I am really keen to build a for sale web app, having developed a couple of successful free products. Instead of going for the build it and they will come approach, I have decided to get some early validation of my idea. Yesterday I asked HN about Silo (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2556658) a SSL certificate management web app. A HN user pointed out that there may be major trust hurdles to overcome with this product, but he expressed interest in the expiry notification concept. This got me thinking.
A little while ago two major, yet easily avoidable problems occurred, resulting in downtime, lost revenue, stress, and unhappy clients:
1. I get a phone call from a client who tells me their websites and email is down. I run some checks and find out that the domain name had expired. My client registered and manages the domain name so this downtime is his fault. However my client is not particularly happy when I tell him this. He was of the opinion that I looked after his domain and hosting so should of spotted and warned him about this. Clearly doing this manually for all my clients is impractical. The domain went into 'holding' and an extortionate release fee had to be paid, which I bore the cost of as a gesture of good will. With lots of clients and domains registered by myself and clients this is likely to happen again.
2. I get a phone call from a client who tells me that some of his visitors have reported that their e-commerce website is coming up as insecure in their browsers. I check the website and see that the SSL certificate has expired. I spend the next few hours getting a new certificate re-issued using my clients Enom account. My client is annoyed as his customers have complained and he suspects he has lost revenue as a result.
Step in Flaregun. Flaregun (http://getflaregun.com) is targeted at people who look after domains on behalf of their clients. You enter all your domains and it looks up the whois information. A notification email is sent out a week before the domain expires to ensure you have time to warn your client and renew the domain. Similarly SSL certificates are added and expiry notifications are sent out a week before to ensure you have enough time to renew your certificate.
I have put up a holding page (http://getflaregun.com) with price plans. I am reaching out to the HN community to see how the idea is received and whether you would be willing to pay for this product. Thanks for your time.