Shafqat here from NewsCred, one of the startups included in the poll. Interesting results - I'm not surprised only 8% had heard of us. Our consumer site (www.newscred.com) has gotten decent traction and press, but nothing out of this world.
Our main business (http://platform.newscred.com) has no publicity or marketing attached to it. We've just been heads down, working away on the product and iterating with customers using typical customer development strategies. With that said, it's a sizeable business and growing. And some stage, we need to turn the marketing machine on.
But the real question I debate internally is "how important is brand recognition." Obviously it's priceless for the Cokes or Nikes of the world. But for a startup that has a clear path to customer acquisition, has figured out its ARPU and is having success with sales, how much focus should be spent on 'brand-building?'
The point of having a business is making money, and if having brand awareness on Hacker News doesn't make you money, why bother? For a company like Directed Edge, though, having brand awareness on HN can bring in a ton of money, since developers on Hacker News will read about them, check them out, and sign up as paying customers.
I think there are very few companies where recognition on HN could possibly matter. For me there is (afaik) only one user on HN who might be interested in my little startup.
Long term I think it's imperative though, the personal interactions and feedback and direct relationships I've been building with my clients does not scale so well to a wider audience.
Comments
Shafqat here from NewsCred, one of the startups included in the poll. Interesting results - I'm not surprised only 8% had heard of us. Our consumer site (www.newscred.com) has gotten decent traction and press, but nothing out of this world.
Our main business (http://platform.newscred.com) has no publicity or marketing attached to it. We've just been heads down, working away on the product and iterating with customers using typical customer development strategies. With that said, it's a sizeable business and growing. And some stage, we need to turn the marketing machine on.
But the real question I debate internally is "how important is brand recognition." Obviously it's priceless for the Cokes or Nikes of the world. But for a startup that has a clear path to customer acquisition, has figured out its ARPU and is having success with sales, how much focus should be spent on 'brand-building?'
Thoughts?
The point of having a business is making money, and if having brand awareness on Hacker News doesn't make you money, why bother? For a company like Directed Edge, though, having brand awareness on HN can bring in a ton of money, since developers on Hacker News will read about them, check them out, and sign up as paying customers.
Just depends on the business.
I think there are very few companies where recognition on HN could possibly matter. For me there is (afaik) only one user on HN who might be interested in my little startup.
Long term I think it's imperative though, the personal interactions and feedback and direct relationships I've been building with my clients does not scale so well to a wider audience.