Instacat – the kitten delivery service | Hacker News Reader

Instacat – the kitten delivery service

instacat.info

66 pointsgregdrm55 comments

From the footer: "This isn't a real product. Just something I built on a plane to make Brandon laugh."

And when he got off the plane and turned off airplane mode: 4 texts, 17 unread emails - how the hell did all these people get my number. 'Just thought I'd let you know we'd be happy to see you'? Who the hell is Mark? 'Lunch Friday'? What the hell.

Okay, let's see. Reply: Actually we are not raising a round currently. Sent. 1 minute later. "Not even with these terms?"... etc

Thank God.

It should be pretty obvious it's a joke. The logo is the same as the Instacart logo, just modified slightly to have cat ears ;)

> It should be pretty obvious it's a joke.

Uber has delivered kittens before, so we need a bit of a Poe's Law for startup concepts.

"Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is utterly impossible to parody a startup idea in such a way that someone won't mistake for the genuine article."

I know many people who would not only subscribe to this service but actually attempt to create it, or even drive for it. So I did not for a minute think it was a joke... But I'm glad it is.

I'm not aware of Instacart, so that wouldn't have been a tell-tale sign for me.

Although I assumed it was a joke product to begin with - the footer was some welcomed assurance.

Additionally, the team is all internet-famous cats (not just people who have a cat picture instead of a profile picture.)

The UX guy: https://www.facebook.com/blindcathoneybee

D'oh, but whew.

I am currently in the middle of a lawsuit with the Instacat service. Instead of delivering the cat I had selected, I received a hamster in a cat outfit which bit my child. The cat outfit was also poor quality. My child's wound became infected and then my husband divorced me. I am only 3 years old.

We apologize for the mixup ndeme2. There was some confusion in our A/B test team (we were experimenting with alternative small mammal rentals). Please email support and we'll provide you a free week of deliveries.

Didn't these guys just close a $30 mil funding round (putting them at ~ $1.2b valuation now?)

For a joke site, this is pretty well-designed! I was wondering if you used a ThemeForest design or some other pre-packaged landing page, but, nope completely unique.

On a side note (and perhaps also a shameless plug) maybe I should consider renaming the browser extension I showed to HN the other day: http://instacats.co/.

Am I crazy to think this could actually work as a real business? The other day I was telling a friend how I love the idea of having and walking a dog - once in a while. Unfortunately my life doesn't allow me to have a dog in the traditional full comitment way. But maybe there could be a way to get that dog-owner experience the few days or weeks each month you would have the time. It's obviously super important that the animals are treated well, so that is probably difficult to do without making it too expensive to be viable.

If there's an animal shelter in your area, they tend to be in demand for volunteers; based on what I've heard from family and friends who've volunteered for the local SPCA shelter, for example, it sounds like it's right up your alley.

They need a cool mobile app..

But also, from their website: "Volunteers must be able to commit to a minimum of eight hours per month for a minimum of six months. Due to the extensive training requirements, we are not able to accept short-term volunteers."

Not exactly "occasional dog owner", though I suppose 8 hours/month isn't a huge commitment.

Do you not have friends with dogs? Seems like at least half of my friends have dogs and they always say if I ever want to take them out for a walk or run to go for it.

It is not worse than some products that got real money behind them. If it got you even for a second - we are in 1999 mode again.

This idea is significantly less dumb than many that have been funded (people like cute furry animals, so they're ahead of advertising-supported iOS app #213742 already). It's been 1999 for a while now. We're just waiting for the Fed to raise interest rates like they did from June 1999 through May 2000, with the killer blow being that last 50bp jump. Until then, you are cleared to party on.

>We're just waiting for the Fed to raise interest rates like they did from June 1999 through May 2000

doing it before elections changes the party in the White House, like in 2000 and 2008. So the question is what movie... err... president Fed would find more entertaining - Bush 3, Even More Dumber or Clinton 2, I'm Back, Baby.

