Logo party seems sleazy, AITA?
Got a comment on my HN post last night that got me thinking - am I losing credibility with the logo party?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30261697
In short, my service monitors websites for SSL cert expiration. I mentioned 4 big brands saying 'Companies we monitor', which may be read as 'Companies who are our customers', but totally isn't true. See for yourself: https://www.haveibeenexpired.com/#:~:text=COMPANIES WE MONITOR
What's your take, are you frowning on this, or do you support this?
Completely agree with the comments on HN. This is very sleazy, in my opinion. I even think if they are interested to litigate, they can come after you.
An honest question, though: why did you add those names on your website? Was it to add their names as credibility to your product?
Another honest question: Those names are the ones you should be using, considering your target market?
Appreciate the honest answer!
I added these logos to position my service in the DevOps space. I expect my potential users to recognize and have a positive relation with these brands.
I did not intend to send the message that they are already using this service. But the comments on HN gave me some critical feedback, which I'm looking for here as well.
I am not concerned with the legal aspect. I don't feel like I'm breaking a law. Of course any of the companies can reach out to me and ask to remove their logo, which I will do at once.
I am concerned with the credibility aspect - if I think I'm adding to it, but people decide on the complete opposite, I'm wrong and need to fix this.
I understand the DevOps part. But still, using their names gives your product too "enterprisey" feeling. If you are not going after Enterprise level clients, using those names would possibly hinder your marketing efforts as well.
Can't talk about the legal stuff, really. I am not a lawyer and definitely not your lawyer. IP law has subtle differences in each jurisdiction. So I'd advise checking it with someone.
Credibility-wise, as I said, definitely agree with HN. Looking at your home page gives the impression that those are your clients. At some point, if I learn that they are not, I would feel misled.
Thank you!
Personally not a great fan of this either.
Maybe another angle on this would be to offer demos of your monitoring of these companies/products and removing the section.
In that case, people can try out your product and still have the effect of the positive relationships that you're looking out for.
Thanks Deniz, appreciate it!
Hey Anton! Not necessarily sleazy but it is weird because it looks like these sites are paying you to monitor their SSL expiration status. I'd change it to testimonials from actual customers. I feel like website dev agencies could be a good fit here, they likely monitor multiple clients' SSL status. You have a great testimonial from someone from Monday.com so leverage that. They're a pretty big name and you can safely mention it on your LP. :)
Thanks Lana!
Thanks for the responses here!
I reconsidered my decision and changed the logo party to reflect companies that I'm directly involved in, who are knowingly using my service, and benefitting from it.
The HN comments got me started on this, but it was this forum where I got feedback which I tend to trust more :)