[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":401},["ShallowReactive",2],{"project-5286824":3},{"id":4,"name":5,"line":6,"line_source":7,"title":8,"url":9,"domain":10,"maker":11,"posted_at":12,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rank_in_year":16,"shown_in_year":17,"top":18,"tier":19,"category":20,"subcategory":21,"format":22,"keywords":23,"reception":28,"sentiment":29,"stance_mix":30,"scored_comments":35,"aspects":36,"strip":46,"post_text":48,"what":49,"said":90,"maker_in_thread":229,"shape":237,"grid":240,"attempts":363,"same_week":364,"maker_shows":33,"maker_hidden":393,"reader_version":394,"card":395},"5286824","Premier","A crowd-powered virtual assistant","title","Show HN: We built a crowd-powered virtual assistant","https:\u002F\u002Fpremier.mobileworks.com","premier.mobileworks.com","anandkulkarni",1361898420,2013,85,56,283,1739,17,"notable","web_saas","virtual assistant service","web_app",[24,25,26,27],"virtual assistant","crowdsourcing","outsourcing","remote assistant","mixed",-0.135,{"positive":31,"neutral":32,"mixed":33,"critical":34},10,18,2,12,42,{"pricing":37,"idea":40,"execution":42,"design":43,"docs":44,"privacy":45},{"positive":38,"critical":39},1,3,{"positive":41,"critical":39},0,{"positive":39,"critical":41},{"positive":39,"critical":38},{"positive":41,"critical":39},{"positive":41,"critical":38},[39,41,39,47,38,41,41,39,39,39,38,38,39,39,39,39,41,47,47,47,39,39,38,38,38,41,39,38,38,39,47,38,39,47,47,47,47,38,38,39],5,null,{"problem":50,"audience":48,"pricing":64,"motivation":79,"time_to_build":48,"stack":86,"openness":87,"stage":88,"team_size":89},{"value":51,"source":52,"evidence":53},"Getting delegated tasks done without hiring and training a dedicated virtual assistant","inferred",[54,58,61],{"id":55,"by":56,"text":57},"5288286","stfu","From my experience VA are really difficult to pick. I usually get tasks done by 2-3 people at the same time. The tricky aspect is, that while it is cheap, it takes quite some…",{"id":59,"by":11,"text":60},"5289596","Yep, that's where we see a core value add; it's painful to find good assistants, and we think we've solved that part of the problem by cultivating a core group from our backend.",{"id":62,"by":11,"text":63},"5291588","I think the key advantage here is that it's not different folks each time. We allocate the same pool of people to collaborate on your work whenever possible, so you can train…",{"value":65,"source":66,"evidence":67},"Weekly plans; Starter plan billed hourly with a one-hour weekly minimum; starting rate around $6\u002Fhour on the biggest plan","commenter",[68,72,75],{"id":69,"by":70,"text":71},"5287086","qeorge","I like the concept. We're just starting to use VAs effectively, and it would be nice to have a utility-billed VA service instead of having to go to fiverr or oDesk. I don't like…",{"id":73,"by":11,"text":74},"5288731","It was reasonably popular, but difficult to predict usage. You can still see it there - it's not labeled as such, but it's the \"Starter\" plan -- this will bill you per hour, with…",{"id":76,"by":77,"text":78},"5287934","thoughtsand","He's right, \"starting at $6\u002Fhour\" threw me off as well. I initially thought $6\u002Fhour gets me an average person and $30\u002Fhour gets me an expert. The \"starter\" plan starts at $15\u002Fhr,…",{"value":80,"source":52,"evidence":81},"Crowdsourcing company wanting to offer a managed assistant service backed by a vetted crowd",[82],{"id":83,"by":84,"text":85},"5287541","prayag","We can definitely share this information. We are a crowdsourcing company and have tens of thousands of people in our crowd in more than 55 countries with variety of backgrounds…",[],"unknown","launched","company",{"praise":91,"objections":118,"requests":156,"questions":187,"alternatives":212},[92,107],{"value":93,"source":66,"evidence":94},"Pricing and plans well presented; site shows benefits clearly",[95,99,103],{"id":96,"by":97,"text":98},"5286979","morganb180","Very cool. I was skeptical but your page did a nice job of showing benefits and differentiating yourself from other providers. Thanks for sharing and good luck. I'll be sure to…",{"id":100,"by":101,"text":102},"5286900","amip17","This looks great!",{"id":104,"by":105,"text":106},"5286983","eclipxe","Looks very nice. Look forward to trying it soon.",{"value":108,"source":66,"evidence":109},"Good results on past web research and document tasks",[110,114],{"id":111,"by":112,"text":113},"5287598","digisth","I haven't used this service from MW in particular, but I did use the pay-as-you-go one for web research stuff a few times and had excellent results. They were quick, and gave