Hey all, Brett here, founder of Mindstamp / awkward dude in the demo video.
I spent last year building a social video annotation app called Aech that never really caught on, but captured interest from a couple people that wanted the core annotation technology for business.
Mindstamp is the result of those conversations and six months of development work. It lets you enrich your videos with interactive notes (text, audio, video), questions, and personalization in just a few seconds before sharing them with your customers, clients, or teams.
Video is growing rapidly but is still largely a one-way, static asset. Mindstamp aims to change that by providing an interaction level on top for both creator and viewer to exchange ideas and gather feedback. We're just getting started but think there's a lot of room to innovate here.
Built 100% by me with Rails, VueJS, Vuetify, and Heroku ️
I'd love to hear your constructive feedback (please be nice, first real product shipped) and am happy to answer any questions you might have. And yes, I'm going to make a better demo video - it's just a placeholder for now.
I like your speaking style, and the product idea is neat.
As a snobby stickler for aesthetics, I think the instant darkness and silence at each pause feels like being unplugged too abruptly.
I'd take a cue from dialogue options in games [1], and not let the UI cover the whole screen, and maybe play a prerecorded "pause" video(s) so the flow isn't broken.
Just want to say I think this is a great product and it's incredible you built it all yourself, I'm really impressed.
I actually really like the demo video too -- it's personal and the outdoor location is a refreshing change from the typical sterile "recorded in an office" videos.
Interesting concept. There are other ways to do this but more for the technical savvy. So I could see where this comes into play in the sense that it is focused on a user friendly experience.
The pricing options seem burdensome to me. The whole per month pricing is a deal breaker to me. The pricing language is confusing as well. What is up with all these stipulations? Videos expiring....is that really necessary? It needs to be simplified.
When I see this service what I think is okay...I get it that interactive video is good and I need it so I want this service. So I want to add one, two, three or more of these interactive videos to my website. The type of pricing I would want to expect is some sort of flat rate one-time payment that is not monthly. You really need to rethink the pricing.I get it that you want the monthly income but you need to bring people in first with some sort of "wow, this is an amazing deal" type of offer. The 30 day trial does not cut it for me personally.
Really solid product. I have been needing a simple video annotation tool exactly like this for a project of mine. From the demo video it looks like you’ve executed on the concept well. Look forward to putting it through its paces!
Great work Brett!! You may refer to yourself as the "awkward dude", I'd say the "authentic dude" ;) A project like this comes across much better when you get to see the real person behind it.
This is a cool project and a very clear landing page.
One thing I felt was a little jarring while working through the stamps in the demo video was the audio completely cutting out when a question is posed. Perhaps having some 'standby' music would help in that way, or even just fading the audio in and out when the pause happens.
Thank you for checking it out and thinking about it enough to give feedback! I genuinely appreciate it. I've gotten similar comments about the abruptness of the transitions and agree a little softening would go a long way.
Really slick - great landing page and I love the demo. Clearly demonstrates what the product does, and I can certainly see the value.
Small nitpick: IDK if intentional, but it seems that you're not quite sanitizing input. I Added an annotation with <script>console.log("Hello")</script> and it printed to the console as I viewed the video.
Hey, I think the part there about the data the users added being saved to your mindstamp dashboard is good, but I think a lot of companies (especially the company I just finished a couple years consulting at and whom I'm going to forward this to) would like to pay for that data to be available to their scripts on the page.
The context I am thinking of specifically is guided help systems in which you want a response from a customer before showing some more video or maybe even switching to another video.
If you think you would be willing to add that kind of functionality in to your product I can tell them when I pass it on to them and set you up to talk.
Hey Bryan, thanks for this. I agree that surfacing the data for use elsewhere is the best path forward and it's on the road map. My concern, being so early, is spending time building the wrong thing / adding the wrong integration when I don't know exactly how people will want to use it.
I'd love to learn more about what you envision this looking like. Would you send me an email? [email protected]
The pricing is over the top for what is just timestamps + (any interaction you can think of) on a video. And it's a subscription model, which is an extremely optimistic pricing model.
While I believe there is untapped potential for clever video time-stamping (I've worked a bit on this stuff myself), most of the time viewers don't want their video interrupted. Nor do video producers want their videos interrupted due to the fact timing, editing and pace is usually important to a video presentation.
Asking "what is your name" or inviting other input at key points could be very useful, but not when it depends on being a member of something called mindstamp. That's more than friction, that's a brick wall.
Tutorial videos, or complex "paths" for say an interactive story involving choice, could be a use case, but we're now starting to get excited about the scraps on offer after most people have said no thanks. In saying that, there could be plenty of money in the scraps if it's a niche, specific application. Such as tutorial videos, e-learning, evaluative videos, induction day training, and so on. But again... the subscription model... ouch.
