Love the idea of this: it's an app that encourages the lending and borrowing of everyday objects. Need a drill? Don't buy it, just request it, and borrow it from someone else!
Very interesting idea. Looking forward to having something like this.
Is there a reason why you don't collect information about stuff people already possess? Or at least categories of stuff (e.g. tennis equipment, gardening tools)?
If designed the right way, it probably wouldn't be a big burden to collect brief info about people's possessions during the onboarding process (think foursquare tags).
Stronger perception of stuff available through the app (perceived value) would be the first benefit. Currently, I see nothing in the app and my brain will not remember it as a place that has something to offer. Next time I'll be looking for a special screwdriver, I won't remember that it could perhaps be found here, I will google it (is SEO a potential channel for you?) or go to a store.
Speed and less noise during the _search for an item process_ would be the second benefit of collecting info during the onboarding.
Also, as others said, neighbours are really important.
Could this be a Uber for things? The lender gets paid a small amount each time an item is lent (proportional to the item value). You get a percentage.
A long comment, but as I've said, interesting idea, big potential :)
@lukavida First, thanks for your honest and in detail feedback! We appreciate that you like the concept and see the potential as we do. 😊
Yes, we discussed that for a long time. We made the decision to start with requests, because we want to try a different approach as lots of our competing websites or apps. They often just copied Airbnb for stuff. We think that such marketplaces, were people at first have to put in all their stuff, works for apartments but not for the huge amount of the things you own. There are several reasons why we believe this. First, you have to get a lot of people and stuff onto the platform in a certain area to match offer and demand. Second, not every item which will be demanded could be found, because no one has thought about someone demanding it and in return didn’t uploaded it to the platform.
But your point on categories and tags like on Foursquare is great. I already looked it up and it definitely look like a systematic we could use for the beginning instead of forcing people to put in all their stuff. Thanks for that!
The fact that the app is empty at first is something we hear a lot now. We definitely have to fix this. 👍 Nevertheless we hope you remember us next time. 😉
We also thought about the Uber and Airbnb business model, but came to the point to start also with a different approach. We want peer-to-peer lending especially between friends to be free, because this matches with our understanding of the sharing economy – not enabling people to push capitalism further. We will try other business models first. For example implementing sports stores and hardware store which rent stuff, because those renting stores are hard to find in a lot of regions.
I hope that this does answer your questions. If you have more questions or feedback in the future I would love to hear it. You can reach me on Twitter or by email: sammy@thangsapp.com
Again, thanks a lot for your feedback, it means a lot to me! 🙂
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@sammyschuckert@thangsapp thanks for a deeper insight on the entire thing.
I do agree on your point of not being able to categorize everything. I also look forward to at least some content in the app that will justify my invitations to many friends :)
As for the business model, great to see some attitude there and I hope it will work and help you grow.
Good luck, I'll keep an eye on thangs :)
I tried posting a request for a product that I needed, the app prompted me to grant access to 'reach all contacts" with text message. Without that I can't post a request. I think for a new user this is too much to ask. Especially, when my contact book is made up of not only my close friends but also random people like dentist, handyman, boss etc.. Perhaps, it'd be better if I'd be able to post the message to only a select list of people at first.
@nidhi_v_shandilya The wording seems to be wrong chosen by us. The screen you mentioned pop up after selecting the first non-thangs user contact. This screen only ask for the permission to send SMS on your behalf via our system – no costs for you. So you can reach contact which haven’t signed up to thangs yet via SMS easily. But no worries, your contacts are fully in your control. You will not ask all your contacts via SMS at once. You select the people you want to ask from your contact book one by one. So you can do the filtering by location and businesses by your own. No one will be asked without your finger selecting him or her and pressing the send button. This screen only pop up so you grant us permission to send those SMS.
You are not the only person with problems understanding this process. We definitely have to communicate the SMS process better.
I hope this does answer your questions. If you have any further questions or more feedback, I would love to hear it. Feel free to reach me on Twitter or via Email: sammy@thangsapp.com Thanks for your feedback, you really help us a lot right now!
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@sammyschuckert@thangsapp Perfect. tried that. It works (I hope). Wonderful application. I liked how user friendly your app is. Also, the 'nudges' under the guise of screen annotations were very good; much better than typical onboarding tutorials.
I'm curious as to how you're tackling the usefulness aspect for first time users (when they have no friends on Thangs). What strategies have you thought of to overcome this? I noticed that you have an option of sending automated texts/emails to friends and also have good whatsapp integration. Would love hear if you are trying out other things.
Also, some feedback on your ASO strategy - I searched for 'thang' (sorry didn't remember the exact name) and you didn't feature in the first page. Maybe, thang could also be a relevant keyword. I guess beyond PH target demographics, app discovery is an important factor.
@nidhi_v_shandilya Sorry for my late reply. Thank you! Appreciate that you like our UX Design. :)
At the moment we try to tackle this the way you mentioned, with an automated SMS service. The hardest part with this tactic is to get the text message right. Some people gave us feedback that the messages looked like spam to them. So we’re currently try to improve this, but are always open for any suggestions on other strategies. Do you have some?
Great point on the ASO! On the next update we will include this keyword.
Overall thanks for your awesome feedback! I would love to hear more from you over time. Feel free to contact us anytime.
Hey, Product Hunters!
We are happy to be hunted and to get the chance to discuss our solution for stuffsharing in this awesome community!
Let me tell you what thangs is about: thangs is an iOS and Android app which simplifies and encourages the lending and borrowing of everyday objects between friends e.g. objects like a drill or sports equipment like a surfboard, but there are no limits. With friends we mean your address book contacts, the people you exchanged your mobile phone number with. With thangs it is easy to ask them for a product you would like to borrow. The simple interface allows you to answer incoming requests with only one tap. No more action required to help your friends in the first place, just one simple tap on a yes or no button. Afterwards communication about time and place for the exchange can happen.
And because giving things back on time is always a huge issue, we’ve integrated the lend list. This list helps you to keep track of all the things you've shared. Because there's nothing more painful than to run after your shared stuff.
But enough from ourselves now. We would love to hear what you think about thangs and can't wait to answer all of your questions – let’s discuss! 🙂
Great app! But I would like to have a choice, if I want to ask people only from my address book the thing I need or ask strangers from my city as well.
@ekaterina_kharitonova thank you – we appreciate that you like it! :) You will have later when more people use thangs, because otherwise you would be very lonely in your city now. For now we start with friends and open up the network later on.
Have used the app a few times already and it definitely has been a great experience!
Interesting concept and let's hope it catches on! Would make things easier!
And I also think that at some point opening up to like the nearest users (<15km) would make sense.
As well as having some sort of rating of people to keep people coming back (as in stackoverflow)...
Just some thoughts. Keep it up!
@rrhoover hehe, good question. We discussed this with the team and we came to the conclusion that it was a rattrap with the requirement to kill them. We are sorry if we helped to kill the 🐀. 😅🙈
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