How Spoil (YC W15) avoided paying for the word 'gift' during the holidays

[mlevkovsky]

As a startup that curates and delivers gifts we wanted to avoid bidding and paying for clicks on the word gift. That competition would be way to expensive this time of year, and we need to be as frugal as possible. What we did was approach a bunch of companies here in Montreal and offered to be their official secret santa provider. This allowed us to get free exposure, orders and even if companies said no, people still found out about us and ordered gifts individually. If you guys want to send out some awesome gifts this holiday season, check us out at https://spoil.io! Any feedback on the experience would be super appreciated.

[minimaxir]

Er, are you actually YC W15?

If so, this is an incredibly terrible way to announce your affiliation. Spamming HN? The batch hasn't even started yet!

[mlevkovsky]

Sorry you feel that way. I don't mean to be spamming, but I wanted to take Paul Buchheit's advice that he posted on our Google group today. I thought I had an interesting story and wanted to share with you guys. Didn't mean to come of as spammy, honest mistake if I did. Still learning the ropes around here.

[Artemis2]

Looks really sleek! Too bad your service isn't available in Europe :<.

[mlevkovsky]

Thanks for the kind words! ya sorry about that, we wish we could open up in Europe but impossible for now :(

[eyaltoledano]

Loooove the service. You actually deliver the experience you promise. Props.

[mlevkovsky]

many thanks! ya we are always trying to improve the experience people have with us. Started off pretty rough lol, but as of late people are loving what they are getting