HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

nithyad

217 karma · joined September 21, 2009

Founder Muziboo.com. Currently working on Supportbee.com - A saas based help desk software

Email: nithya@supportbee.com Twitter: @nithyadayal

submissionscomments
nithyad··on The ‘Gowalla Situation’
Sure! Mail me at nithya@supportbee.com

There are some real interesting stats :)

nithyad··on The ‘Gowalla Situation’
User reaction. When we introduced our premium service (this we did with the consent of our power users) after almost one year of giving free service, many that joined new, wrote hate mails saying how everything in the internet should be free. That's when we decided this has to be subtle. The basic service is free. And, when a user clicks to share a track privately or choose higher bitrate streaming, we prompt him/her to upgrade cos those are some of the premium features in Muziboo.

After experiencing the service, users become comfortable and also know exactly why we are better than the lot of other free services.

In B2C subtlety in this matter helps. But you can't do that in B2B. Potential customers evaluate your service based on the pricing.

nithyad··on The ‘Gowalla Situation’
@Pedro It is here: http://www.muziboo.com/pro/

'Plans & Pricing' is a very B2B expectation where customers come with the idea of paying for a service. In a B2C service users only come with the expectation of trying out a service and if they comfortable pay for premium services. So, we show this page only after a user creates an account.

Users can actually be put off seeing a 'Plans n pricing' page especially for a service like Muziboo.

The answer is: Yes, we did that intentionally :)

nithyad··on The ‘Gowalla Situation’
Typically in a B2C business, users don't care much to know how long you have existed or how long you will exist. If you shut shop, they switch to using another free service.

But that's not the case in B2B. I do agree that B2B is more lucrative. But, how do you convey to your potential customers that your service is here to stay. Businesses are not comfortable moving from one service to another. And, with so many start ups dying fast or pivoting fast, what's the best way for a service to build trust with its potential customers?

nithyad··on Show HN: SupportBee - A Help Desk that is a joy to use
Glad to know!
nithyad··on Show HN: SupportBee - A Help Desk that is a joy to use
@pajju thanks. Yeah I guess the video on the site should be more story like than being detailed like this. Will incorporate.
nithyad··on ‘Reply above this line’ culture must die
You may want to give http://supportbee.com a try!

Disclaimer: I am one of the founders of SupportBee

nithyad··on Cool Illusion - Motion Induced Blindness
If you keep blinking continuously you don't lose sight of the yellow dots. But this is so strange!
nithyad··on How I explained MapReduce to my Wife?
Like yummyfajitas's explanation. The original post is too long and convoluted...
nithyad··on Why pricing by logins for a support tool is nuts
Spam needn't be taken into account. Also, the tiers can be based on a range - let's say upto 500 tickets, between 500 and 1000 and so on.
nithyad··on Why pricing by logins for a support tool is nuts
@pbreit Most companies (not going to name names) know involving people or an entire team is what is needed to deliver great support but put in efforts to cap usage in that direction to make more money(which is okay). The lie here is how they claim they are by what they are doing helping their customers offer awesome support. Our contention is there are more sensible ways to monetize and we have no qualms calling a lie a lie.
nithyad··on Overworking can harm your start-up
It's tough to use real data because it is subjective. All I am saying is one should at-least give oneself a chance to find out what that threshold is. The books that I recommended in that post helps in that. Also, the Pivotal tracker suggestion works for me. Probably it will work for others too. But, do people that mindlessly work even know it is necessary?
nithyad··on Coders Who Don't Job Interview: Zed Shaw
In case the founder managed to hire you, I would say the founder is much smarter because he could hire the smartest which makes the founder the smartest in the room.
nithyad··on Insight into CD Baby's Customer Support - An Interview with Derek Sivers
@jevinskie I can so relate to you! It was such a pleasure talking to him. The fantastic part was knowing that his team actually had fun all the while. It was like they never had a drab moment:)
nithyad··on I moved to Singapore
Hope I visit you in Singapore before you move out to another part of the world!
nithyad··on CEOs vouch for Waiter Rule: Watch how people treat staff
Yeah, what works for one doesn't work for another. I hate people dwelling on my mistakes. It is not like I can't see those, and need to be told every time I make one. I would want my partner to believe that I am as aware and I am working towards being better. Nobody wants to remain clumsy!
nithyad··on CEOs vouch for Waiter Rule: Watch how people treat staff
@qeorge I have conveyed it to him. But I guess, it's his first natural reaction. I am sure he's trying his best...I didn't mind the advice!
nithyad··on CEOs vouch for Waiter Rule: Watch how people treat staff
"Anyway, it irks me when people have difficulty doing things that seem trivial to me. It irks me precisely because I don't think I'm better than them, and thus am confounded as to why they seem to have more difficulty." - You sound like my husband.

I keep dropping things and I keep forgetting stuff. But, he getting irked only makes things worse for me; I get super-conscious and nervous and end up blundering more. I manage everything smooth when I can tell myself that how he feels doesn't matter.

nithyad··on Kill Math
I also have a problem with the way mathematics is taught currently where the student is more adept at the mechanics than the philosophy of mathematics. If anybody is attempting to change that, my best wishes. I don't necessarily have a problem with the current system of notations. It is just the method of teaching that lacks.

Just started with 'What is Mathematics' by Courant and I am totally hooked on. He talks about everything from why we chose to adopt the decimal system to why pi was needed to solve certain problems.

As Hammock says, the author has to be clear about defining the problem itself. Is it mathematics as it is represented today which is lacking or the method of teaching which is lacking

nithyad··on Ask HN: How to create an excellent FAQ page?
Non-savvy users usually look for a FAQ or a 'Contact us' page in case they have questions about the service. You can have a Get Satisfaction widget too for the savvy ones to offer feedback.
nithyad··on Ask HN: How to create an excellent FAQ page?
One is to add categories and the other idea is to have a good search. Your customers will look up the FAQ when they have a need and probably not right when they start using the service.

A good 2 minute video will be helpful if you want your customers to have an immediate understanding of your service.

nithyad··on Photographic Height/Weight Chart
Lot of people in my height weight range probably. I already see all the cells in and around that range filled.
nithyad··on Great experience with Hacker News Community
Did you manage to find a tech co-founder? If you did, that should be another interesting post.
nithyad··on Ask HN: How can I know if programming is for me
Thank you all. Decided to make a start.
nithyad··on SHOW HN: Take a look at my startup; Show off your vocabulary prowess
Hi James,

Congratulations on the public launch

nithyad··on Receivd - beautiful, fast filesharing for everyone
Thanks. I would have missed it. Google didn't consider it important enough for it to be in my priority inbox
nithyad··on Receivd - beautiful, fast filesharing for everyone
Have signed up! Waiting for the invite. My bro is tech averse and hence Dropbox averse. I always find it difficult to share docs with him. Hope receivd solves it for me!
nithyad··on I'm a designer who learned Django and launched her first webapp in 6 weeks
Congratulations girl!
nithyad··on Only three metrics matter for your online business
I don't see anything particularly wrong in obsessing about getting more visitors to my website. Because that's where my funnel starts. If I have to obsess about conversion I'll first have to obsess about getting enough visitors that I can possibly convert. no?

Also, may I know why exactly you mentioned 50% growth and anything less to be a matter of concern?

nithyad··on Ask HN: What would you do if you couldn't use a computer ever again?
The world would be a happier place. Let's say it is enforced by law on all human beings there would be no unemployment with millions of men replacing computers. Probably all intelligent computer geeks will put their heads into solving world hunger and poverty!
Page 1 of 2Next →