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Re:Ask HN: Tell us about your S2017 startup by jkhtaria on Tuesday April 04, 2017 @06:53PM (#14038015)
Other Calorie Counters - Set your diet targets once based on a generic formula.

Poundaweek - Uses Artificial Intelligence to update your nutrition targets EVERY week.

Other Calorie Counters - Don't provide any coaching. If you get stuck before reaching your weight goal you are on your own.

Poundaweek - Learns from you and provides personalized weekly reports, so you continue making progress towards your weight goal.

Re:Ask HN: Tell us about your S2017 startup by AznHisoka on Tuesday April 04, 2017 @10:33PM (#14039191)
FYI, you will probably hear from 1000+ more people asking the same question: Why not use MyFitnessPal? My advice? Don't compete against them. Everyone, from moms to entrepreneurs to wall street folks use them, know them, and recommends them. They're too big, and you need to be 10X better to go up against them, and even then it might not be enough.
Re:Ask HN: Tell us about your S2017 startup by jkhtaria on Wednesday April 05, 2017 @11:50AM (#14042975)
I feel like that is there biggest weakness, they are too big. There is lots of room for advancement in this area and they are far too comfortable. There calorie counter is also critically flawed, when a user plateaus and stops losing weight they are left in the dark, also they may not lose any weight at all based on there estimate and carry on eating the incorrect number of calories for far longer than they should, this happened to me personally before I built Poundaweek. Also the amount of calories the other apps recommend is static, and only adds calories based off of very flawed estimates of calories burned from exercises. Poundaweek learns and adjusts dynamically and specifically for each individual user as well as letting you know why and what you can do to keep on track towards your goal.
Re:Ask HN: Tell us about your S2017 startup by blizkreeg on Wednesday April 05, 2017 @01:11PM (#14043679)
I feel like you're up against an app that's synonymous with tracking food/calories. However, if your app does indeed do what you say well, you have something. However, in my opinion, initially you would be better off going after users who don't use MFP or any app than convincing them to convert. Though I'm only a two-week user of MFP, there's too much switching cost I feel. And I'd really have to hear good things about it from others/in the news to convince me to switch at this point.
Re:Ask HN: Tell us about your S2017 startup by jkhtaria on Wednesday April 05, 2017 @02:01PM (#14044120)
I'm going after anybody that wants to lose weight safely and consistently, the people that don't know how much of what to eat every week and the people that get stuck after using other calorie counters. Simply put Poundaweek works and continues to work - It was built out my own frustrations with the other calorie counters that stop working or never worked at all.
Re:Ask HN: Tell us about your S2017 startup by blizkreeg on Wednesday April 05, 2017 @02:25PM (#14044349)
I'm going to download and try it out. Saw some great reviews on the play store. When is the iOS version coming out?
Re:Ask HN: Tell us about your S2017 startup by jkhtaria on Wednesday April 05, 2017 @04:55PM (#14045533)
Thanks! If I get selected by YC - sooner rather than later. It's a one man show presently, would love to get the iOS version out this year.