Hacker News Reader

cdelbon Meals on food delivery apps can be 90% more than if bought from the restaurant

If you're up for a conversation - I would love to get your thoughts on a new product we've been working on. caleb@mealime.com

cdelbon End of the road for independent bike distributors?

This has been an ongoing debate in the mountain bike world for a number of years now. Direct to consumer brands have clearly been making a dent in the traditional retail model. Intense just announced a hybrid model, where shops stock demos and consumers receive their new bike directly from Intense. Seems like a win-win - shops don't have to stock slow moving inventory and consumers get lower prices year round.

This artcle explains the pros/cons in detail: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/intense-announces-lower-retail...

cdelbon Ask HN: Who is hiring? (December 2017)

LaunchBoard allows corporate innovation teams to adopt a modern approach to innovation using Lean Startup and Design Thinking methodologies while giving management a governance framework and visibility to make evidence-based portfolio decisions.

As our first technical hire, you'll work closely with the founders to build best-in-class software for enterprise innovation teams. If you're interested in joining a early-stage startup and attending a top-ranked accelerator in early 2018, we'd love to hear from you.

More details here: https://angel.co/launchboard/jobs/302868-lead-software-engin...

You can contact me directly at caleb@launchboard.io

cdelbon I hate telephones

If I don't recognize a number, or have a scheduled call, I will almost always let the call go to voicemail. Then I'll decide if the call warrants a call back. Usually it doesn't.

cdelbon Running Costs of a SaaS app

Have you considered Drift as an alternative to Intercom? I have a small SaaS app as well, and my Intercom bill is about $130 a month compared to $50 with Drift.

cdelbon Change at Buffer: The Next Phase, and Why Our Co-Founder and CTO Are Moving On

It fooled me initially, until I saw the pricing. $299 a month for what the simplest of spreadsheets could track.

cdelbon How to start a startup without ruining your life

From what I can tell, yes - at least for businesses that aren't experiencing high growth rates. FE has written an excellent article on the subject:

https://feinternational.com/blog/saas-metrics-how-to-value-s...

cdelbon How to start a startup without ruining your life

check out feinternational.com (OP mentioned them as well). I've been subscribed to their "Buyers list" for over a year and I've seen many nice saas businesses listed.

cdelbon Shoes.com shuts down

For what it's worth I'm not surprised. I had a very poor experience with them. The actual shipping time was significantly longer than promised (pretty sure their model was to act as a dropshipper), and then I was unable to get a response to return the shoes I no longer needed.

cdelbon Launchaco – Instantly generate a responsive, free, website

Fully agree. Unbounce and other landing page builders should take note. The simplicity of the experience was impressive.

cdelbon No One Saw Tesla’s Solar Roof Coming

In coastal regions of the PNW it is not uncommon to see moss and algae growth start within 3 years of a roof being installed. Replacement can be necessary within 10 years if the problem isn't dealt with.

source - owned a roof cleaning company.

cdelbon How Many Die from Medical Mistakes in U.S. Hospitals? (2013)

Care to share the details of your startup? Lot's of ER docs involved with sim in my group of friends.

cdelbon Two Out of Three Young Millennials Now Use an Ad Blocker

Nicely done - that was my first time experiencing "micro-payments". I'd be happy to pay on 5c per article as opposed to being tied to a subscription.

cdelbon Without affordable housing, Vancouver risks becoming an economic ghost town

Not a remote job per se - but my side project which pays me in USD is working out quite well since the Canadian dollar started sliding. The economics of a building small side project have improved dramatically if you can get paid in USD and live in Canada.

cdelbon YardBook (YC W16) Is an Online Marketplace for the $30.9B Lawncare Business

I got my entrepreneurial start in the home service industry and always used: http://www.kickserv.com/

Couple of questions:

Can you explain the routing feature?

Do you have any plans for automated marketing features? Follow-up after submitting an estimate was always a huge pain point for us.

cdelbon Ask HN: Is it worth starting a SaaS in a niche that already has a clear leader?

1) I'm currently building a product in a niche with a clear leader. Turns out it isn't that hard to steal customers from them because they appear to be rather comfortable and are unwilling to listen their customers.

2) Whatever niche you initially pick - please make the effort to do some basic customer discovery. Call some folks up who are directly experiencing the problem you are trying to solve. Even talking to 20 people will give you a lot more to go on. People are much more willing to talk if you aren't selling them anything.