Show HN: We decided not to apply to YC so we could try Kickstarter

[iamjonlee]

Hey everyone! We spent the major part of the year preparing an idea we had for the YC application. At last minute, we decided not to go through with YC.

I mean, we've had our fair shares of failed startups and this was one of those make it or break it scenarios. We took everything we've ever learned and strived to make an app that we were proud of. We spent so much effort into making this app that we couldn't bear stopping short and applying to Y Combinator. (Mind you, there's nothing wrong with YC.) We didn't want to apply to Y Combinator at the last minute because if we had really gone that far and really poured our souls into this time, we might as well go all the way and instead ask for funding from Kickstarter. This the app that we've always dreamed of making and we're finally getting close. We've spent inch by bloody, paintstaking inch working on it and it seriously feels good to finally let if off our chestslana del rey by showing off what we learned during our time as entrepreneurs. Thank you for your time!

Persona is your autobiography in graphic novel style. It's everything you are, in pictures.

http://www.prsna.me

[ruedaminute]

I think there might be a good nugget at the core of this, however I've already spent a minute on your site and watching your kickstarter video and am still unclear on exactly what it is the app does. And especially, why it's different from any other photo gallery out there. I think you guys need to work on communicating your product-- maybe talk to a copywriter friend or something, have them clarify your ideas for you. The good news- I like the design of your site. And the tagline -- graphic novel of your life -- is appealing to me. But it does not yet translate from what I can see into your product. Good luck!

[davidcann]

The design is good and the app sounds interesting, but the rewards on kickstarter are lackluster. $60 for an ebook, a sticker, and 5 business cards isn't very enticing, so I'd suggest reworking the rewards, if possible.

[iamjonlee]

Thanks for the feedback! I get what you mean but I see it a bit differently. I've pledged on several Kickstarter projects that offered absolutely no incentive besides sending me a thank you email. I do it for the same reason that I donate to charities, for the sake of hopefully seeing an awesome ending/finished product some day. I understand this kind of thinking might seem naive, so I do want to expand on this a little bit further. We chose the rewards carefully because we simply don't have the resources to do much more. Kickstarter + Amazon payment gate way take 5-8% of your pledge money. That money is taxed as income. We're realistically looking at roughly 30% of the pledge money to be taken off from the top before we even consider the rewards. The unspoken rule that Kickstarters seem to follow is that they offer all previous pledge rewards with each reward tier.

This means that the sticker, 5 business cards (after paying for shipping of cards to my house) shipping of those items to you and including the hours it will take me to write the ebook,we're barely left with enough to pay for development costs. Having to need to create fancier, and more seemingly valuable rewards will definitely attract more users, but require more time from us because we'll need to do most of the work by ourselves. This ultimately cuts down from our development time and time is money. I would technically have more money to contribute to the app than the $60 pledge if I worked by the hour. The only problem then is that I wouldn't be working on the app, which in turns makes the whole project pointless.

I would really love if I could do more for the people who are helping out and supporting my cause, but I just have my hands tied. I sincerely appreciate your honest and open feedback because it really helps to let me understand what people's first impressions are and it'll help me try and figure out at least some kind of solution to this problem. Thank you!

[bira]

Cool. What problem does it solve?

[iamjonlee]

I guess Persona is still a pretty enigmatic topic. We're trying to build an app that focuses on you rather than your friends. In other words, it's an about me page, in pictures.

Through pictures, you're able to learn hundreds of things about a friend that you might never think of asking. What's their favorite color, their allergies, what do they like to do on the weekends? Rather than a timeline, Persona encourages users to post photos of anything that makes them who they are.

Persona asks people "What does this photo mean to you?" because when you answer that, it's no longer just a photo sharing application. It's become an intimate bond that people can connect to. Do you like eating cold pizza? I do too. what other things do you eat cold? I think cold rice is disgusting though. It's at that moment that I can feel a more personal connection towards a stranger that I've never met by talking about the idiosyncrasies that make you who you are.

Persona is everything you are, in pictures.

[RuggeroAltair]

Honestly I don't understand from your post what the reason for not applying to YC was.

[iamjonlee]

You're absolutely right. I never actually stated what my reasons were. Sorry, we had been up too many hours by the time we wrote the earlier HN post so we left out our reasons entirely.

Like a lot of the other startups here on HN, we're boot-strapped. We have basically no funding besides our own personal savings and a dream that we'd like to persue. When you're in that situation, you're forced to really get down and dirty and try to do everything yourself. Nobody will miraculously jump out and offer you a hand, so you're forced to learn everything and try new ways of entering the market by yourself. From each time we've failed a startup, we always learned something new. We took that experience and used it to build what we have today, Persona. It's like riding a bike, you keep falling and injuring yourself but eventually you learn. That's how we feel about Persona. We're confident enough that this is the app that's different from all the other times we've tried.

So back to the topic, because we've gone so far doing everything hands on ourselves, we wanted to try and get funding ourselves without having to rely on YC. We get that YC is a fantastic program and they have exactly the right connections to put you in the spotlight, but if we join YC now without trying ourselves the very last step (getting money to continue), we'll regret that decision for the rest of our lives. Because we'll never know then if we would have been capable of making a dent in the startup community we live in. It'll answer the question "Are you able to successfully grow your userbase and product without relying on VCs or Angels?". Thanks for the heads up!