Thanks for the feedback. A couple things that came to mind:
- It costs me $ each month to store multiple versions of the video for different devices and connections. Charging a flat rate per video would be nice but eventually I'd start to lose money and have to ditch customers.
- Viewers don't have to be members of Mindstamp. The name / email captured from the video is sent only to the video owner, not for account creation. That fact should be clearer if you thought it was the case, though.
- Not all videos need to be made interactive, and being able to 'opt out' of the interactions as a viewer is on the road map.
- The pricing might be over the top for a single individual trying to take notes on a Youtube video, but for a business customer that is uploading and streaming multiple videos per month in a professional setting, $39 / month is a drop in the bucket, especially if it's resulting in a couple fresh leads or a few hours of email timestamp-ing saved. For now, I'm channeling Patrick Mckenzie [0] and keeping the prices high.
Thanks again for your thoughts, I truly appreciate you taking the time.
the idea is interesting but there are way too many dialog prompts to get anything done.
I personally find very little value in this type of video application for collaboration. A good video presenter should know exactly what questions an audience has, before the questions asked. When you have a webinar or video, inside of tools like skype, that's what those chat tools are for. It allows for asynchronous communication on a predictable level, unobscured and easy for anyone to grasp immediately. Twitch / youtube-live are also options too.
If you want to make something I would really want -> build a app that allows you to take timestamps on youtube videos similar to udemy, but unobtrusive. Youtube has a predictable time duration on each video and time stamps, so this should be possible via a userscript and or chrome extension, with data input going to another server / called from the extension. You can opt to do localstorage but longterm that data should be stored elsewhere.
Nice job Brett. Logged in just to make a suggestion. If you haven't considered the enterprise angle - I can see this being useful in creating enterprise video content. Specifically for making e-learning content and such similar things. You don't know how much this space lacks in proper tooling. Having said that, I can see some challenges if you have considered or are considering. I can shed some light if you like. Or if not, best of luck =) Useful!
Interesting idea. A good use case might be for video tutorials, where the video could auto-pause and ask when the user has completed the previous step. I find myself pausing tutorials videos constantly. Another idea might to build logic in, so that the video asks whether you're following along and will want pauses, or if you're just watching to learn and won't want pauses between steps.
The interruptions are pretty jarring and I rapidly got annoyed for constantly being asked for input when I just wanted to watch the video. I get it was a demo though. I'd like to see some sources to back the claims that people engage more during video.
[+] [-] ladybro|7 years ago|reply
I spent last year building a social video annotation app called Aech that never really caught on, but captured interest from a couple people that wanted the core annotation technology for business.
Mindstamp is the result of those conversations and six months of development work. It lets you enrich your videos with interactive notes (text, audio, video), questions, and personalization in just a few seconds before sharing them with your customers, clients, or teams.
Video is growing rapidly but is still largely a one-way, static asset. Mindstamp aims to change that by providing an interaction level on top for both creator and viewer to exchange ideas and gather feedback. We're just getting started but think there's a lot of room to innovate here.
Built 100% by me with Rails, VueJS, Vuetify, and Heroku ️
I'd love to hear your constructive feedback (please be nice, first real product shipped) and am happy to answer any questions you might have. And yes, I'm going to make a better demo video - it's just a placeholder for now.
Thanks for reading!
[+] [-] undershirt|7 years ago|reply
As a snobby stickler for aesthetics, I think the instant darkness and silence at each pause feels like being unplugged too abruptly.
I'd take a cue from dialogue options in games [1], and not let the UI cover the whole screen, and maybe play a prerecorded "pause" video(s) so the flow isn't broken.
[1]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwgNc_wZwZ0
[+] [-] davedx|7 years ago|reply
I actually really like the demo video too -- it's personal and the outdoor location is a refreshing change from the typical sterile "recorded in an office" videos.
Great work and good luck with it!
[+] [-] mrieck|7 years ago|reply
I'm also doing video startup in startup school, but mine is for making original animated cartoons/meme-mashups:
https://www.superanimo.com
Good luck with your startup.
[+] [-] anonymous5133|7 years ago|reply
The pricing options seem burdensome to me. The whole per month pricing is a deal breaker to me. The pricing language is confusing as well. What is up with all these stipulations? Videos expiring....is that really necessary? It needs to be simplified.