me…",{"id":115,"by":116,"text":117},"5290177","jayzee","I sent in the \"I am including a link to zipped file which has a bunch of files. The files are pdfs and images of business cards with corresponding contact information. Please…",[119,124,134,145],{"value":120,"source":66,"evidence":121},"Pricing is unclear; starting price anchors low versus actual plan costs",[122,123],{"id":69,"by":70,"text":71},{"id":76,"by":77,"text":78},{"value":125,"source":66,"evidence":126},"Weekly plans are inflexible; users want per-task or hourly billing",[127,131],{"id":128,"by":129,"text":130},"5287276","jonwinstanley","This service looks really well thought out. I am currently looking for a service exactly like this however, rather than a pay by week service, I'd really like to pay per task or…",{"id":132,"by":129,"text":133},"5287414","Personally, I would prefer it, but I realise it may be confusing to your customers to have two totally different pricing methods. How did the hourly model perform when you used…",{"value":135,"source":66,"evidence":136},"Rotating staff undermines trust and continuity compared to a dedicated VA",[137,141],{"id":138,"by":139,"text":140},"5287390","hollerith","The big advantages of a dedicated VA are trust and communcation. In other words, after a dedicated VA and a customer have worked together for a few months, it is more likely that…",{"id":142,"by":143,"text":144},"5291476","timedoctor","I have had a full time VA for many years now and she does all sorts of things for me, including purchasing items using my credit cards, research in buying a new couch ... and…",{"value":146,"source":66,"evidence":147},"Unclear how $6\u002Fhour can be profitable",[148,152],{"id":149,"by":150,"text":151},"5287495","idiot900","For $6 an hour, how is this profitable? How easy can it be to find intelligent, English-fluent people with bachelor's degrees, anywhere in the world, who are willing to work for…",{"id":153,"by":154,"text":155},"5287665","aarondf","My guess is that there is some amount of quota that goes unused. You pay for 40 hours, you end up using 30. That probably helps a little, but still... how is this profitable? I'm…",[157,165,176],{"value":158,"source":66,"evidence":159},"Offer a la carte or hourly billing option",[160,161],{"id":69,"by":70,"text":71},{"id":162,"by":163,"text":164},"5289888","_lex","I'd be interested in hiring for hourly work, but I'm not sure how much work I need to send out per week. I suspect others are like me. It would be nice if we could pay a monthly…",{"value":166,"source":66,"evidence":167},"Show real anonymized examples and results on the site",[168,172],{"id":169,"by":170,"text":171},"5287203","duck","Yeah, I think without the results those requests just don't offer much to a potential user.",{"id":173,"by":174,"text":175},"5288230","unreal37","You could credit them to anonymous people, and use quotation marks. \"I'm looking for help booking a trip for a family of 4 to France.\" - A Satisfied Customer from California, USA…",{"value":177,"source":66,"evidence":178},"Clarify where the assistants come from",[179,183],{"id":180,"by":181,"text":182},"5287380","joshaidan","I noticed they don't talk about where they get their virtual assistants from. Do they hire them themselves, or do they recruit them from another agency? How do I sign up to work…",{"id":184,"by":185,"text":186},"5287409","omarchowdhury","Who are the VAs?",[188,192,202],{"value":189,"source":66,"evidence":190},"How are the assistants sourced and vetted?",[191],{"id":83,"by":84,"text":85},{"value":193,"source":66,"evidence":194},"How is time budgeted against a plan's hours?",[195,199],{"id":196,"by":197,"text":198},"5287074","eggbrain","I'm not familiar with the virtual assistant space, but my question is: Let's say I have the Lite plan, 5 hours\u002Fweek. I then ask to get something done, like one of your examples:…",{"id":200,"by":84,"text":201},"5287154",">Do I also tell you how long to spend time on it as well? I might think I could get 10 tasks done with my lite plan, only to find out that the PowerPoint presentation takes 5…",{"value":203,"source":66,"evidence":204},"How is card data stored and can it be deleted?",[205,209],{"id":206,"by":207,"text":208},"5287113","vaprem911","Looks like they hold on to your Credit Card info FOREVER in ETERNITY! = Shady. What else could \"pause\" mean? From their FAQ Page: Can I cancel my account? Yes. Just sign in and…",{"id":210,"by":84,"text":211},"5287337","We actually don't hold your credit card information at all. We use Stripe and only save your customer id. The credit card info is saved by stripe and they do not support