I just launched my bootstrapped startup. Pray for me.

Hey Erik,

Congratulations on the launch! It is a very aesthetically pleasing web design. Seeing the product kind of gives me an itch to start gardening :)

Here's some general feedback I had:

1. Instead of "SproutRobot tells you when to plant & sends you seeds," how about an even more general statement, like "We'll give you everything you need (to grow your own groceries)!" I feel as if the current statement limits your what your product does in people's perceptions. Personally, the main reason I don't garden is because I'd have to do a lot of initial work. If you positioned yourself as making the initial work a lot easier, I'm sure a lot more people would be encouraged to sign up. Sure, gardening may mainly be knowing when to garden and having the seeds, but I think most people perceive that there's a lot more to it than that - of course your product will change that :)

2. Why not change the "Get Started" button to "Get Started, It's Free!" and remove the small banner underneath it that says "It's free to sign up!" I like the button, and I think it's one of the more prominent features on the page, so why not use it to induce trial by incentivizing clicking on it?

3. I also agree with one of the comments above me talking about how the actual sign-up page is a bit wordy. While having illustrations like you mentioned would certainly help, you should try to greatly shorten the sentences. It made me think it would take too long to read the page.

4. Sorry for jumping around, but on the homepage, you should also put in some client-side validation to ensure that the zip code field is already filled in before they click "Get Started!" Receiving that error page would be enough to discourage me from continuing.

Other than that, I'm liking the website. I can't comment too much on the actual product itself because I haven't tried it out yet, but I will certainly give you my feedback when I do.

Thanks, David

This is a cool idea. I know all of this is probably in your todo list, but here are my gut reactions:

1. I only read as far as the "tells you when to plant" before I entered my zipcode, then spent pageload time wondering how you were going to make money. I was pleasantly surprised by the options on the signup page.

2. The payment page needs something visual to differentiate the choices - either photos or illustrations showing the difference (if it's illustrations, they can just be relative).

3. I felt like the green blocks on the front page needed a very faint border or something - the point where the green meets the blue of the background clashes strangely.

4. The frontpage green blocks (again) look like separate items, similar to the ads at the bottom of the apple.com frontpage, so I read them right to left and missed that they were a sequence. For the same reason, I felt they should be clickable.

5. Clicking on the logo should take you back to the front page.

6. Site speed seems all over the place - sometimes pages load near instantly, other times they take up to five seconds.

7. The sign up and sign in pages do not feel like they're part of rest of the site.

8. I'm not clear whether something like this would be useful for someone like us, who live in a garden-less (concreted outdoors) house in Palo Alto with only a few pots that we grow tomatoes and peas in. I wonder if there's an opportunity in starter kits for people who have absolutely no idea - you ship pots, soil, seeds, we supply the water.

9. I love it and I sent it to all my friends who do have gardens.

A design thing that confused me a bit, 'plant more foo' was displayed very differently (lighter and italic) than 'plant foo'. I initially thought that there was nothing for those weeks.

I don't want to say "I'd buy this if you made this change" because I live on a farm, but I would be a LOT less price sensitive if the seeds were described in a manner that made them sound more special. (even if I didn't know the variety off-hand.) Kentucky Blue Pole Beans, not 'Beans' and Organic Red Velvet Okra, not 'Okra'.

I wasn't sure I understood how large of a garden each seed pack is supposed to service. When you say '3 10 foot beds' does that mean 30 linear feet, or 300 square feet?

I'd also make sure you get real-world feedback about the plans and the pricing. If I was you, I'd go talk to people at local garden centers, and I'd bring my iPad and I'd ask them for help. If you're young, claim you're a student and it's a school project. If you're older, claim you're writing an article about this service and want to know what they honestly think.

I was surprised that the seeds weren't all organic / heritage (or that if they were, that wasn't marked.) I could be wrong, but I'd expect the sort of person who goes through this trouble would likely prefer those varieties, and would be willing to pay accordingly. After all, somebody who is looking for the cheapest seeds isn't your dream customer anyway.

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All in all, I really like the idea. It's a bit like joining a CSA, except that it's located in your backyard, with the 'assortment of foods, for a fixed price.'

Firstly, congrats!

Secondly...I love the design. Who did it for you? Alexandria Neonakis?

Thirdly, I too looked for a pricing plan page - to figure out how you were going to make money. When I entered a zip code, then I discovered the pricing page. It looks too wordy. Try to find a more concise way to display that same information. It kinda looks a BIT confusing, maybe it is psychological because the columns for each of the plans are not the same height. I don't understand how the height for each of the columns is decided because the $19.99 & $69.99 columns are the same, the free plan is shortest and the recommended plan is the longest. So something about that display is a bit off-putting/confusing.

Also, have I told you I really love the artwork of the people planting. Love it! As a result of that artwork being so nice, the pricing page feels so bland. The copy is just black text on white columns with an awesome background. Maybe you can try using a little whitespace, and then adding a few other design elements to the columns.

Maybe I am just nit-picking, but the headings for the columns have the word garden, except for the email one...consistency is lacking. I would add a small graphic for each of the gardens, each one getting more 'lush' as the plan increases in cost. Then change the name of the 'email only' to something more inline with the theme. Perhaps 'pot of dirt' or something like that.

Good job on launching though!

Also, make the logo a hotlink to home on all pages.

I really like this! And, congrats on the startup! It looks like you're off to a great start.

I live in a fairly unique climate in the US (maritime, like England), and as a gardener, I'd say your planting picks are reasonable for my area.

A few general thoughts:

People have said it here already, but container gardening+++. It's how a lot of people get started gardening, and therefore is a compelling product for your market niche, inexperienced gardeners. Pick a great product and sell it, I think the 'insta-garden' pitch is likely to be a big seller for you.

I would personally recommend you resell earthboxes, they're fabulous and have good online marketing if people care to learn about them. Partner up with local organic soil and fertiliser providers, and get them to do the shipping for you if you're worried about logistics. Earthbox might cross promote you if you got in touch, your site is cute and cool.

Second, I think you should find a better source for gardening advice than google lucky searches. There are a lot of possibilities here, and eventually crowdsourcing _local_ tips would be awesome -- as you know, gardening is always a really local activity -- but you might just hire a well-'spoken' vegetable gardener to write up instructions, or look for a gardening book writer who wants to cross promote on your site.

That is all, and good luck!

Also, your site is overloaded and Heroku is complaining sometimes. Congrats.