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Comment by mac_was | Hacker News Reader

Great post mate.

I followed a similar pattern and created https://sayoname.com, an app for remotely located workers so they can record names and call each other directly from the browser. A tool so people can easily find how to say someone's name, sneak on what someone does in the company etc.

I almost got a big school hooked up to start paying subscription (it is an international school) but they decided on creating their own solution due to privacy concerns. Extremely disappointing and lowers morale straight away.

I have few hundred profiles but the growth is stale atm. I don't really have time to actively look for new users and would love a co-founder as what they say on y-combinator it is REALLY a lot easier if you have someone you can share thought and can both motivate each other. So my advice is add a step and get a co-founder.

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No offense intended, but your landing page is a bit rough. If you don't mind some feedback:

- The header "The simplest tool for remote and international teams" doesn't mean anything. The simplest tool for doing what? I have no idea what this is after reading it.

- On a related note, I'm not really sure what the name of the service is. Is it meant to be like "Say Yo Name"? If so, maybe you could change the header to something like "Say Yo Name! Help your remote and international teammates pronounce your name"

- The undismissable floating "start video chat" box is really awful, especially on mobile where it takes up almost half the screen.

- "the whole team creates profiles and record names" -> "records names”

- "Call users using build in video chat functionality" -> "built-in"

- "Add video chat to any website. It is a couple line of HTML to copy to any website." is awkward. I'd suggest changing the second line to "...with only a couple lines of code" or something similar.

- "Pronunciation is different, though, not easier, at all." is a really awkward sentence. "Pronunciation is different, though not at all easier." is much clearer.

- "Next time don't pretend that your colleague hasn't got a name." -> "Next time don't pretend that your colleague doesn't have a name."

- "Start video chat, share screen, no camera? Just chat!" -> "Start video chat or share your screen. No camera? Just chat!"

No offense taken!

Appreciate your feedback, it is probably due to the fact English is my second language.

I'll have a look at updating the website taking into consideration your comments!

Best of luck with your service! I hope you're able to keep with it and make it viable.

Looks like a neat tool!

I had 2 cofounders in my last company - I agree it's easier.

But so far, building in public has been a great way to replicate some of those benefits without one:

1. I have external motivation to produce results on a weekly basis.

2. I have to be able to justify all my decisions to everyone on the internet (anyone who cares at least...). I end up thinking things through more deeply.

3. I get continuous feedback from others - not nearly as good as a cofounder who's 100% in the business, but still helpful.

Wow, as a fellow solo founder, building in public sounds like a great idea! I've always dismissed it in the past, but that's because I've never considered it from the perspective of getting some of the same benefits as having a co-founder.

Will definitely try to give it a shot.

Emphasis on some haha - I don't want to claim that the collective power of the internet is more valuable than a human that's 100% invested in the business :)

But yes, I'd definitely recommend it! Feel free to DM if want any tips - https://twitter.com/AnotherTimJones.

It was uncomfortable at first, but got easier pretty quickly (and honestly a lot of fun).

Yeah, definitely not deluding myself that it's anywhere close to the full cofounder experience, haha.

But sounds a lot better than the alternative of just building things completely in a silo like I have been doing.

Do you have slack/teams integration? The ability to link that in would be sweet.

Most likely will be built entirely in Slack :)

Feel free to DM me on Twitter if you had more specific ideas! https://twitter.com/AnotherTimJones/

I thought about adding this but due to stale growth put it aside. If I can see more people using it and requesting this I can assure I'll add integration in a week :)

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