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Munch On Me (YC S11) Helps You Discover Tasty Dishes (mashable.com)
104 points by jwang815 on Aug 11, 2011 | hide | past | favorite | 35 comments



Fukime, Leaky and now "Munch On Me"?

Seriously? Is there a way to have a "ask your mom/dad/sister/girlfriend/wife what they think of your name" class before domains are registered?

Branding matters.


A name with a hint of the controversial or scandalous can be more memorable and therefore be helpful.

Any emotional reaction in a potential customer, whether mirth or indignation, is a lot more valuable to a startup than obscurity.


Now that you've mentioned this fact, I'm more interested in trying out these services.


Kind of how I remember the name Shwowp for how horrible it is, but have to Google "tara hunts startup" to find Buyosphere.


And you are not my parents or grandparents.


well yes, fukime wasn't so good

edit: I'm affliated with Fukime


I thought Fukime was great!


On the flip side, restaurants that are tired of the daily deal model may find Munch on Me to be a more enticing option. This is because Munch on Me’s core userbase consists of foodies, rather than bargain hunters. These are the type of people who are more likely to become repeat customers.

Why would the userbase consist of foodies and not bargain hunters? If anything, won't it consist of bargain hunting foodies?


I know it's only mashable, but how many times does it have to be repeated: publishing a slightly edited press release != journalism


I'd take it a bit further, and say that foodies are much more likely to constantly look for new things


Is it bad if we're both?

=]


A survey of our merchants have shown that ~75% of people who come in buy another dish. We spoke to our users and many are repeat users of Munch On Me (daily and weekly).


seriously, they named it "munch on me"? nothing double meaning came to mind when they were thinking about that name?


Yeah, that name seems destined to limit growth outside of coastal metros. It's too hip for its own good.

I sort of like the concept, because I eat out quite a bit. But coupons for individual dishes sounds like more work than I want to deal with. It's bad enough trying to remember coupon, restaurant, and expiry date, which is why I let my wife do most of the couponing. Having to check it against the menu as well seems like a refinement too far; foodies don't need an incentive to try a new dish, we do that anyway because we like food. Still, it's got a lot of potential.


That was my first thought too. We're mostly adults here, but the name is seriously terrible. Please, please change it.


Must be flying over my head; what's so awful about it?



That's what I figured. Do not get that in my head at all when I think of "munch on me".


I didn't really think of it either until it was hinted at, to be honest.


Likely a cultural thing. I imagine it would have stronger connotations in British/Australian context.


Munch is used in various ways to describe oral sex, e.g., "carpet muncher", which refers to "eating out" a girl.


I dunno, I like the name, and I think a double-meaning is a bit of a stretch... Next you're going to tell me you think a restaurant site named "Eating Out" means something else...


The difference is, with "Eating Out" the restaurant came first, the slang second. With this, it's the other way around.


I can also imagine some further publications shortening it to MOM. So they'll begin: "Munch On Me (MOM), a new startup in San Francisco, has..."


The title of this post would probably make more sense as "Munch On Me (YC S11) Helps You Discover Tasty Dishes With Daily Deals".


Good one - changed.


When Startups pick a name, they should think about 5 years from now not about if it sounds cool at the moment or is provocative.

A controversial name can help you in the beginning, but it can kill you branding in the longterm. (Exception: For some brands a controversial name can work, but then the whole brand has to go along)

If you pick a name like this one, you have to have the balls to build a brand and company that is controversial and provocative in every little detail.


http://builtwith.com/munchonme.com

Can you elaborate why did you choose nginx + Varnish?


Techcrunch didn't want it?



This is pretty awesome. Food's the main reason I follow Groupon et al.


Ideas:

1) Add ratings for each dish, will help me decide what to buy.

2) It actually looks like each of the items on your side is not a dish, but a deal. So if the same dish is on sale in a week, it will be a separate item, correct? If that's the case, I would change it.

3) Add names for dishes on the left hand side. Right now the only way to find out what I'm looking at is to click on it, which loads a new page.

4) Add a filter (right hand side) by type - vegetarian, dessert, etc.


Duly noted. We're hackin' hard over here!


Are there deals for NYC yet?


Not yet, but if you go to the NYC page you can sign up for an email update for when we do arrive. Thanks!




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