TE
科技回声
首页24小时热榜最新最佳问答展示工作
GitHubTwitter
首页

科技回声

基于 Next.js 构建的科技新闻平台,提供全球科技新闻和讨论内容。

GitHubTwitter

首页

首页最新最佳问答展示工作

资源链接

HackerNews API原版 HackerNewsNext.js

© 2025 科技回声. 版权所有。

Ask HN: Pet lovers review my startup

66 点作者 cjwake大约 13 年前
Spotwag launched publicly two weeks ago with v1. It is still very much a minimum viable product - functional, but with lots still on our plate. It is bootstrapped by my cofounder and I with the current design based on Twitter bootstrap, and Kim (my cofounder) handling development.<p>Coordinate help for your pet from people you already trust, quickly and easily with Spotwag. And never again feel pressure to leave your pet with a stranger. Spotwag makes asking for help, or offering it easy for everyone.<p>Spotwag was built using Facebook Connect, because we wanted to start with each pet owner's core group of trusted friends, and Facebook seemed a natural place to start. We collect very limited data from users, but use Facebook to make inviting friends easiest. We've already started to receive feedback on integrating signup via email, and it is something we plan to integrate in the near future.<p>We envision this being a single online source to manage your pet's needs, whether with friends or professionals. We started with this problem of finding help for your pet while you are away, because it's common to every pet owner, and the needs are real. It began as an "Airbnb for dogs," but after talking to a LOT of pet owners, we settled on this as a starting point. We learned that pet owners prefer to entrust their pets to friends, family and those they already know and trust, rather than strangers, whenever possible.<p>And we heard over and over from non-pet-owners that they really want to watch other's pets - many cannot have a pet of their own for whatever reason, and this gives them a chance to enjoy pet ownership without the same commitment. We exist to make those connections happen, and to remove the 'awkwardness' in asking for help, because as dog owners we know that it is NEVER easy or enjoyable to ask your friends for help with your pet.<p>We've already had several people make successful requests on Spotwag in preparation for SXSW next week. http://spotwag.com

