Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Are you a single founder ?

news.ycombinator.com

111–120 of 120 posts

Re: Ask HN: Are you a single founder ?

#111
I don't know if it is accurate to say "yes, I am" or if it would be better to say "I'm a wannabe single founder". Only it's not really as simple as that either. My two adult sons are kind of in this with me, only they don't plan on being cofounders for my plans. They plan on founding their own company. Still, the three of us are collaborating on working out what needs to be worked out for all of us to get there from here. So I am not entirely alone, though I don't expect to have any actual cofounders.

1)I have been working on several things for a few years. Last summer, I began posting here because I concluded I need to learn a programming language and write a simulation/game as an educational tool for my health site. For better or for worse, the ideas on the site grow out of my own first-hand experience with getting well against impossible odds. Between continuing to work on resolving my health issues and working as much overtime as I can at my job, I haven't made much headway towards my goals for this site, and even less headway on goals for other websites I own. None of this started as a "business" idea. It is only fairly recently that my thoughts have turned in that direction.

2) I have toyed with applying and started to fill out an application for last fall. Stuff I have read recently suggests to me they would never accept me, even if I concluded it was a good fit for my goals. But i seriously doubt it would be. I plan to bootstrap it.

3) As above: No. I expect to bootstrap my business plans.

4) My health site is http://www.healthgazelle.com It is the best developed of the sites I have. The others are languishing in purgatory (or perhaps I should say "languishing even worse than this one").

Re: Ask HN: Are you a single founder ?

#112

1) 6 months 2) Never applied, probably not the right idea/goals for it. Plus don't live in CA. 3) No VC, but who knows what the future holds. Just a for-fun project scratching my own itch at this point. 4) http://movief.ly

Hella fast, what's it built on?

Professional curiosity. :)

Re: Ask HN: Are you a single founder ?

#114

1) 2+ years 2) Never applied 3) Nope 4) http://duckduckgo.com/ Btw, a lot more single founders left comments here ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1045694 ) and on the associated blog post ( http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2010/01/will-single-foun... )

Is DDG profitable?

Re: Ask HN: Are you a single founder ?

#116

1) Varies... but let's say about 3 months. 2) Yes. 3) Not yet, but planning to. 4) Can't say quiet yet :) Launching this week! Currently working on the boring parts of the site like FAQ, Terms, Privacy, About, etc... the rest is pretty much ready to go!

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Are you a single founder ?

#117
post #55
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your missing the point of the analogy. The idea is focus on customer acquisition in a niche rather than trying to go big with VC funding/IPO. You could have just as easily replaced "Italian restaurant" with "local flower shop" or whatever.

The niche a trattoria competes in is inherently limited by geography, whereas there's no reason a VC funded bingo card creator can't try and muscle in on patio11's turf. The only reason is probably that there is simply not enough money there to support that kind of investment/expected return. So I guess if there's a fair point in it, it's to go after some niche that has an upper bound to its profitability as a defens…

If you want to take the long shot odds, go for it.

Re: Ask HN: Are you a single founder ?

#119
post #35

1) Several months (say... November '09?). Spending about 2-3 months to build and launch each project (trying to get something with a little traction). 2) Never applied. 3) Not even close. Highly doubtful anyone wants to invest in my part-time startups, though angels might be more into this than VCs... 4) http://rankiac.com/ & http://bitbuffet.com/

Hi,

Is rankiac profitable?

Post reply on HN