Show HN: Video on the map marketplace 1 year – still bad traction

A startup called 'Now & Here' launched an Android app three months ago that lets users request near-real-time video of any location and pays nearby people to record it, aiming to solve the trust problem with outdated or fake location information online. After a year of development, the app has struggled to gain traction, with an empty map except for friends' recordings, despite outreach efforts in Singapore. The founder is seeking feedback and considering a B2B pivot.

After 8 months of development we launched MVP three months ago. The idea of "Now & Here" came from my own pain: I arrived at hotel after long journey, exhausted - it looks old with noisy renovations on the back side. At that moment I thought: I would pay $20 to someone in each of the 5 nearest hotels to film the real view. We solve trust problem: people need to know what a place looks like, but most internet information is outdated, curated, or fake. For example: 1. Hotel and travel websites show polished marketing photos. 2. Google Street View is static and often years old. 3. AI-generated content is making it harder to trust locations online. We are made app where people can request closed to real-time video from any location and nearby people can earn money by recording video fot those requests. We built android app with all necessary mvp features: - map with tasks and videos - tasks creation and execution flow - video viewing and recording payed and free - wallet with USDT crypto just for demo, we don't have bank account now We wanted to start from Singapore. We tried to send letters to cafes, restoraunts, hotels, make a campaigns with tasks, tried to message people in telegram, but still has empty map except points recorded by my friends . Some of our users asked about iPhone version of app. However, right now we have resources only for app and frontend project built with me and my friend - both are the very experinced in IT . I know unit economics are not so great. I don't care about money yet. I just want users. I just want to make product which help travellers and solve my pain. Some materials: 1. video, which described main idea - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3aja8Y cfEI https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3aja8Y cfEI 2. The app is live - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blockwit.h... https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blockwit.han 3. Small site - https://nowahere.com/brand/ https://nowahere.com/brand/ May be somone can give me advice. May be wee need to go to B2B, may be we are doing something wrong. Please, give us hardest feedback. We've survived a year. I won't give up until this startup works. Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48610459 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48610459 Points: 1 Comments: 0