@daveambrose I too love email (you know that) but I'm not sure I need a weekly email of bikes for sale. Unless you're a business, you probably aren't shopping for bikes more than once every 1+ years. Maybe I'm missing something?
@rrhoover I know some bike addicts who sell their bikes to buy a new one. I guess this newsletter is a good way to build a community of bike lovers with "curated" bikes :)
@rrhoover@daveambrose I could be way wrong on this, but it plays to a theory I have about what I call "passive commerce". There are many things we all are "thinking" about buying, but have no immediacy on. Eventually we'll hit a tipping point and make the purchase. ie- Someone is thinking about a TV. They don't need it today, but do know they will be making the purchase sometime within the next 100 days. At some point, they'll take the plunge if I see the right deal or something special crosses their radar. This often happens around Black Friday. People will use the fact that they discovered something rare, got a deal, and had been on the lookout/not haste as justification to make the purchase. An email newsletter around bikes might hit the same spot for someone bike shopping - if one day they see the right bike for them, they'll jump on it. Now of course, you'll churn out once you purchase the bike, but that's okay, you've fulfilled your value. Email newsletters are also the right way to approach this as people aren't going to often "pull" content / items to purchase out, but certainly wouldn't mind items "pushed" to them.
ps - this comment makes me believe more in PH. I haven't put together a comment, that I have a feeling will turn into a blog post since the "golden days" of HN. kudos :).
@JasonLBaptiste glad PH could help "pull" it out of you. ;)
To follow your thought, Pinterest is another example of "passive commerce." Consumers browse merchandise and consume content that's often purchasable (Pinterest will inevitably offer on-site/in-app transactions). Although their intent to visit and use the site isn't necessarily to find a particular item to purchase, their passive consumption leads them to do so.
cc'ing @connor who's FAR more knowledgeable about Pinterest than myself. :)
@JasonLBaptiste@rrhoover Jason, you hit it right on the head! I created Get Biked as a service that I wanted to use myself. I know a lot of folks in the city would buy a new bike if they found the right one, so I wanted a way to passively look for a bike. Something that doesn't require me to keep checking Craigslist every few days, something that takes little effort on the viewer's end. Bikes can become very personal items, so I require submitters to include a little bit about the bike's story, allowing the viewer to get a sense of the bike's personality.
It's funny, in the tech scene, running an email list seems almost "offline" because it's such an old school way of reaching everyone. But even with all of these new services out there, email works really well.
Glad you guys enjoy the service! I've just got to figure out how to turn this into a business. :)
Email newsletters + bikes = two of my favorite things :)
Just NYC for now but I can see this of use in other large cities, where cycling (road or commuting) is on the rise.
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