Ask HN: Need advice on an idea I started (craft beer related)

[kaiserama]

After reading pg's recent posting about Organic business ideas I was inspired to ask this community for advice on a project that I started awhile back.

Here's the url http://www.hopchart.com

I got into craft beer a few years ago, but didn't have an efficient way of figuring out what to try. So I just decided to make a system that let me track what I drank, give it a rating, and then follow others. Not rocket science.

There are plenty of beer rating sites on the internet (Beer Advocate, RateBeer, etc) but they can often be intimidating to newbies and they really only encourage one rating of a given beer (and require a relatively substantial review). My concept was to keep it simple so that users will keep rating their beer. If a Beer Advocate rating is like a blog, then a HopChart rating is like a tweet. And so that has become my concept. Keep it simple.

I started this site because I had a lull in work and because it was something that I wanted to use. I've ended up spending a bit more time and effort on it then I had intended and now I'm trying to figure out if I should keep it where it is or take it a bit further. The problem is I'm in a state of paralysis by analysis. I honestly don't know what direction to go. I have a number of things (including iphone app, foursquare integration) in the pipeline but I'm afraid of investing more time/money/effort if I don't know what the ultimate goal is. One of my shortcomings is not spending enough time marketing it, I've given myself the excuse that I don't know exactly what I'm building yet...lame I know. Another shortcoming is not making use of the data I have for building a good recommendation engine.

So now the advice part. What would you do if you were in my shoes? I have the makings of gathering craft beer consumption information in real time with geolocations. Craft beer industry is growing by volume and by dollars (I think 6 and 8% respectively) and gaining exposure. But I can't seem to figure out a good way to capitalize on what I have.

I'm open to any and all ideas, suggestions, criticism, and comments.

Thanks in advance.

[binarymax]

I like it! One note: if I am not logged in, and I browse to a beer, and click the 'I drank this!' button, it just kicks me back to the root, where instead it should probably show a login/register dialog.

[edit] Sorry I missed the original point of your post and did a re-read...your site seems to be just another niche pick/rate/review which is fine, but if you want to expand it then you need to innovate. I rated a Beer and it just gave me a dumb list of other Beers with no (noticable) reason for the list. Maybe this is because you dont have enough data yet? Maybe you could capture some user-centric locale data and tie them with places to find recommended or favourite beer. Enable your ads as quickly as possible and make darn sure they are relavent, (you dont want an Anheuser-Busch ad showing up on your site), maybe evolved companies that started as craft such as Magic Hat etc. Perhaps find ways to get revenue sharing group discounts on brewery tours, coupons to microbreweries, or craft beer equipment stores. Let users submit photos of beer labels. Sorry if I am rambling.

[kaiserama → binarymax]

Oh great point! I will definitely add that in.

[po → kaiserama]

A friend of mine recently created a similar flickr pool: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1086657@N24/

[maxdemarzi]

I think you have a great thing here. I like the polish of the "Unidentified Location Object" and there is plenty of GUI "Ajaxiness" going on.

Maybe a Map feature? What high rated beers I haven't tried are near me (you can add high rated beers as rated by users who are similar to me aka recommendation engine later)?

One quick improvement is to add <A Link> to the city and state where the person had their drink and then list beers had there or near there. Improve it later by adding Zip Code/Geolocation to the user registering, and then you can find/sort by distance to beers and people which can then create beer connoisseur groups ala meetup.com

[kaiserama → maxdemarzi]

The location thing is definitely I could add now. I like the map feature suggestion and hope to have that integrated into the second iphone app version. Thanks for the compliment and the reply.

[timdellinger]

First: recommendations are a Must Have.

Geolocation: craft beers often have limited distribution, and are only available in certain states, or in areas where the distributors decide to carry them. Reviews of craft beers that you can actually find in a store / bar near you are more valuable than finding the one beer that you will totally love, which happens to only be available in Western Montana.

Monetizing: sell your data! To breweries, to retailers, to distributors. Your correlations reduce the risk inherent in deciding to carry a new product.

Dreaming: point the iPhone at a beer menu, and the app OCRs the beer names, and up pops ratings.

Minor criticism on the website: I typed "bell's oberon" into the search box and couldn't figure out how to click and make the search go. It wasn't until I typed "oberon" really slowly that I got it to work. If I were just casually stopping by the site, I would have given up.

[adelevie]

Pandora for Beer.

[kaiserama → adelevie]

interesting...so maybe having a recommended beer show up after they enter in a beer?

[adelevie → kaiserama]

Talk to bars, see if your data can be of any use for them. Maybe a customer goes to a bar, orders 4 samples, discusses his/her opinions, and using your data, a bartender can recommend the "perfect beer".

Found this from a quick google search: http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/1927541

[kaiserama → adelevie]

Thanks for your suggestions! Really excellent ideas, I appreciate it.

[qtvali]

Advertising? Beer advertising in banners? Joining with a beer review newspaper?