19 条评论

tonywebster大约 13 年前
I would totally use this, and I think it's an excellent product name. The most painful thing for me and my dog has been finding reputable dog boarding, doggy daycare, vets, etc.<p>I just moved across the country, so there's not many people I know locally who would help out — so I think it would be a really good idea to partner with companies and individuals offering services like walking, sitting, boarding, etc. Yelp sucks. It would probably be the only realistic revenue stream too.<p>In terms of social connections, I'm not clear as to how the entire process would work on first glance.<p>Awesome job for an MVP.
评论 #3649327 未加载
LukeRB大约 13 年前
My girlfriend and I are absolutely love dogs, but don't own one (yet). We love to dog-sit for friends and would even consider doing it for strangers. With that, I have two ideas that may improve overall engagement and successful matches:<p>1) Allow non-owners to create more robust profiles. I'd imagine if some of our friends saw that we really like dog-sitting, they'd consider asking us and/or reaching out to us if they were looking for a sitter. As it currently stands, all I can do is provide name, email and phone number.<p>2) Allow owners to post to friends of friends or perhaps consider making it the default if people seem open to it -- I would imagine that owners would be okay with others dog-sitting if they had a mutual friend who they trusted. Because people have an average of 200 friends, that means that potential sitters go from 200 to 40,000. Also, consider allowing the non-owners to reach out to friends of friends who need a sitter.<p>Great idea and nice MVP. I hope those ideas helped and I hope you all succeed!<p>Best, Luke -- LukeRB.com
评论 #3649039 未加载
7klBo4t8大约 13 年前
It would be great if your homepage and fb app page included more detail on the UI. A think a walk through of a typical scenario including screenshots would be awesome.<p>And a genuine question here but I don't understand what this problem solves if it's connecting me to people I would already ask (and for which the barriers to ask are pretty low). If they are a facebook friend wouldn't it make sense for me to just post asking for help from my friends? All that said I have a large breed dog that I would love to have help with (more in the long term boarding dept. though).
评论 #3644981 未加载
revorad大约 13 年前
We have two cats for whom we currently hire a local professional caretaker when we go away. We used to ask friends, but we didn't want to keep asking them again and again. A couple of them like doing it, but we still felt like we shouldn't take them for granted.<p>Assuming we want to ask friends for help, my first reaction on seeing this was that it's useful, but on second thoughts, I'm not so sure.<p>You probably get this question a lot, but if you're just using Facebook, why can't I post the message myself on Facebook instead of going via you? Or as we used to do, just call or email them?<p>If the value you are adding is management of the arrangement info, then I'm not sure how useful that is. Facebook messaging or email is good enough for doing that and fits in with everyone's usual mode of communication.<p>I know this is an MVP and I'm sure you will add more useful features, but you really need to start with the most useful feature, otherwise it will be hard to get people onboard.<p>Helping people find good professional caretakers would probably be much more useful and will give you a direct way to make money via referrals.<p>If you are really seeing a lot of interest on the part of non-pet-owners to take care of pets, then this could indeed be an AirBNB-type opportunity - empowering non-professionals to become sellers on a new marketplace. Then, trust would be an issue and there may be other legal hurdles, but those are signals for opportunity.<p>Edit: One way to establish trust is to enlist people who live in my neighbourhood. The person we currently hire lives on our street, which has increased my trust for them a huge amount. When I can literally walk past their door every time I go out, I feel more comfortable hiring them. You could use online local forums to gauge interest and get people to sign up.
评论 #3649152 未加载
yapsie大约 13 年前
I'm one of the founders of Yapsie (sorta like pet Yelp) and think this is a neat project and it looks really well executed! We considered this problem as well, but decided to go in a slightly different direction. How do you plan to monetize and keep people on the site and using the product? Hope you guys do well!
评论 #3648953 未加载
benrequena大约 13 年前
Looks good and is a useful app I could see myself using. I created an account and attempted to add a pet (dog). I ran into my first hiccup when the form asked if my dog was small/medium/large, I assume my lab is a large breed, but adding weights as a guide text could have helped me come to a quicker decision.<p>Second roadblock came when I clicked the save button. I was given an error at the top of the page, but the page didn't scroll up so I didn't know the submission failed. Also the error message was generic and didn't give me an reason why there was an error. I assumed I didn't fill in a required field but opted to close the tab and write this comment instead of guessing.
评论 #3644604 未加载
girlvinyl大约 13 年前
I think this is a great idea. I subscribe to r/dogs on reddit and you cannot imagine the amount of people who ask "should I get a dog?". The answer is generally "yes," but I advise them to make friends so they'll have a list of people to call on if they get stuck at work, etc. You're so right, there ARE a lot of people who can't have pets but would love to care for a dog for a weekend or take one out during the week for a quick walk. Many people enjoy dogs so much that they wouldn't mind doing this for free.
评论 #3644648 未加载
评论 #3644639 未加载
drzaiusapelord大约 13 年前
I think you should remove that photo of a puppy playing with a can. You might get some pet owners angry at that as it could potentially hurt the animal. Chew instincts + metal = bad things.
评论 #3645083 未加载
kimsterv_again大约 13 年前
Link: <a href="http://spotwag.com" rel="nofollow">http://spotwag.com</a><p>We're currently working on redesigning the entire site with real designers, but would love feedback on the idea, functionality etc.
kimsterv_again大约 13 年前
This is why you should ask your friends for help with your dog: <a href="http://vimeo.com/37123607" rel="nofollow">http://vimeo.com/37123607</a> (podman in irc, thanks for the link)
leebossio大约 13 年前
Love it! My fiancé signed up this morning and spread the word on FB. I've been thinking about this for awhile now, but in a marketplace form.<p>Have you decided how to monotize it? One thought I've had would be the Airbnb model, but given that it's way more niche than finding a place to stay for vacation, I think this would have to be tested with an audience who is in dire need of this. Maybe find a way to target the "babysitter" audience?<p>Looking forward to seeing how this progresses nonetheless! Best of luck.
caixa大约 13 年前
I'd absolutely use this product.<p>As much as I'm sure it improves the listings, I'd recommend not making the photo required. First of all, other non-required info (such as pet type) seems more important, and second of all it requires digging through my photos. I'd be likely to add a photo when I'm looking for someone to catsit, but it was a deterrent for me to add the cat in the first place.
评论 #3644668 未加载
评论 #3644657 未加载
评论 #3644942 未加载
luksus大约 13 年前
Great idea, keeping your pet with someone you trust is essential. Requiring a picture of the pet is good, great visuals always entice people. You could use 'featured pets' (using pics from users) in your home page, people love to promote how 'unique' their pet is. Let me know if you want some hi-res pictures of cats for your site.
评论 #3658149 未加载
sjsjsj大约 13 年前
Brilliant! I've been a beta tester for a while, and my first "broadcast" request on Facebook got me several leads! People really DO want to help out, and putting out a general request is such an easy way to get people almost asking YOU if they can care for your pet! Go Spotwag. Can't wait to see where this'll go!
评论 #3648940 未加载
japanesejay大约 13 年前
Hey there!<p>I was at a little sandwich shop called Ike's Place in San Francisco today and saw your business card!!<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bitsprout/6819992324/" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/photos/bitsprout/6819992324/</a>
TomGullen大约 13 年前
Looks like a good idea although I'm not your market. I don't think your monetising it as far as I can see at the moment, do you have plans for this in the future?
评论 #3644622 未加载
bbaker大约 13 年前
I think it's great. Obviously it'll iterate as you work with more users, but it's already quite clean, and and serves a real but until now hidden need.
评论 #3644731 未加载
thealoof大约 13 年前
I don't have much to add and am not a pet owner, but just want to say that I think it's a great idea and that the design is nice and clean. Great job.
评论 #3644692 未加载
评论 #3644671 未加载
mperozzo大约 13 年前
Brilliant! I'm currently petless, but have hoped for a service like this in the past with my Shetland Collies!
评论 #3644761 未加载