When I see this service what I think is okay...I get it that interactive video is good and I need it so I want this service. So I want to add one, two, three or more of these interactive videos to my website. The type of pricing I would want to expect is some sort of flat rate one-time payment that is not monthly. You really need to rethink the pricing.I get it that you want the monthly income but you need to bring people in first with some sort of "wow, this is an amazing deal" type of offer. The 30 day trial does not cut it for me personally.
Just me 2 cents.
[+] [-] mindgam3|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MediumD|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] realty_geek|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ladybro|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davedx|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] realsneil|7 years ago|reply
One thing I felt was a little jarring while working through the stamps in the demo video was the audio completely cutting out when a question is posed. Perhaps having some 'standby' music would help in that way, or even just fading the audio in and out when the pause happens.
Spotify do this on play / pause.
Great stuff, and good luck with the project!
[+] [-] davedx|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ladybro|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] jesperht|7 years ago|reply
Small nitpick: IDK if intentional, but it seems that you're not quite sanitizing input. I Added an annotation with <script>console.log("Hello")</script> and it printed to the console as I viewed the video.
[+] [-] ladybro|7 years ago|reply
Thank you for that and the kind words!
[+] [-] bryanrasmussen|7 years ago|reply
The context I am thinking of specifically is guided help systems in which you want a response from a customer before showing some more video or maybe even switching to another video.
If you think you would be willing to add that kind of functionality in to your product I can tell them when I pass it on to them and set you up to talk.
[+] [-] ladybro|7 years ago|reply
I'd love to learn more about what you envision this looking like. Would you send me an email? [email protected]
[+] [-] exodust|7 years ago|reply
The pricing is over the top for what is just timestamps + (any interaction you can think of) on a video. And it's a subscription model, which is an extremely optimistic pricing model.
While I believe there is untapped potential for clever video time-stamping (I've worked a bit on this stuff myself), most of the time viewers don't want their video interrupted. Nor do video producers want their videos interrupted due to the fact timing, editing and pace is usually important to a video presentation.
Asking "what is your name" or inviting other input at key points could be very useful, but not when it depends on being a member of something called mindstamp. That's more than friction, that's a brick wall.
Tutorial videos, or complex "paths" for say an interactive story involving choice, could be a use case, but we're now starting to get excited about the scraps on offer after most people have said no thanks. In saying that, there could be plenty of money in the scraps if it's a niche, specific application. Such as tutorial videos, e-learning, evaluative videos, induction day training, and so on. But again... the subscription model... ouch.
[+] [-] ladybro|7 years ago|reply
- It costs me $ each month to store multiple versions of the video for different devices and connections. Charging a flat rate per video would be nice but eventually I'd start to lose money and have to ditch customers.
- Viewers don't have to be members of Mindstamp. The name / email captured from the video is sent only to the video owner, not for account creation. That fact should be clearer if you thought it was the case, though.
- Not all videos need to be made interactive, and being able to 'opt out' of the interactions as a viewer is on the road map.
- The pricing might be over the top for a single individual trying to take notes on a Youtube video, but for a business customer that is uploading and streaming multiple videos per month in a professional setting, $39 / month is a drop in the bucket, especially if it's resulting in a couple fresh leads or a few hours of email timestamp-ing saved. For now, I'm channeling Patrick Mckenzie [0] and keeping the prices high.
Thanks again for your thoughts, I truly appreciate you taking the time.
[+] [-] swaggyBoatswain|7 years ago|reply
I personally find very little value in this type of video application for collaboration. A good video presenter should know exactly what questions an audience has, before the questions asked. When you have a webinar or video, inside of tools like skype, that's what those chat tools are for. It allows for asynchronous communication on a predictable level, unobscured and easy for anyone to grasp immediately. Twitch / youtube-live are also options too.
If you want to make something I would really want -> build a app that allows you to take timestamps on youtube videos similar to udemy, but unobtrusive. Youtube has a predictable time duration on each video and time stamps, so this should be possible via a userscript and or chrome extension, with data input going to another server / called from the extension. You can opt to do localstorage but longterm that data should be stored elsewhere.
[+] [-] ladybro|7 years ago|reply
> I don't have this problem so nobody else should
> You should build X unrelated technical thing if you want my approval
I don't mean to be rude but this is a quintessential non-helping HN comment. You should consider re-reading your comments before posting.
[+] [-] davidpelayo|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ladybro|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] getaclue|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ladybro|7 years ago|reply
Definitely considering the Enterprise angle, just trying to feel things out right now before committing to anything on a larger scale.
I would love to hear what you're thinking about though - could you send me an email? [email protected]
Thanks again!
[+] [-] soared|7 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] ladybro|7 years ago|reply
Each answer will have a couple action options: continue playing, move to a different time in the video, open an external link, or ask for more info.
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