DISQUS

Startups.in/India · 3 years ago

Joyce Park from CommerceNet? I met her at one of the networking events and is a really nice person. I know she is(was ?) a most avid user of evite to setup her events and so I'm sure she knows what was lacking in evite. I haven't yet tried Renkoo but am sure it'd be a pleasant experience knowing that she is behind it.

Andrew Kippen · 3 years ago

As an event organizer I've been looking for an e-vite alternative for a while. While excited about the Renkoo experience I've yet to be able to get the site to work properly - test invites sent to colleagues led them to a broken page and the "My Invites" has never worked for me. If you're looking for a compelling alternative try Wufoo.com - a Y-Combinator company - we used it for our last event and had a great experience.

Yan · 3 years ago

Check out Planypus for an alternative! We launched earlier this month. Instead of using fancy realtime comet technology, we are using ajax for near-realtime chat that doesn't have problems with firewalls. It also works in Safari and Opera unlike renkoo.

We also offer calendar integration, sms notification, and an sms interface is coming soon. We come out with new features regularly, so stay tuned!

I don't get why it was 'surprising' that VC's didn't want to talk about technology. The comet technology is neither new nor that exciting, and at the end of the day who cares how you do it as long as you solve the problem. The problem is to build a sustainable business around helping people make plans. There are many strategies to do realtime chat including Ajax like we are, or even integrating with other products that have realtime chat.

In reality you'll find in the long run once you get over the 'playing with it' stage, taht realtime chat is very seldom used to make plans. How often are 10 of your friends all online at the same time? We've been running planypus for 11 months now and very rarely are even two or three people on an event at the same time to chat. Usually they just leave comments that others can see later.

So by focusing on this very small aspect of planning, I think renkoo painted themselves into a corner because now they've got this technology that has problems with firewalls and poor browser support, and what is it all for? To impress a reviewer the first time he tries the app? Imho, it was a bad choice and one that caused them to have a really long time to market.

We started developing Planypus about the same time as Renkoo, yet we launched our product with no funding, a team half the size (and part time to boot!), and a month earlier than them. Was comet worth it?

Joe · 3 years ago

Yan, I'm sure the marketplace will decide whether your company and/or Renkoo will succeed or fail, but it's pretty tasteless to put up a post like this. I won't argue the merits of your criticism. Everyone working on a startup needs to make the decisions that are best for them at the time, and your post comes across as arrogant and condescending.

I know that if it was my company you trashed with your opinionated attitude, it would be that much more incentive to win the war that you seem to be declaring against Renkoo. If I were you, I'd get some class and focus on your own company which obviously needs all the help it can get, instead of trashing your competitors in public at every opportunity.

I know that I will never use your service after reading what you wrote.

Yan · 3 years ago

Sorry you feel that way, but I feel I have a right to speak my mind as much as anyone else. The fact that we're a competitor does not take that right away from me like you seem to imply. Since in fact I have almost a year of experience with this product and space, don't my opinions, especially around technology which is my area of expertise, matter?

I am not trashing the company as much as commenting on choice of technology. Comet is being hyped everywhere right now. I simply think it is not the right choice for the problem at hand. I was pointing out that the problem of making plans does not necessarily entail realtime chat. The fact that Renkoo used Comet probably stems from the fact that their ceo came from KnowNow where he actually built this technology first hand. I won't deny that realtime push data is a cool concept. I am just arguing against its usefulness in making plans.

I am disappointed that many reviewers focus on technology hype over actual utility of the product. Only longterm use will show if a product is truly valuable, not the fact that it is buzzword compliant. That's my two cents and I'm sticking to it :-)

rg · 3 years ago

evite is monster and does pretty good job what it is meant for, people do not switch service just bacause there one cool which is missing in evite....its going to be tough battle for renkoo or anyone who is trying to compete in this market

anyway good luck to all who wants to take on evite

AnonInAnon · 3 years ago

Coding innovation and UI creativity are cool. But they're not the same thing as a sustainable and scalable business that mainstream America can understand and use.

I think in this niche space of online party planning, the truth is this: As awfully 1999 as Evite is, it just plain old works. It does the job very well and it's very easy for the average person to understand and use. And last I saw, it was making a lot of money for its parent corporation, so it's a real business to boot.

I think the end result of the Renkoo's, Skobee's, Planypus's, and Socialzr's is acquisition. Evite will buy one or more of these companies if their development expertise is worth it and their engineers and designers are worth hiring. And then Evite jumps from 1999 to 2007 quickly as a result of integration.

But it's unlikely any of these companies individually is going to supplant Evite's usage by the average American. Any website that's fundamentally about offering a useful tool has to be able to be explained to my mother and my boyfriend in a few sentences or forget it.

But it's very interesting to see this niche space getting so much work and attention devoted to it.

cocktail recipe · 2 years ago

Hi All,

I like renkoo and its ability to plan meetings with friend.

Its really nice and i like the renkoo logo also

Pankaj