I'm building a relationship management tool to help professionals (i.e. startup executives, consultants, sales VPs) build and strengthen their network. It still has rough edges and there's more development work on the way but I would love to get some feedback from the HN community: http://orchestrahq.com
I think that this product could be useful. I know people who have a similar system going with spreadsheets. Having this in a web app could be handy and make the data cleaner and more accessible than it would be in spreadsheet. Because there are already a number of CRMs you may want to pick a vertical and specialize.
In terms of usability there are a bunch of places where you could use better form validation. For example on registration if you don't enter a company you can't submit, but there is no alert. Also it looks like there is no validation on the add contact form. Also, it looks like the contact detail form isn't finished. The Tasks, Reminder, Relationships and Other sections all don't seem to do anything.
Thanks for your feedback. I'll have to get them setup and fixed.
I've been thinking about these verticals but not sure which one to go for yet:
- financial advisors
- insurance advisors
- consultants
- freelancers and/or contractors
It sounds like something very few people would actually use. Why? Because everyone is busy and preoccupied with their own jobs. Sales VPs are busy trying to chase leads. Executives are busy managing their own product/employees, etc. Networking is one of those things people say they want to do more of, but in reality nobody finds the time to do so.
What I hear you saying is that people see the value in maintaining business/professional relationships but don't have the time to so do. Maybe people would use this tool if it could help decrease time spent maintaining a network?
The homepage looks great! Nice start. One note - the 'Get Started' button in the nav takes me to the bottom of the page, but the only signup button on the page is at the top of the page.
"Orchestra shares personalized recommendations" Where would these recommendations come from? Will you use data your customers enter for recommendations to other companies as well?
Not too sure I understand your 2nd question but we'll only be using the data customers enter for the customers' benefit themselves. Potentially, it could be recommending when is the best time to reach out to a particular contact, etc.
Thanks! I understand now. I thought recommendation would point to new contacts, similar to Facebooks "do you know this person?" and worried contacts I enter will be recommended to other companies.
Ah yes, personal privacy is something we take extremely seriously and we will never sell you out to other companies. In my own personal life, I've also tried as best as I can to stay away from companies that do these sort of things. I feel extremely important that there is a trust between us and our customers.
I think that this product could be useful. I know people who have a similar system going with spreadsheets. Having this in a web app could be handy and make the data cleaner and more accessible than it would be in spreadsheet. Because there are already a number of CRMs you may want to pick a vertical and specialize.
In terms of usability there are a bunch of places where you could use better form validation. For example on registration if you don't enter a company you can't submit, but there is no alert. Also it looks like there is no validation on the add contact form. Also, it looks like the contact detail form isn't finished. The Tasks, Reminder, Relationships and Other sections all don't seem to do anything.
All in all this looks pretty sweet! Nice Job!