Ask HN: I didn't launch early enough, I'm struggling and could use some advice.

With some tweaks this could easily become a lifestyle business for you.<p>I can tell this project comes directly from your own pain point, one that I have also had on many occasions.<p>Where you have probably fallen off track with it is by not defining your target market at the beginning you've got into the trap of presuming "extra features" = better value for the customer.<p>If you look at what you're selling - it's a simplification of an existing technology. You aren't in the business of selling people 'more' instead it's your job to refine, remove &#38; simplify the process of sharing mail. Therefore every feature you add, it's just getting closer back towards the way things are done now.<p>From my point of view you are targeting individuals on the verge of starting a team. Bloggers with an assistant, co founders with their first users, freelancers with dedicated outsourcers.<p>You're the gap between a hellish inbox and really complex costly ticketing software.<p>A few general pointers spring to mind. I feel the word 'mail' should be in the name at least.<p>Your landing page should make people say 'hell yes' in 1 big headline, 3 bullet points and 2 small screenshots. A real hit between the eyes. Sell on emotional benefits like "fly through your inbox" "delegate like a pro" "goodbye repetitive e-mails'.<p>Also you have to make your onboarding as frictionless as possible. People with 1 well managed assistant will eventually get 2 or 3. They will think about future costs before they sign up with you. You want to HELP your users expand their team, so make it clear up front that it's pretty cheap to add extra e-mail addresses.<p>Some flat pricing to instill trust (we won't screw you over when you expand) plus a low (paying) entry tier. e.g $5 per e-mail flat. Make it a no-brainer to start (and then stay) with you as they grow.<p>Don't forget, e-mail is crucial to a business - I don't know how you're fixed for offering awesome support but that would also be a big selling point for your market segment.<p>Take a good look at your running costs and see how many users you'd need to break even at different price points. Also how many users it would take to cover costs &#38; your existing salary after taxes.<p>I could go into further detail, just shout up if needed. Good luck!

Looks like you have some nice features here. This is not something to laugh at, at all.<p>I could see using something like this for a customer support email list.<p>Pricing is an issue, though. If I actually had a running business that was doing its customer support over email, the amount you're asking would be no problem. But I could also see just using it personally. For that, however, the price is too high by a factor of 10, maybe 20. (Compare Evernote, for example, at $5/month.)<p>Have you considered offering a free plan for personal use? This would give you an opportunity to demonstrate value and build a user base. At the prices you're asking, you would need only a small fraction of users to convert to the paid plans to make money.<p>You have some good ideas here and I think you're attacking a real problem, but you are in a space where it's going to be very difficult to get noticed. It's not going to be easy to overcome that.

What I am missing on your website, is a clear vision of use case for this app. You know, stuff like - "hey you, overworked real estate agent, I have something to make your life so much easier. A system that sorts your incoming mail in a split of a second, bla bla bla".<p>Plus, the website lists many features, but it skimps on user benefits/concerns. For example, you have a "feature" called beauty (which is actually not that pretty - perhaps you can change the picture to the one featuring a family or smth) - why not say instead, our beautiful UI makes it so easy to navigate and sort your emails, you will forget you are working!<p>And security, why don't you talk about security? To me it is one of the major concerns if I am giving ANYBODY access to my inbox.

I'd focus on who would get value out of your features. Figure out what your top 1-2 features are, and think of who needs extra privacy. People in the government, in purchasing? Senators?<p>I think your pricing is way off unless you can find a super niche segment who are crying out for your product. People don't like to spend $50 per year on an email, much less per month.<p>Let me ask you this: what kind of person would need to securely share access to your email? Probably someone in charge. Work from there.<p>I hope you figure it out. It seems a little bit to me like you're trying to reinvent email and charge a premium for it, which is a tough product to sell.

looks like a little task managment + little document management + email. Probably need to change the focus away from email which is free to problems your trying to solve. seemless email integration might be a better way to look at it.

I'm probably your target market, and could put recandy to good use, but not at $39 /mnth. The price scares me right off. I'd subscribe at 5 /mnth or less though.<p>Also, invest in a copywriter. In fact, I am a copywriter. If you want to look at maybe doing a trade, hit me up at jason@hypnoticcopywriter.com or contact me through my site: <a href="http://hypnoticcopywriter.com" rel="nofollow">http://hypnoticcopywriter.com</a>