportunity for paid apps like vBulletin, which is the most popular forum software on the 'net and also has tons of add-ons.

3. I've designed the site so that I can basically "flip a switch" and open it up to other hosting companies. So, you could use Flooha, but on your own server or your web host's server. There is potential for partnerships with big hosting companies.

I think I've given away all my secrets. ;)

"Good luck and keep us posted!"

Thanks a lot, I will.

I'd recommend against using "kick-ass" on the homepage. Save the attitude for the blog.

:) Yeah, that's one I've debated a lot about. It came about when explaining the site to a designer who was working on the logo. It was getting wordy trying to explain the concept through text and I just ended it by saying "In other words, you don't have to be a programmer to have a kick-ass website." She latched on to it and when I got the logo back, it has the tag-line attached. I kind-of liked it, so I kept it...for now.

The funny thing is that I've had mostly great feedback from it. It makes people laugh a little and they tell me they think it's great. It's not the best marketing material for business users though, I agree.

I thought it might capture a bit of what we're trying to accomplish. To make users feel comfortable and I can imagine a lot of them saying "Why do I have to know all this programming stuff just to have X on my website?".

Thanks for the advice. I'd love to hear some other opinions on this from the HN crowd.

I wouldn't worry too much about the tagline. It's youthful and trendy, which I am assuming is the type of audience you want to draw into your site.

Pick your public face to draw the right type of people in. Don't worry about the rest.

It struck me as off-note as well. I mean, if you are investing in a web host there needs to be assurance that it is a serious effort that won't disappear and take my site with it.

Having said that, I ate dinner at a popular joint called Ray's Hell Burger last night, so maybe attitude is the right way to go!

A bigger issue in this vein is lack of pricing-- I'd feel better about the service if I had to pay a monthly fee, or if there was at least a freemium model so I'd know somebody was subsidizing my free kick-ass site.

The model is freemium. I wanted to work out the bugs with the early adopters (we're in beta), and then reward them with a discount when we launch our premium hosting. It's a chicken and egg problem. There currently aren't any users to subsidize your free site because we've just launched.

If you're truly interested in our monthly paid accounts, you can put yourself on our waiting list here:

https://flooha.com/waiting_list

Thanks for the comment. It seems that the "kick-ass" in tag line might not be a great idea, like you said. ;)

I don't think it's a chicken-and-egg at all. Users don't need other users for the site to be useful to them, they just need the site to be good. Sure, you'll be more likely to attract new users if you have more - through word of mouth. It's not like a dating site where the users are the service.

I agree. I was just responding to his comment that he doesn't trust a service that doesn't have paying users who subsidize the free users. The point of the freemium model is to attract paying users.

I'd recommend keeping "kick-ass" on the homepage if it reflects your, and thus your company's, attitude.

Great idea. I could see myself using this as a quick way to start new projects... especially with Drupal, as downloading & installing a bunch of modules can be a long process.

That said, I think the interface for adding modules could be more efficient if it functioned a little more like the iTunes search bar - just pull stuff in as I type.

Also, there's no reason to take me to a new page when I add a module - it's a waste of time. Try some sort of lighter-weight confirmation... maybe just add it to a sidebar panel that lists the modules I've added and give me a little flash so I can see it popped up there. Otherwise, I have to wait for this page to load that doesn't tell me anything new.

Keep at it!

Thanks, great comments. I've put off adding a lot of javascript goodness simply to get a working beta out faster. Is it just me or is debugging ajax stuff annoying?

"I could see myself using this as a quick way to start new projects"

Exactly. It is also fantastic for testing add-ons. Create a free site with the add-on you want to test, play around and then uninstall it...all in a few minutes.

Really impressive. I tried installing wordpress, I'm user number 55! Installation is fast, and wordpress seems to run fairly quickly.

With the plans starting at $5 a month I imagine you aren't using amazon EC2 to host the virtual machines. (I'm assuming each user has their own VM).

Thanks a lot.

"With the plans starting at $5 a month I imagine you aren't using amazon EC2 to host the virtual machines. (I'm assuming each user has their own VM)."

You are correct. The paid plans will probably not be on Amazon EC2. We're looking at dedicated servers for those accounts. Have fun with the site. If you enable email alerts in your account profile, we'll let you know when the paid accounts are available.

The "floating popup" navigation could use some more spacing between the letters.

On the signup page there is "Capcha" (with no noscript), it should be "Captcha" (I think, that word is terrible).

No other comments because I did not check out the rest.

Thanks for the tips.

To the user who signed up as "bobbob", your activation email was returned. You can't use your account without activating yourself. Email me at support@flooha.com if you typed your address wrong. Thanks.

Nice presentation. I need to make a website for a group of mine, so I was kind of interested, but when I saw that Drupal was being used, my enthusiasm dropped. It seems that all CMSes have big security flaws. We got hacked about 40 times when we were using Joomla!, so I'm wary of anything similar.

There are an insane amount of add-ons on the page after you select the app. I don't think this is good; there are just way too many options. They should be categorized, or something.

Drupal is the only CMS currently offered, but hopefully this will change in the near future. Drupal is considered MUCH more secure than Joomla!, which is one of the reasons why I started with Drupal. All CMSs will have security issues at one point or another (or any software for that matter.).

"There are an insane amount of add-ons on the page after you select the app...They should be categorized, or something."

Maybe there should be less per page, so the user isn't initially overwhelmed. You can drastically reduce the number of results by using the search box at the top. Also, you can use the "filter & sort" box on the right to filter by category. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

You should offer a default set of recommended modules similar to the Acquia distribution. Let people customize as needed but get them going in the right direction by setting up a suite of the most common, well-supported modules typically needed for a functional Drupal site.

Great idea! Every package that is built is saved for immediate download or installation when other users choose the same add-ons. So, for every permutation, there is a corresponding "app version". It was my hope that the popular versions would bubble to the top and develop a following. Based on your comment, I think I need to make a "popular versions" box and display it prominently on the app details page. Thanks!

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