95 karma · joined January 5, 2019
Yes, Feedly and Pocket was what I used before Monocle too, they're awesome. You can use Monocle on mobile too but it's not optimized for it, since I believe you shouldn't be reading the news or your online content on the phone but rather more confortably on a computer. Yet, the possibility exists if you want to.
Also, since you mentioned Pocket, I made a companion browser extension for Monocle which allows you to save articles to read later. So basically merging Feedly and Pocket into one app.
Pricing is pretty cheap imo, why don't you try doubling prices? You might double income just like that..
Of course I imagine yours to be quite more elaborate and thought out probably; this one was put together in just a few minutes for a very specific and narrow purpose.
PS: ONE Thing is a great book.
Here's the repo btw: https://github.com/iSoron/uhabits/
Open source @ https://github.com/tmartty/YouTube-Open-Tabs-Total-Time
What's your perspective?
But yeah, of course, having people actually use and pay for your product is the ultimate validation.
Start with whatever you feel most confortable with. Frontend is usually more rewarding at first because you end up with something visual you can show to others.
I use Firebase Realtime Database as a backend and that's it, there's no other stuff done with the data from my side.
Edit: actually, there's Google and email auth, both handled with Firebase Auth.
I want to build a better alternative to Feedly and other readers.
My value proposition points are the following:
1) Modern design
2) Simpler use and minimalistic interface
3) Cheaper paid subscriptions
4) Wide feature availability in the free tier
5) Pocket-like browser extensions for saving urls to a Read Later section
6) Aim at the regular internet user so it's really seamless to get up and running (not like aaronpk's Monocle for which you need to setup your own Microsub server and stuff)
7) Highly customizable: shortcuts, colors, layouts and other options
8) Add a tool to make a feed out of any website (like an integrated http://fetchrss.com/)
9) Save articles as PDF for offline reading or sharing
10) Probably offering an in-app reader but I also want to emphasis the importance of reading content on the actual website to show support and 'live the real experience' just how the creator intended to (and not just my parsed content, stealing traffic from his site)
Should I give it a try or should I quit already?
About your question, what do I offer that other established players don't have? It's a couple of things actually that I believe will make my reader unique:
1) Modern design
2) Simpler use and minimalistic interface
3) Cheaper paid subscriptions
4) Wide feature availability in the free tier
5) Pocket-like browser extensions for saving urls to a Read Later section
6) Aim at the regular internet user so it's really seamless to get up and running (not like aaronpk's Monocle for which you need to setup your own Microsub server and stuff)
7) Highly customizable: shortcuts, colors, layouts and other options
8) Add a tool to make a feed out of any website (like an integrated http://fetchrss.com/)
9) Save articles as PDF for offline reading or sharing
10) Probably offering an in-app reader but I also want to emphasis the importance of reading content on the actual website to show support and 'live the real experience' just how the creator intended to (and not just my parsed content, stealing traffic from his site)
It's possible that maybe Innoreader already has all this features? But still, I could still make a difference on how I present content, the general feeling you get when using the app and so on.
I'm really looking forward to your response since I'm trying to gather feedback and improve my reader as much as possible. Thanks!
PD: It's also my intention to lately approach and market this reader without making too much emphasis on the RSS thing, since people who don't know what that is instantly turn away, and just focus on the productivity and saving time benefits of using a reader like this (independent of how the tool technically gets the information)