Hi, I am Reshal from Altonito. We want to simplify life for everybody who loves to read and write online!

Introductions
#1

Hello everybody!

I just signed up today and this is my first post. I am really amazed over how active this community is! I look really much forward to contributing on this community.

My name is Reshal and I’m from Copenhagen, Denmark. Since the early days in my life, I have been extremely passionate about technology and it’s impact on the world. I am an ex-IBM’er and have been working in different industries from retail to online publishing. I founded my first web development startup together with two fellow students in 2012. Today in 2014, we have decided to focus all of our efforts on a publishing platform we are building.

Maybe a bit unconventionally, I will purposely not reveal to much information about the product, before you have seen the site. I would appreciate to get to know whether you understand the concept!

Altonito.com is a publishing platform that aims to make it easier than ever for people to write and discover original quality stories on topics they care about.

Feel free to provide feedback on your understanding and if you have any technical feedback as well!

I can also be found on twitter @RReshal if you would like to get in touch as well (I’m a proper newbie there)!

#2

Welcome! How is this different from https://medium.com? It sounds a little like a two-sided market (you’ll have to attract both readers & writers). Also, I’m curious what the monetization strategy is here. It seems like people have been creating better blogging platforms for quite a while. The landing page is beautiful… nice design work there.

#3

Hi @coreysnipes,

Thanks for your feedback.
Yeah definitely. We are not completely settled on the monetization setup yet, it will change as we go.

  • But we are looking into subscriptions - or paid features that enhance the experience for users… we are very early on right now. The first private-beta will launch in a couple of weeks.

Just a last question @coreysnipes thanks for the complement regarding the landing page! However, was the concept clear for you, when you gave the landing page a shot?

/Reshal

#4

was the concept clear for you, when you gave the landing page a shot?

I think so, if the concept is “it’s like Medium – only it’s not Medium”. The value proposition isn’t resonating with me, so either I’m not your target audience or you need to sharpen up your problem/solution description. For my needs, there’s plenty of good stuff to read on the internet and I already know how to find & share it.

#5

Really valuable feedback Corey. We’ve have been scratching our heads over how to communicate the concept so both sides (readers and writers) get the value proposition of the product, but it’s hard to do!

  • So as a person yourself you read a lot on the internet @coreysnipes? - could you tell if you have a favorite site and why it might be your favorite?

Really appreciate your responses!

/Reshal

#6

Welcome!

Just like @coreysnipes, I don’t exactly understand what you are trying to solve here. When I read the description, I was expecting something like zemanta for WP.

Like the design overall, just think the email input is a little too big and all the way to the bottom? Maybe include an earlier CTA if you want to get beta testers.

Keep us posted, I’d love to check it again once the pain points / solution have been better explained.

#7

Thanks so much @jadb.
I don’t know what Zemanta is, but will give it a check.
I am working on sharpening it up. The tip of including an earlier CTA sounds like a really good idea!

#8

Hi @Reshal !

I like the design.

Two questions come to my mind:

  1. What makes Altonito different respect Flipboard or Medium?
  2. How did you validate the idea so that you know people is willing to pay?

Good luck!

#9

Thanks @CescVilanova, happy to hear that you like the design.
(I am working on optimizing the information delivery though).

We threw the idea out there to journalists, bloggers etc. by talking with people. Their reactions have been really good. So we decided to start building the product.

We have received a significant amount of early-beta signups, through engaging in discussions and via Twitter from our initial target audience.

As all startups, there is no formula-to-success. So we will be revising the product and a lot of aspects will most probably change. But the ‘true’ validation of course remains.

#10

@Reshal - Do you not have an answer for the “how are you different from Medium” question? Or are you just avoiding it? It’s been asked 3 times in this thread.

#11

Hi @coreysnipes
I have somehow missed a more straightforward explanation of it, when I talked about the monetization aspect, which is also one of our differentiation areas.

In essence Altonito has a more social focus and emphasis on the relationship between writers/contributors and readers, encouraging people to interact over topics that matter to them. The reading topics are not decided by us, but by users tailoring their story streams themselves. Also contributors are provided the functionality they need to monetize their content, so ‘non-technical’ but good writers can monetize their content.

#12

@Reshal - Ah, OK I see. Thanks for summing it up.

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