The Nincha Blog

Some post-launch thoughts and the road from here

To date, about 40 people have been invited and signed up, and since most have been our personal friends, we’ve been able to accumulate a good amount of feedback — and, more importantly — bug submissions.

So far, the feedback as been amazing. Regardless of what has been said about the product, users have complemented the idea and its potential. Infact, a really promising sign is that a lot of the users are already eager to start inviting their own friends so that they have a much more real experience of the product. As a creator of a service centered around ‘sharing’, this is more than you could ask for.

The outlook to the press + public launch is that we’ll be vigorously testing, fixing, and revamping parts of the service over the next four months. Users should see a revamped Dashboard, ‘Browse’ section, userpage, and homepage. Work has already started on this, and I don’t think even our current users can anticipate the amount of goodies we’ve got in line.

Once the the service has been refined, enhanced, and parts reinvigorated, and it’s at least moderately compatible with IE (*curses*), we’ll start to let a flood of people in (around 100/week), and then, press and bloggers. Given things go our way, we should be visible in the eyes of the public sometime around Q2-Q3 2009.

Meanwhile, you can still drop in your name for the beta — as I said, all beta applications will be getting a taste of the product far, far earlier than the general public. People have asked why I don’t put up a sign up form on the homepage for these, and it’s simple: if you care enough to write an e-mail, you’ll care enough to give us valuable feedback.

We have liftoff

As of 4AM GMT, 4 February 2009, Nincha is officially in private beta. The first set of 50 invites just went out, and our hearts are aching to hear the initial reactions. 

Didn’t get one? Don’t fret. We’re rolling out about 50 at a time, so if you’ve even remotely asked to be included, you will be in the next few weeks.

Announcement: Private-Private-Beta

Next week, Nincha will go into its first private beta (or more accurately, a private-private-beta). About 40 friends and relatives of Nincha and 10 random beta(@nincha.com)-applicants will get the chance to — for the first time in the world — look, feel, and try out the product, something we’ve been working on since summer 2007.

I can’t say I’m not excited, but there is a certain amount of nervousness which builds after a year of “What are you working on?” “I’m working on Nincha” conversations with friends and relatives. There is a lot of curiosity, and, at least with those whom I interact with regularly, a certain amount of expectation. I just hope we’re able to meet it. 

As for the product, there are still a lot of kinks that I would have ideally liked to have addressed before opening the first set of curtains, but I think there comes a time where you have to draw the line and opt for timeliness vs. perfectionism. Once we collect the initial feedback, it will give us a better sense of the product and hopefully some support to get us past the “launched” line. The plan of course is to build up slowly to it and let more people in as time passes, and later on, the press.

So, here’s to Nincha’s first private beta — releasing in the first week of February. And remember, there’s still time to apply to be included if you haven’t done so!

Update

Yes, we’re still alive.

After taking a break for one month — purely because I’ve been occupied so much with Memiary — we resumed a week or so ago, and nearing in the beta release.

And yes, we’re still accepting beta and “job” applications. Drop us an e-mail at beta@nincha.com with the subject “I’m in” to be a part of it, and if you’re interested in working with us (we’re currently looking for a part-time coder), be sure to attach a brief resume of yourself.

An update. And some profound thoughts.

It has been a busy few months and we are finally nearing the last phase of our completion. We will be having multiple private betas in this time, of course, and don’t expect the public to see it at least till December or maybe even January.

Our philosophy: make the best damn product in the world and be disruptively hard to ignore after pulling the curtains. Until then, work on making the best damn product in the world. Oh, and don’t launch until you’ve made the best damn product in the world. Agility and leaving room for evolution is good, but a shitty product isn’t. Do you embody this philosophy? Write us a line.

Want to be in our super secret private beta?

Seeking Ninjas

Here’s who we’re looking for:

· PHP/MySQL Ninja (and Co-Co-Co-Founding CTO)

· IE Compatibility Freelance Ninja

· Angel Investor Ninja

And here’s why you should be interested:

· Nincha nin·cha n. The “share stuff” phenomenon which attained the ultimate status of world dominance in 2012.

Interested? sid@nincha.com.