Show HN: Impraise – Easy continuous feedback at work (YC S14) | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Impraise – Easy continuous feedback at work (YC S14)

impraise.com

47 pointsfilp26 comments

I feel like this is a technical solution for a bigger people problem: managers not communicating effectively with their subordinates.

Soon you won't ever have to talk to your boss! Thanks computers!

That being said, I think this is a good product to sell to companies that choose to ignore the real "problem".

Agreed. Managers not getting feedback from their subordinates is also a problem.

Everyone has things they could improve in, and being frank about that is a hard personal problem which no tech can overcome.

I think the focus on immediate, actionable feedback is great, but I get really nervous when I see screenshots with graphs. Does peer to peer feedback happen often enough to merit such an analytical approach? Getting continuous feedback is a great goal, but it strikes me as a human (or process) problem, not a technical one.

Here's a video that describes the app: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lrp7ctc5FM

(Had a hard time finding details on the website)

Surprised to see a YC company doing an android app before the iOS app! Are we seeing a shift?

Google cloud endpoints

Google Cloud Endpoints supports iOS, and I'm not even sure if Impraise is using Cloud Endpoints. Pinging impraise.com shows that they're using Amazon Elastic Beanstalk for at least their web app.

That's indeed what we're using, we built everything internally, including our mobile API.

This is an interesting concept. Why the focus on a mobile app, as opposed to email or web? Is there something about the interaction that's better done via mobile device?

I feel like the site is light on details about how it actually works, but I'm intrigued.

"Why the focus on a mobile app"

I would imagine mobile suits this very well because reactions and praise are immediate and device in always in your hand no matter where your physical presence is (you may not be near a laptop or desktop).

We're looking to trigger feedback when it's still fresh in the users' minds (i.e, after you just left a meeting), thus the focus on mobile; but we put a lot of effort into our web-app as well, and see that some users prefer to use only that.

Feedback:

You have to get many more screen shots showing actual use on your website. I'm not seeing any. Hard to say much w/o seeing that. Can't even pass it along to anyone who I might think is interested without more of that.

Thanks for the feedback, we're definitely going to add some more screenshots. In the mean time we've updated our landing page with a short introduction video (which was also already posted in the comments here).

Let me give you an idea and direction to at least look into for your product, either currently or in the future.

Feedback, for hospital stays is super important. You should look at adapting a version of your product to suit people having hospital stays both elective and non elective. Hospital's are already conducting patient quality surveys and something like this product could easily fit into that. (And the best part is you can find many ways to charge for this as the budget and the need is definitely there).

This could be by way of a dedicated app for each establishment where the hospital tells the patients to download the app and they can either use it while in the bed (depending obviously on their condition) or once they leave the hospital. Wouldn't be to difficult to private brand an app for each hospital or hospital system either. (Yes, certain age groups would have issues but enough wouldn't to make it worthwhile for the hospital..)

(If you end up doing this let me know...)

Is the app synced with the user's calendar, to know when the meeting ends? That would be useful.

Looks really nice, guys-- congrats! Would love to see some more product screens versus "request a demo" or "try it for free" (both are time-consuming ways to learn how a product looks/works).

This looks nice, but it's been a long time since I've worked in a organization that would need this so it's hard for me to comment on the value it would bring. I'm curious, though: can you provide anonymous feedback?

However, if other hackers out there are looking for ideas, I think there's a strong need for something similar to this but targeted at businesses with younger, wage-based employees. Think restaurants, hotels, and retail businesses. Their needs are slightly different but I think a feedback tool would be valuable.

Nice. I always thought Rypple was a great idea but a) early and b) was never sure if their execution would work. They were acquired by Salesforce and rebranded as Work.com in 2013.

I hope the Impraise team can make it work - waiting a year for performance feedback is a stunningly stupid notion.

The UVP for this should be: "The One Minute Manager" for socially awkward millennials

More details and screenshots on techcrunch.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/11/impraise/

Really glad feedback is moving in the direction of smaller, more frequent interactions.

Does this remind other people of MicroEval who also did YC a few years ago?

They have shut down now but you can see info at their site still http://www.microeval.com/.

I love the approach Weekdone has taken. It's more of a two-way communication thing than Impraise, which is more top to bottom. Any thoughts on comparison?

Do you discuss pricing anywhere? I'm very hesitant to commit to a free trial when I don't know how much the product will cost afterwards.

Absolutely agreed. Once I realized I couldn't find the price, my eyes got glossy.

How about adding a page that explains the process and benefit to managers?

Another good name for this would have been "stroked".

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