With an election cycle lasting a full 3 years, it's always "before elections". The Fed is immune to lawsuits and the FOMC members cannot be removed from office no matter what. They have been given that independence for a reason, much like the Supreme Court justices (not that it's a good reason, but it's still a reason). If they aren't willing to use it, they shouldn't have it. It's long past time to normalize rates, and doing so will put paid to the VC mania just as it did 15 years ago. So be it.

I honestly had the idea once of a rent a rabbit cafe. My problem with the idea was protecting the animals from abuse.

It's a sad world in which people assume others will abuse animals. Ever hear the phrase "hurt me with that problem"? The state exists to put a stop to that kind of crap. Your job is to make money. Don't get caught up in things that aren't your problem.

I thought it was real until reading the comments here.

Yup, the dot com bubble is back, and worse than ever.

I don't know about this - it's going to be disorienting for some cats to get switched around between so many different environments. What will the firm do about a cat that starts acting out - running away, clawing, or more commonly, spraying to make territorial markings? Cats prize stability and even a cat that hasn't been in the habit can suddenly take up such behaviors.

Source: many years of experience of up to 10 cats at once. I wouldn't mind if this service also offered to pick up excess cats (I have too many due to a neighbor abandoning hers on me) but I would feel guilty about not setting them up with a more permanent environment.

Not to mention, what happens to these kittens when they grow up? Are they put down? Maybe ground up and fed to the next batch of cuteness to be shipped out? So many questions!

Note: I took the parent as being tongue-in-cheek. I apologize if I misinterpreted.

I think once they become too problematic, you turn them into Bonsai Kittens. Still cute, but they really can't be a problem anymore!

http://bonsaikitten.com/bkintro.php

It's not real.

Source: The footer.

I just saw that but I'm going to leave it up in case someone tries to set up Uber for cats. There would be some demand, as you can see from the success of cat cafes - in fact it would be interesting to see how many signups this would get if it were filled out a little bit and disclaimer removed.

Too bad it's fake. I'd pay a lot of money for Maru to be my cat.

How could they not say "Sign up meow"??

Well it does say "Request Invite Meow"...

My cat stood on the power button for too long on my keyboard today and killed my work-in-progress. I think renting might be better than owning as I could be without a kitty when working.

The second feature page allows you to rent your own cat out- could be a purfect solution.

  Have a cat of your own? Want to make some money off him or   
  her on the weekends? Well Pimp your Puss by signing up for 
  our Kitty Consignment program, or sign up to be a driver 
  through our Kitty Conveyor program.

Maybe your cat needs a power button...

Relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9TmmF79Rw0

I think I'd start with dogs, really. Trained therapy dogs that come with a trainer for a couple hours to businesses and individuals.

everkitten.com was a similar fake service. Subscription to have a jung kitten. https://web.archive.org/web/20140218072828/http://everkitten...

Actually, Uber does this, though not all the time.

http://newsroom.uber.com/austin/2014/10/uberkittens-is-back/

Who here would pay ~15$ to rent a healthy cat for an hour or two? Seems like an interesting idea.

Guaranteed no toxoplasmosis!

On a second thought, getting a cat is really not a problem, but this would provide entertainment without the responsibility.

It's like a Cat Cafe that comes to you. But without the coffee and food.

That's the second tier of the pricing.

"Kittens-as-a-service. Now with 9x availability"

Is just this a subtle ad? The twitter/facebook on the bottom direct to a website-maker company.

It was not intended to be... just a joke :) Any backlinks don't hurt though...

This would make a great episode plot in HBO's Silicon Valley.

How was it designed and made? It is well designed at first view.

It's currently the #1 Product Hunt startup of the day

I wish this was real.

An absolute must! I wish there was something for real.

$1B valuation in 3..2..1..

s/dilvery/deliver/

Text editor on a plane with a dyslexic writer... not a good combination. And the scotch... that probably didn't help either. Fixed! Thanks :)

Are you familiar with the Bonsai Kittens?

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