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MetaLab launches "Flow" Asana competitor

125 points| alibosworth | 15 years ago |getflow.com | reply

89 comments

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[+] btucker|15 years ago|reply
Their intro video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxF7F5T-_Z8) is beautifully produced, but man does it make me uninterested in trying out Flow. The video presents a use case (planning a simple party) that already has multiple "free" solutions (SMS, Email, Cellphones...) which seems like a much easier approaches. Do people really want to assign todo items to their friends? I get that Flow is probably capable of much more, but I can't understand why they'd put so much effort into a well produced video that doesn't do anything to sell the product. Or maybe I'm alone in my reaction to it?
[+] jcfrei|15 years ago|reply
As you pointed out, the video was beautifully crafted and the tune used was quite catchy as well. It's called "Up From The South" by The Budos Band, in case anybody was looking for it.
[+] jey|15 years ago|reply
Todo lists are a concept most people can already relate to, so there's no need to go to great lengths to explain why the product is useful. Instead they can get away with focusing on a whimsical use-case that's conducive to demos. So it's probably good that they picked a use case everyone can relate to, instead of focusing on a more realistic use case like tracking software bugs that only some people can relate to.
[+] dabeeeenster|15 years ago|reply
So let me get this right, it's basically twice as expensive as the entire Google Apps suite per seat?

Are they completely mad?

[+] wmf|15 years ago|reply
Hey, it's twice as pretty as Google Apps.
[+] nicksergeant|15 years ago|reply
As a user of Flow for the past few weeks, I've been blown away by its UI and usefulness. Unfortunately, the pricing seems a bit steep for personal use. I'd also like to see some clarity on how pricing works with groups of people.
[+] subpixel|15 years ago|reply
I respectfully call this a ridiculous proposition. How is $10/mo expensive for this, or for anything in life?

It seems to me Flow pricing is learning a valuable lesson from MobileMe: if it's useful, people will pay.

[+] bjonathan|15 years ago|reply
Producteev (http://producteev.com ) has been around for a couple of months and really solid alternative IMHO, cross platform, free for individuals, and moving fast! We are very happy with it!
[+] statictype|15 years ago|reply
Yes. This seems like something that would be valuable to a business (Say a catering service or a party planning service or package delivery service or whatever).

Their video (and pricing) seems to indicate this.

For running a business that requires coordination among many people, the price is utterly reasonable (if not slightly cheap).

[+] revorad|15 years ago|reply
So how much would you pay for personal use? It seems almost impossible to sell any web app for personal use.
[+] jarin|15 years ago|reply
Since Flow launched first, isn't Asana a Flow competitor?
[+] jwwest|15 years ago|reply
Just what I was thinking. I'm interested in hearing how long Flow was in development versus Asana (2+ years?). Considering Asana hasn't launched diddly, I'd say flow is the incumbent.
[+] HaloZero|15 years ago|reply
I guess for personal use it's a bit expensive. Remember The Milk costs $25/a year vs $100/year for Flow.
[+] rue|15 years ago|reply
It is, when considering the value proposition over e.g. RTM is the collaboration. $99 isn't terrible but by itself it's really got nothing over the multitude of other GTD options. To use it to collaborate, for just me and the wife, it'd be $198/year, if I understand the pricing correctly.

I'd certainly pay the $99 for a family licence which could be, say, 2 install-everywhere keys plus one just for desktop (for the kids).

[+] AashayDesai|15 years ago|reply
RTM doesn't offer any of the collaborative features that Flow does, nor do they have a native OS X app. I use RTM, but mostly as a simple TODO-list that is geo-enabled.
[+] puls|15 years ago|reply
Can you really call it an "Asana competitor"? Last I checked, Asana was still vaporware.
[+] iheartmemcache|15 years ago|reply
I think you're mistaking a "closed, really private beta" with Duke Nukem Forever vaporware. There are hundreds of people using Asana with great success according to the videocast on their site. Organizations ranging from software companies, recruiting firms to biotech institutions.

