Office Hours at Startup School NY 2014

Salary Fairy crowdsources salary predictions and had 9,000 users after three months, growing 10% weekly. Most users were curious, so the partners advised focusing on helping employees assess their market value and secure fair offers before expanding to an employer marketplace. They also urged the founders to track whether users acted on the information, returned, and recommended it.

PareUp aimed to sell food that shops might otherwise discard, at an average discount of about 50%. Its email test had around 350 subscribers, six or seven vendors, and 48% open rates; the founders later said interest had grown to about 2,500 people. The partners recommended getting a mobile app out quickly and starting in concentrated areas with proven items such as sandwiches and croissants.

The third startup syncs card transactions so couples can tap the purchases they want to share and keep a running tab. Its founder said the team had narrowed its product from couples, roommates, and travelers to couples after beta use showed that couples were the main users. The partners supported the focus and pressed the team to explain what made the product distinct and how it could acquire users.

The expense-sharing startup had about 40 beta testers, with around 25 using the product every few days. The partners called that activity promising, but advised the team to keep talking with users and build toward its first hundred or thousand people who truly valued the product. An app-store launch could smooth distribution, but the partners cautioned that it would not automatically bring traction.