Show HN: A Slack command I created to solve my own problem

Show HN: A Slack command I created to solve my own problem(slashdraft.com)

13 points by stevesun21 9 years ago | 11 comments

trevyn 9 years ago |

Heh, it definitely seems like more time was spent on pricing than the actual "app". It's a cool idea, but it's literally a one-liner after boilerplate.

Nothing particularly wrong with that; that's how I got started too back in the 90's. Maybe the difference was that I was doing it for fun, and payment was totally optional, so I thought hey, maybe I'll make some spare change. Today the environment feels... greedy? Not saying this app's author feels that way, just pontificating on the state of the startup industry.

safek 9 years ago |

This strikes me as a case where you vaguely perceived a problem, thought "hmm, personal problems are the best source of project ideas," and quickly rushed to create a solution because you're a maker who enjoys making things. Did you open a text editor alongside Slack, or message yourself/slackbot, and find both solutions wanting? Would you pay $1/user/month for the added benefit of your solution?

My rude, unsolicited, very possibly erroneous, but ultimately well-intentioned suggestion is that you release it as a free service and maybe open source it. If you brand it well you can collect some stars. But I can't see someone paying for this.

stevesun21 9 years ago | |

what I can say, this is a problem I faced every day, especially, I need to add some code in my message or I write a long updates to my team.

I don't see any reason why I make it for free or even open source. I charge my customers monthly fee is not just based on how much time I spend to build, it's about how much commitment I have to keep it working to provide my customers high quality service.

If you think give tips to a waiter/waitress after they serve you meals and drinks makes sense, and then, why I provide my service for free? My pricing mode maybe need to judge a little in the future, but free is never my option.

safek 9 years ago | | |

My guess about the project's origins may have been wrong. If so I apologize.

I'm not saying you don't deserve pay for your work, or that it's somehow wrong of you to charge money. I'm worried you'll have trouble finding paying customers because you're competing with a feature that Slack already comes with (slackbot).

I want this to work for you! If you find a way to sell this, I'll be pleasantly impressed and delighted to admit I was wrong.

nedwin 9 years ago |

Don't listen to the haters. You launched, with pricing. I could see myself using the tool though not sure if I'd pay.

We launched brb.life last year, also a super simple app. No payments yet but we have about 70 users of all sizes. I even got an email from IBM asking about our data store methods because a team wanted to install it...

I think there is a case for a meta tool that includes something like draft + other Slack productivity tools in a single bundle where many different use cases are covered with a single price point

stevesun21 9 years ago | |

Hey, thanks so much for saying this to me! Really appreciate your support.

llamataboot 9 years ago |

Looks great! - I've often wished I had a draft function in Slack when I'm doing weird code formatting as well! Pricing seems a bit...off...though. Assuming I'm a medium company of say 50 people, then I'm looking at $50/month just for people to have this piece of functionality? Sorry, but no thanks.

Honestly seems better suited to a little side project that scratches your own itch that you can make available for free than for a tiny SAAS. Not saying that you shouldn't figure out a way to monetize it, if you can great for you! Just don't think you'll get many takers at a price/user...

stevesun21 9 years ago | |

Hi llamataboot,

Thanks for sharing with me about what you think about the pricing. I'm still collecting feedbacks about my app. My current pricing model just try to follow what Slack pricing model. After all, I'm a newbie to this platform.

FYI, you can use it for free, surprise! :-D If you don't pay the monthly bill after 14 days, you only get a reminder message at bottom of previewing message, but, no other impacts.

Wanna give a try?

dmlittle 9 years ago | | |

I understand that you're trying to follow the pricing model of other Slack Apps, but the functionality you provide isn't worth the price you're asking. Most of the Slack Apps that charge money have another platform backing up the service and the Slack App just acts as a bridge between the two platforms. Slashdraft doesn't have any extra functionality and Slack messages aren't final (you can always edit your message after sending it), as such asking for $1/usr/mo is too much.

dangom 9 years ago |

A company should immediately fire everyone in their financial department if they were to spend money on this.

skinnymuch 9 years ago |

It would be interesting if people actually paid for this. It seems too simple to pay for. Do you have a decent number of customers?