Ask HN: Anyone interested building a better Tinder?

Posted by alistproducer2 on Thursday October 15, 2015 @10:48AM
from the ask-hn dept.

I am reluctant to give to many details about the what differentiates the app from its competitors.

The state of the project is I have a working Android prototype featuring real-time chat. It currently uses a server-less backend that will scale once we gain traction.

I currently have a partner working on porting the app to another platform.

What we need:

Android UI/UX engineer. iOS engineer Marketing/branding expert Web Designer/developer

We currently have some interest from VCs and are looking to strengthen our funding position byturning our POCs into MVP's.

We haven't named the project yet because we'd like to get some input from branding/marketing professionals.

I'm based in Atlanta, GA

( 9 comments | 6 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Anyone interested building a better Tinder? by mchannon on Thursday October 15, 2015 @12:20PM (#10394037)

I am reluctant to give to many details

"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats." - Howard Aiken

Email me. I've built a couple of projects cited as "a better Tinder" by the people funding them.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Anyone interested building a better Tinder? by 7Figures2Commas on Thursday October 15, 2015 @11:11AM (#10393605)

Humble suggestion: when propositioning complete strangers, "we have interest from VCs" is more likely to be a turn-off than a turn-on for experienced folks.

What it usually means: we don't have money, and investors haven't been interested enough to write us a check.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Anyone interested building a better Tinder? by dorfuss on Thursday October 15, 2015 @12:12PM (#10393988)

So true. Actually anybody has a potential "interest from VCs", because that's what VCs do - they are interested, they look around, sniff, check, look at ideas. So anyone could say that they have the VCs interest in their stuff. The same is true for patens/patent pending. Just don's say this. If you said: we sold our patent for $xxx its completely different story.

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Re:Ask HN: Anyone interested building a better Tinder? by kleer001 on Friday October 16, 2015 @02:46AM (#10397814)

Don't get the horse before the cart.

The real differentiation you'll need is marketing, network effect, and blind luck.

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Re:Ask HN: Anyone interested building a better Tinder? by eecks on Thursday October 15, 2015 @03:28PM (#10395374)

What do you bring to the business?

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Re:Ask HN: Anyone interested building a better Tinder? by 10dpd on Friday October 16, 2015 @04:49PM (#10401928)

Tentatively interested, but how do you propose we contact you?

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Re:Ask HN: Anyone interested building a better Tinder? by mailslut on Thursday October 15, 2015 @11:04AM (#10393558)

How very vague.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Anyone interested building a better Tinder? by seiji on Thursday October 15, 2015 @11:39AM (#10393772)

Android prototype

You can't start a startup on Android because you've got to purchase 500 devices for validation.

server-less backend that will scale once we gain traction.

You can't use peer-to-peer on Android because of device fragmentation unless you want "Google Nexus 2015 Devices Only" social networks.

by turning our POCs into MVP's.

Wrong way around. Users first, refine, iterate, grow.

I'm based in Atlanta, GA

Move to San Francisco.

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Re:Ask HN: Anyone interested building a better Tinder? by jozzas on Thursday October 15, 2015 @05:46PM (#10396235)

You can't start a startup on Android because you've got to purchase 500 devices for validation.

Nonsense. https://aws.amazon.com/device-farm/device-list/ if you really need to test across a range of devices

You can't use peer-to-peer on Android because of device fragmentation unless you want "Google Nexus 2015 Devices Only" social networks

? There are plenty of popular apps that already do this.

Wrong way around. Users first, refine, iterate, grow.

I agree with this, but you need something functional to attract users. Re-wording your point, make sure your MVP is minimal.

Move to San Fransisco

Disagree unless you're actively seeking serious VC funding and think it'll help.

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