ayusaf

Just finished making the first version of an iPhone app and have started press releasing it. I've found the whole app review thing a bit of a minefield and discovered that app reviews themselves are a business! We're doing the usual social stuff, talks etc and have also tried FB and Google ads. The ads haven't generated enough downloads to justify the expense. Would love any tips on this. The app is https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-super-times/id509942440?mt=8 in case you have any market specific advice. Thanks! :)

Hi!

I'm busy building an iPhone app, which is optimised for commuters and I was wondering what sort of things people like to fill their commuting time with? If you use public transport - are there any apps that you find particularly useful or enjoyable? If you drive, do you usually switch on the radio or stream music from your mobile?

Just a curious bee, me.

Thx :)

Hi,

I previously submitted a dilema in Ask HN regarding trademark infringement. Another company had pursued us claiming that we were infringing their trademark. Not having the means for legal fees (not a good place to waste money in an early stage business, anyway) I asked HN and got some useful advice. You can check the thread here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3377263

I wanted to add an update as it may be of use to others in a similar situation and perhaps some of you might have had sleepless nights wondering what we did in the end ;)

So, we changed our name to The Super Times and our logo too - http://thesupertimes.com/ The reasons for doing this were:

1. It wasn't a battle we were interested in fighting. With just 2 founders and limited resources we want to spend all our energy and time on the product at this stage.

2. We hadn't invested too much time or money on branding. After having the initial business idea we used a quick scribbly logo / identity to get going and intended to re-visit this as we got closer to launching our app.

3. We came up with something better. Although there wasn't any concrete grounds for a serious legal case (I think our names and branding were different enough) a rethink of the branding actually forced us to come up with something more relevant to our proposition.

Thanks to those who answered my query on Ask HN - it proved to be a quick and useful way to get advice.

:)

I'm one of the Cofounders of a startup called Super Owl and we are busy working on an iPhone app which delivers spoken word content weekly to subscribers. We have recently been featured as part of a Next Web article about 'How Startups Choose their names' - http://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/12/03/9-startups-explain-how-they-chose-their-names/

This was a nice bit of early press for us and we were surprised but delighted to be approached. However, very soon after this article went out we received a letter from a company stating that we have "breached their trademarks". This company is another startup, yet to launch their app publicly, however they claim that they are an established business - see their first letter to us here - https://skitch.com/aishay/guy25/letter1

I e-mailed the following reply:

--------------------------

"Hi ,

I haven't heard of * before - just looked at your website and it looks like a great service.

I'm slightly confused about the letter attached as you state that Super Owl breaches your trademarks - have you registered a trademark for the name 'owl', '' or 'super owl'? Obviously, if it's the latter I can appreciate your concern.

First of all to clarify Super Owl is not a streaming service for audiobooks so it's quite different from what you're doing (we are aggregating spoken word audio podcasts for download). As yet, we also are not related to anything in the book space and our future plans don't include audiobooks.

Owls and audio are what we appear to have in common and I hope we can agree to differentiate ourselves in the market through product, logo, marketing, service etc. A quick search in the iTunes store reveals several apps with the word 'owl' included and I haven't seen this as a major setback or concern.

I hope this puts your mind at ease, however do feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss anything further. You can get in touch by e-mail or give me a call directly on *.

Best of luck on your launch.

Regards,

Aisha Yusaf"

--------------------------

I have now received the following letter as a reply to my e-mail - https://skitch.com/aishay/guy2a/letter2

So, here's my dilemma, do we change our name?... I don't feel like we are infringing any trademarks even though we do share the word 'owl' in both our business names. As we haven't even got a product out as yet we don't want to waste our time or money on legal fees or petty issues but rather concentrate on building, selling and promoting what we make.

The business that has been pursuing us on the trademark issue also doesn't have a product out (even though they speak as though they have) and although we can rebrand what we're doing, as it's not going to make or break our app, I am concerned that by doing so we are being bullied or coerced into doing something which is not even necessary.

At this stage no one really cares about our product and if we're lucky some people might care once its available to use and buy, so we don't have time or energy to spend on the wrong things (such as this).

Any advice, help or suggestions would be most appreciated.

Thanks :)

Hey, Thought I would put this link up to a new meetup that I'm co-organising in London. It's really to serve a personal problem while working on a startup with a view that others may also find it useful.

It's a 8am Breakfast meetup, in London (UK), for entrepreneurs to roundtable current problems they're facing. We're having our 4th meetup this Friday and have 4 spots left for fellow startupers.

For more details and to RSVP go to: http://www.meetup.com/Mavericks-Breakfast/

Hope to meet you then.

:)

Hi,

We're looking for a really, really good iPhone app designer who understands how to design natively for the iPhone, interactions and overall experience. As a boot-strapped startup we have very little money to spend on this so initially we're looking for someone who can consult a few hours here and there to point us in the right direction - more like feedback from a design perspective.

Any ideas where to find someone or if you have any recommendations that would be much appreciated. Location not too important as we can work remotely - more interested in getting the best person possible.

Any help appreciated - thanks :)

Hi, we're looking to launch our startup Super Owl soon and in the meantime have an interesting blog, twitter and FB page.

Does anyone have any good ideas on how to make more people aware of these - I don't want to do spammy weird stuff.... I want to actually reach people who would be interested in the service that we're building, which is "the best audio stories sent to you each week" - initially as an iPhone app.

I have started a rather fun and cute campaign to on FB (http://www.facebook.com/TheSuperOwl) which states that we'll adopt a barn owl once we reach 100 likes (useful for us and helps a little owl out too!) - it's taking longer than I thought... although it is still early days.

Super Owl is for 30+ year old urban professional commuters who are into editorial content - The New Scientist, The Economist, The NewYorker, TEDtalks etc.

Any ideas and tips are really welcome.

Thanks!