<shameless solicitation >Speaking of which if anyone from Asana wants to give an invite to a 5 man Django shop, we'd love to test it out for you guys. My contact information is in my profile :)</ss>

[+] jashkenas|15 years ago|reply
I'd be very interested in hearing if someone from Flow could talk a bit about their client-side code. It appears to meld Backbone.js with Socket.IO, for live updates to models via remote collaboration...
[+] locusm|15 years ago|reply
Glad someone asked that question, was thinking I'd get to the bottom and have nothing but pointless discussion on 10 bucks being worth it or not.
[+] jasonwebster|15 years ago|reply
I'm looking forward to writing a bunch about that. I'll be drafting a series of blog posts over the next little while that will cover our choices, problems, and experience developing the app so far--and, more importantly, going forward.
[+] boor|15 years ago|reply
What framework/language was this coded in? Cappuccino?
[+] rmoriz|15 years ago|reply
I see traces:

https://app.getflow.com/assets/standard_interface.js

  - backbone.js  (~44 controllers extend from FlowViewControllerAbstract)
  - underscore.js
  - jQuery
  - iscroll https://github.com/cubiq/iscroll
  - socket.io

  - Modernizr
  - SWFupload
  - Showdown.js (Markdown parser)
Server (heroku):

  - Rails
  - nginx/0.7.67
  - varnish
[+] byw|15 years ago|reply
My friend Billy worked on the app. They gave Cappuccino a try but eventually went with custom JS.
[+] pauldisneyiv|15 years ago|reply
Perhaps this is exactly what Asana needs. Nothing drives a group like a strong competitor.

An interesting lesson for all entrepreneurs as Asana has had a beta rolling since June of 2010. Plenty of time to get something to market.

Something > Nothing.

Let's hope both end with great products - I love the concept.

[+] mikeryan|15 years ago|reply
Nothing drives a group like a strong competitor.

Funny I came in to say the "team collaboration" space seems terribly crowded.

[+] frsandstone|15 years ago|reply
This looks extremely similar to Things...
[+] wilzan|15 years ago|reply
It does. It's also way more money. If you don't need the collaborative stuff, I don't see how it's worth it.
[+] zackb|15 years ago|reply
The UI is absolutely gorgeous. And I thought the intro video was very well done. I've been looking for an alternative to Things.app for a while. OmniFocus is just too expensive and won't let me collaborate with my family members. I really like that you buy once and run anywhere as opposed to Omni's method of buying an individual app for Mac, iPhone, iPad. $10 a month seems like too much though. I would suggest a cheaper (free?) version for 1-2 users. That being said, I'm still signing up.
[+] faramarz|15 years ago|reply
Very well designed. The quality is so well done in fact, that I'm surprised it's not behind a pay wall. This would be perfect for the iPad. I suppose giving us a 14-day play time should help convert.. but If I were MetaLab, i'd charge from day one.

Treat it like an iPhone app. plenty of folks waiting to click Install. Not only that, people tend to make time for the apps they pay vs. free apps. Get them to commit from day one. I think this is critical!

Regardless, Congrats! +1 for the Canada :D

[+] al_james|15 years ago|reply
>Treat it like an iPhone app. plenty of folks waiting to click Install.

In the App Store maybe, but not many people are waiting to pay for web apps.

[+] olivercameron|15 years ago|reply
Flow is a great product and emphasizes the "ship sooner, rather than later" model. They had a set goal in mind, and with a relatively small team, managed to create a family of amazing apps in a short space of time. Kudos! Asana and any company that has 2-3 year development cycles could learn a lot from MetaLab.
[+] ilannewyork|15 years ago|reply
Not true Oliver... They've been working on Flow for at least 2 years.
[+] antihero|15 years ago|reply
It says my e-mail is not available, and it doesn't have an Android app.

People have chastised web developers for not developing for IE6 and other browsers, so why is there not the same attitude towards people who don't develop for Android? You're cutting over 50% of your market.

[+] pclark|15 years ago|reply
because supporting additional browsers usually doesn't require an entirely new code base, compared to mobile platforms.
[+] sirwitti|15 years ago|reply
looks very professional to me, but... you have to click on sign up to get any price information. if i´d be a "normal" user i´d perhaps had left the site before even knowing that it´s quite expensive.

the video is cool, though the voice sounds bored.

maybe a more interesting example and screenshots/videos of the mobile app versions could be included in the video. i woulldn´t sign up without seeing how the mobile versions look. but anyway, quite interesting! (kept me from finishing, ok starting with, my paper :)

[+] stanmancan|15 years ago|reply
Great interface, which isn't a surprise from MetaLab. It's great to see such top notch work coming from Canadian companies, especially out of my home town (Victoria BC).
[+] martinshen|15 years ago|reply
Metalab is so sexy. http://getballpark.com is their other great app. I'm a huge fan of their MAC like design.
[+] flyosity|15 years ago|reply
MAC... the makeup brand? Or the unique identifier for network interfaces? Sorry, the all-caps MAC is a pet peeve of mine. Almost as bad as iTouch.
[+] drivingmenuts|15 years ago|reply
Is it just me or does the site not work in Safari?