MinuteBox has got its first press coverage from TechCrunchUK. Unfortunately, Mike Butcher, the editor of TCUK, did not give us an altogether positive review. His points are: 1. Our service categories are too broad. We should have more focus or niches . 2. Online people tend to spend a longer time doing online searches. He is sceptical about the concept of people paying to consult experts. 3. It is too early to launch the site publicly. We do not have enough experts on board.
We really appreciate his comments. He has given me some advices privately and I have definitely learned a lot from him. Because of this coverage, we have also got comments and feedback from other TCUK readers. I am glad that many readers there are actually very supportive and the comments from them are very helpful too.
Actually, some websites in the US offer a similar online interactive advice service and they are doing very well. I am glad that they have proved that a need for online live advice exists. We have also identified the highly feasible service categories as our marketing targets. I do not know if this is too ideal. I think users play an extremely important role in the Web 2.0 era. The interesting part of MinuteBox is that this market is a free market. We are here to serve our users - to give you the best service and a good MinuteBox experience. We will certainly monitor user's behaviour closely to see what service categories are popular. Hence, we can modify our site to satisfy user's needs and enhance their satisfaction of our service. It is easy for us to tick some categories out of the list, but we would rather rely on our users to tell us what they want in this market space we created for them. Maybe users will help us to find some hidden gems?
I agree that we do not have a lot of sellers on board at this moment. Without a live website, it was not easy to promote MinuteBox and attract users. We were thinking it would be easier for us to promote MinuteBox when it is public. I do apologise if the empty website gives you a bad impression. This is where we start the MinuteBox journey and we are definitely growing. Now we are approaching different sources to find experts to join us. We will also have some promotional events to give users a free chance to enjoy our service. We will keep you posted. We are working our fingers to the bone and our passion and enthusiasm to MinuteBox is always the same.
We have have taken Mike's comments into consideration and will be viewing the platform before we make changes and launch it in full public beta
Josh
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2 comments:
I read Mike's blog post as well on TechCrunch. I thought he may have been a bit too quick to judge, but there were some interesting tidbits there to prompt more thought about the future of the site. I think it has great potential and this is why I have pledged my support and committed to design and development duties from early on in this site's planning. Josh and myself as well as the rest of our team will be available on the forums once they are up soon to serve the Minutebox community and help it to grow...
Here's to the future of Minutebox! :)
Hello
I think this service is innovative and will create some good parts in the building process.
I have never seen something like this and I am glad to become a Seller.
Lisa Lomas
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