its…",[213,218,222],{"value":214,"source":66,"evidence":215},"oDesk \u002F Upwork",[216,217],{"id":69,"by":70,"text":71},{"id":142,"by":143,"text":144},{"value":219,"source":66,"evidence":220},"Fiverr",[221],{"id":69,"by":70,"text":71},{"value":223,"source":66,"evidence":224},"Amazon Mechanical Turk",[225],{"id":226,"by":227,"text":228},"5287008","neuven","Nice service! Seems similar to Amazon's Mechanical Turk. You can find more examples here as well: http:\u002F\u002Faws.amazon.com\u002Fmturk\u002F#bus-case",{"comments":230,"answered":39,"key":231},9,[232,233,236],{"id":59,"text":60},{"id":234,"text":235},"5287331","We used to have an \"hourly\" model, and may bring it back. Would this be of interest to you? The reason we do a weekly model is that it lets us plan capacity.",{"id":73,"text":74},{"commenters":238,"max_depth":239,"maker_replies":230,"first_comment_mins":230,"lifespan_hours":18},33,7,[241,243,247,250,252,255,258,260,262,264,265,267,268,269,270,271,272,274,277,278,281,283,286,288,290,291,294,297,299,300,301,306,309,310,311,314,316,317,322,324,325,326,328,329,333,337,339,341,343,345,347,351,354,355,358,360],[69,41,39,242,70,41],"project\u002Fmixed\u002Fpricing",[244,41,41,245,246,41],"5287161","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone","drolnitzky",[248,41,47,249,84,41],"5287205","project\u002Fpositive\u002Fpricing",[138,41,38,251,139,41],"project\u002Fcritical\u002Fidea",[253,41,47,254,84,41],"5287477","project\u002Fpositive\u002Fexecution",[256,41,39,257,70,41],"5288508","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea",[76,41,38,259,77,41],"project\u002Fcritical\u002Fpricing",[55,38,41,261,56,41],"other\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[59,38,41,263,11,38],"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fidea",[128,33,39,242,129,41],[234,33,41,266,11,38],"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fpricing",[132,33,39,266,129,41],[73,33,41,266,11,38],[162,33,39,266,163,41],[149,39,38,259,150,41],[153,39,38,259,154,41],[273,39,39,266,174,41],"5288109",[180,275,39,276,181,41],4,"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[83,275,39,257,84,41],[279,275,39,276,280,41],"5288288","ajiang",[282,275,39,276,84,41],"5288418",[284,275,39,276,285,41],"5288562","aymeric",[287,275,41,245,84,41],"5288633",[289,275,41,245,285,41],"5290881",[111,47,47,254,112,41],[292,47,47,293,84,41],"5288449","project\u002Fpositive\u002Fnone",[96,295,47,296,97,41],6,"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fdesign",[298,295,41,245,11,38],"5287081",[196,239,39,266,197,41],[200,239,39,266,84,41],[302,303,38,304,305,41],"5287134",8,"project\u002Fcritical\u002Fdocs","cpfohl",[307,303,39,308,84,41],"5287167","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fdocs",[142,230,38,251,143,41],[62,230,41,257,11,38],[312,31,38,251,313,41],"5286908","sl4yerr",[315,31,41,276,11,38],"5286922",[226,31,39,257,227,41],[318,319,38,320,321,41],"5286971",11,"project\u002Fcritical\u002Fnone","rckrd",[323,319,41,308,11,38],"5286988",[169,319,38,304,170,41],[173,319,39,308,174,41],[327,319,39,308,84,41],"5287352",[115,319,47,254,116,41],[330,34,38,331,332,41],"5287508","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fdesign","tmoullet",[334,335,39,257,336,41],"5289050",13,"btbuildem",[338,335,41,257,11,38],"5289591",[104,340,47,296,105,41],14,[342,340,41,276,11,38],"5286990",[344,340,47,293,174,41],"5288302",[100,346,47,296,101,41],15,[348,349,47,293,350,41],"5287551",16,"MediaSquirrel",[352,18,38,304,353,41],"5287509","toddrew",[184,32,39,276,185,41],[206,356,38,357,207,41],19,"project\u002Fcritical\u002Fprivacy",[210,356,39,359,84,41],"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fprivacy",[361,356,41,362,174,41],"5288119","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fprivacy",[],[365,370,375,379,384,388],{"id":366,"name":367,"points":368,"category":369},"5260698","The On1on",127,"productivity",{"id":371,"name":372,"points":373,"category":374},"5261336","rpsls.ws",93,"games",{"id":376,"name":377,"points":378,"category":20},"5285235","market price",87,{"id":380,"name":381,"points":382,"category":383},"5266417","Streem.io",82,"infrastructure",{"id":385,"name":386,"points":387,"category":20},"5293248","Celery",67,{"id":389,"name":390,"points":391,"category":392},"5293178","Nice Nice JPG",55,"dev_tools",false,"v2",{"id":396,"name":5,"line":6,"ai":393,"cat":20,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rec":28,"s":397,"top":18,"kw":398,"maker":11,"domain":10,"tier":19,"attempts":41,"strip":399,"url":9,"mix":400,"praise":93,"objection":120,"sub":21},5286824,-0.13,[24,25,26,27],"3035100333113333055533111031135135555113",[31,32,33,34],1793990891253]