For a while, one of the weird things about DNAGeeks sales in quantities has been that people who look at haplogroup I1‘s page have not been buying the shirts. This is in contrast to haplogroup R1b. The geographically the two groups overlap a fair amount. It’s not totally implausible to guess that 75% of the humans who have stepped foot on the moon have been paternal haplogroup’s R1b and I1. And the two have had about the same number of page-views.
I began to make gross generalizations about the type of man who carries I1. Well, the joke’s on us: turns out that the previous font made it look like “I1” was lowercase L, as in “l1.” Well we’ve fixed that problem, so let’s see how that works out!
When my friends and I started DNAGeeks over a weekend we didn’t have a precise idea where it was going to go and what was going to be popular. People keep asking “so what it’s about about?” Well DNA obviously, but the journey is just starting.
We knew genetics and genomics and have a wide diversity of other skills (I can write, others handle the code and business sides), but “DNA-themed products” was not something which I saw a lot of market testing on. So as they say in the start-up world we’re trying to iterate and figure out what works and doesn’t. The goal is make more people passionate about genetics, and also target people who are already passionate about genetics.
One thing we have learned is that the DNA helix symbol is very popular (thanks Joel!). We’re putting it on shirts, mugs, and now cellphone cases (iPhone only, since only iPhone owners spend money). Also, I’m happy to report a fair number of Gene Expression t-shirts have sold.
Until tomorrow if you used DNAEXPLAINED17 as a coupon code on checkout you get 15% off. Viva la consumerism!