Ask HN: I've launched, users have dried up, what's wrong? (repodrop.com)

8 points by moomerman 14 years ago | 11 comments

I've recently launched RepoDrop - Private Git Repository Hosting. I'm an experienced developer, but marketing is a whole new ball game.

I got my initial interest through blog posts, had some beta signups and emailed them at launch. About 10% signed up, not bad I thought.

However, since then there have been virtually no new signups, I thought the site was broken at one point! I've tried some targeted Google Adwords and Facebook Ads that have generated clicks but no signups (even though it is free to sign up with no commitment).

I think this is a common slump to end up in for techies-turned-entrepreneurs but like many before me I was blinded and thought it would be fine for me.

This is the product url: https://repodrop.com/

Can you see anything obviously wrong with the product, homepage, signup, features, copy etc..? Do you have any advice what I can do to get some interest? Have I completely misjudged the market?

Admittedly it is a MVP at the moment and I plan to iterate on the product, but people aren't even finding out that it is an MVP at this stage and I don't have enough users to gather enough opinion on the required future feature set.

Thanks.

jolan 14 years ago |

1) No clue what the interface looks like aside from the poor-looking screenshot above the signup button.

2) No "About Us" section other than the link to moocode.com.

3) Not sure if I can do public repositories too.

4) I already use github for $7/month.

sathishmanohar 14 years ago |

For starters you could redesign your home page. Its very confusing in my opinion. The product features is in the footer, also the screenshot is not clear. No offense, this is not the design, I'd trust to open my wallet. :)

ig1 14 years ago |

Why would anyone use you over GitHub ?

scotto 14 years ago |

Adding some depth to the pitch might help. It appears on first glance to be one page - try showing users how complete and useful the service is with more screenshots and examples of use. Since security is a primary value prop it would be nice to know more about how the site is more secure than github.

revorad 14 years ago |

This is a crowded market with some well established fast-growing leaders. Why do you want to compete with them? Have you thought of building on top of the existing players and creating value-added services?

LiveTheDream 14 years ago |

Can you provide numbers on visitors? There's more to the conversion funnel than just signups; i.e. could it be that you have no signups because there are no new visitors?

moomerman 14 years ago | |

About 400 unique visitors in the past two weeks.

ColinWright 14 years ago |

Clickable: https://repodrop.com/

diolpah 14 years ago |

My guess is because you offer less product than GitHub, and charge more for it. Unless you make your value proposition clear, I don't see any reason for anybody to use your service.

moomerman 14 years ago | |

A common theme seems to be that I'm not making the value proposition clear. Github actually charges $22/month for 20 repositories and 10 collaborators. Repodrop is $9/month for unlimited repos and unlimited collaborators. I will have to make this clearer.

Hisoka 14 years ago |

I don't really get the service. You should explain it in the homepage.

My questions: - Is this a replacement for GitHub? - Or is this like a cloud host for Git repositories? - I already have a private Git repository.. so your service is just a backup? - This sounds like a lot of hidden work. Be more transparent on what I'd need to do.. Show some command lines like Heroku does to show me how easy it is to use it.