Hey Product Hunt!
You may have seen some of our stories on here, but I'm so excited to finally share our app with you! When you try it, I think you'll agree it's a way better experience than reading on the web. Fullscreen makes a *huge* difference.
Joe and I would love to hear your feedback!
Thanks!!
PS - I wrote more about what we're doing here: https://medium.com/hardbound-co/...
PPS - I talked even more about what we're doing on a podcast here: https://soundcloud.com/hardbound...
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@nbashaw I have to say this is pretty dope. I like pretty much everything of it. Best app regarding stories on iOS for sure in my opinion.
@nbashaw congrats on releasing @hardbound. the most interesting thing about this product to me is that its focus is not on rapidfire and random dopamine hits, but rather on high quality visual content where people actually learn something. i enjoy hardbound like i enjoy a newspaper -- over a cup of coffee or breakfast where i can put in my full concentration and feel like i've been productive.
(i'm also psyched you use an sms-bot for the new story notifications...obviously)
@nbashaw It has been amazing to see the beta come from the earliest form, with just one (rather glitchy) story, to a full featured polished app. I know how crazy hard it is not only to build an app and get a dedicated user base of beta users, but also to get the courage to press "Submit to App Store". Couldn't be more thrilled that the app is out in the wild! Excited to see the next stage :)
I've been watching Hardbound since it was a rough prototype on @nbashaw's phone. It now feels like something he would make -- polished and elegantly simple.
@nbashaw, how do you decide what stories to create and how important is it to get people on your platform creating stories?
@rrhoover thanks so much!! I learned a lot of it from you! hahaha
I'd definitely say the hardest part so far has been deciding what stories to make. It's been a huge learning process and honestly I could write a whole blog post on it. The short version is that I think the stories work best when it's about something I'm genuinely curious about. If I get too caught up in targeting something for an imaginary audience (e.g. "let's make a story that startup people will be into") it hasn't worked nearly as well as when we've just followed our curiosity.
In the long run, it's super important that we get other people on our platform creating stories. But for now we're mostly focused on just creating awesome stories and earning a reputation for quality. If we can do that, I think we'll be alright.
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Entire PH community must download this app for three reasons. First, it is probably one of the most freshly designed apps that have launched in a while. Second, It's not just a new app but a new story telling format. Third, PH community *might* not exist if it weren't for @rrhoover and Nathan's friendship (😅).
Already a big fan of the content Hardbound is pushing to my phone. I'm confident it's going to change quite a bit how we consume stuff on mobile. Have a great launch guys!
@hfauq thank you so much, Hugo! All your feedback and support over the last few months has meant a lot to us!!
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Hardbound is the best app I installed on my phone this year.
Seriously, it has interesting content, it's well presented and makes things easy to understand.
Already a big fan!
I loved being a part of the early Hardbound beta!
Hardbound quickly became one of my favorite apps on my phone. The stories are entertaining and educational (with amazing visuals 🔥).
Great work Nathan, Joe, and everyone else who worked to get Hardbound to this point!
Hey Nathan, congrats on a great launch! I love the ethos behind Hardbound and what it seems you all are trying to achieve. I share similar notions of media dynamics with regard to music and video especially.
One thing I highly recommend everyone here do is to head to Medium and read Nathan's post: https://medium.com/hardbound-co/...
In particular, I'd pay special attention to how concepts of media evolution are discussed within the context of history, and how new types of media production, distribution, and evolution rise in new eras of tech innovation. I'm particularly bullish on these concepts because I see it so dramatically mirrored in music, among other media formats.
Hardbound seems, at the very least, a great experiment at what new media styles can be constructed and popularized in this period of media flux. I'm excited to see the possibilities, awesome job!
My own response to Nathan's post here: https://medium.com/@adammarx13/i...
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