A quick suggestion if you want Vulgat.com to succeed you seriously need to build out your website and put some focus on SEO. A pretty landing page with no detail no content will have a huge bounce rate and never rank for any terms that are relevant to the product. Your site does not even rank for its own brand name.
Ask HN: What to work on?
41–50 of 53 posts
Re: Ask HN: What to work on?
#42It looks like you're a great engineer but not an "idea" dreamer (that's not bad news, since most people aren't).
I think the best you can do to ensure your success is to make sure this is a problem with real demand--a great way to get started, since you're a great engineer, would be to do some software consulting for someone under the premise of you building software for your startup to sell and doing additional custom work for them (IP reasons). This is awesome because you essentially keep the lights on while being assisted by your customer in creating a product that has an actual need; whether that need extends beyond your customer is another story entirely--though, doing this a few times, you'll probably land on something universal.
Re: Ask HN: What to work on?
#43Here's an idea I have had for a while and I dont figure I am going to make it so why not just see if someone else wants to make it. It's mostly a mobile app because you have to be mobile to use it. (You can emulate mobility at a desk, sure) In my head I call this app "Road Stories" The premise of this app is that while you're driving around, your phone knows where you are, what speed you're going, etc. As you're driv…
http://www.detour.com/
Andrew Mason's new venture is kind of similar in terms of tech
Re: Ask HN: What to work on?
#44Here's an idea I have had for a while and I dont figure I am going to make it so why not just see if someone else wants to make it. It's mostly a mobile app because you have to be mobile to use it. (You can emulate mobility at a desk, sure) In my head I call this app "Road Stories" The premise of this app is that while you're driving around, your phone knows where you are, what speed you're going, etc. As you're driv…
There was something similar to this at a startup called Broadcastr where people would record audio at a given place. They ended up pivoting, and I hadn't heard anything again about that idea until your post.
The real flaw with this is that most people are not natural story tellers. It's hard to get content with that issue. You're bound to get people who like to talk but have nothing to say, leaving you with a whole lot of nothing useful.
Re: Ask HN: What to work on?
#45What is 30x500? I googled and it looks like some kind of class but I don't understand. What is 30 and what is 500?
Traditional scammy bullshit. Pay $2k to take a class to learn how to be a millionaire when the only route they're actually familiar with is selling online scams.
There a big divide between selling a course that teaches you how to run an online business and a scam. One thing is for sure there is one party guaranteed to make money of the course (the provider of the course), but if you need to have things spelled out to you and tailored before you understand then a hands-on course may work well.
Personally I don't see the value in it but I'm fairly sure that others do. Calling it a scam is not nice. It also would require that you label lots of other things scams as well if you want to apply the same principle to teaching-for-money.
Probably I'm operating a scam (after all, what's the use of telling people things they already should know about the companies they're about to invest in for a fee) as well in your book.
Nobody forces you to sign up for that course, if you don't see the value, don't do it. And if you did sign up for it and you felt it wasn't worth your money then write about it or talk about it. Maybe ask for your money back. Lotteries are borderline scams, 419 schemes, pyramids, MLM, those are all scammy (as are sites that claim to sell you an article when in fact they sell you a subscription).
30x500 is not a scam by any definition that I'm aware of.
Please provide evidence to the contrary, nothing is wrong with teaching people how to run a business for a fee, and if not all of them become millionaires but the course providers to then that's business as usual. Evaluate the course, state what's wrong with it and how it could be improved.
(I have no dog in this particular race but I don't like such terms to be used lightly, especially not about other forum members without there at least being some actual evidence.)
Re: Ask HN: What to work on?
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Traditional scammy bullshit. Pay $2k to take a class to learn how to be a millionaire when the only route they're actually familiar with is selling online scams.
There a big divide between selling a course that teaches you how to run an online business and a scam. One thing is for sure there is one party guaranteed to make money of the course (the provider of the course), but if you need to have things spelled out to you and tailored before you understand then a hands-on course may work well. Personally I don't see the value in it but I'm fairly sure that others do. Calling i…
Thanks for spelling that out.
Re: Ask HN: What to work on?
#47If you're a solo founder I think the place where the money is is in "boring" B2B products. There's a whole community called the micro-ISV community you might not be aware of that is full of people doing what you seem to want to do. I wrote about the micro-ISV community here: http://www.jasonswett.net/the-whos-who-of-the-micro-isv-worl...
I found the link to bootstrapped forums very helpful, thanks.
It's a great community of people. It's still pretty small, but it's also very focused, which is nice. It could probably use just a tad more 'mass' to really become a going concern.
This is an alternative to Amy's 30x500: http://www.micropreneur.com/ by the same guys who put on MicroConf, which is a great event.
Re: Ask HN: What to work on?
#48What is 30x500? I googled and it looks like some kind of class but I don't understand. What is 30 and what is 500?
30x500 teaches two things: 1) How to uncover real problems that people are wiling to pay you to resolve 2) How to speak to those people in words they can understand (like 30x500.com speaks to people who don't know what to build).
The classes are live, but are basically just a series of pre-recorded videos that you watch along with your classmates and have limited time to discuss afterwards. Nearly everything done outside of that class (if you choose to pay extra) is an automated series of emails that you work on alone.
The teachers (Amy & Alex) are night and day. Amy is the ringleader. She is very pig-headed and will not tolerate ideas that do not fall inline with hers. She is quick to belittle people in front of the entire class and has zero patience. Alex is very helpful, easy-going, and open to exploring all ideas. Both seem to be extremely busy outside of the 30x500 world (with other businesses, vacations, and/or personal activities), so don't expect much interaction with them outside of the live classes. They are quick to respond up until the point where you've paid. But, their interest drops off pretty steeply after that point.
Is this a scam? No. But, it's not a silver bullet either. It does teach a few important concepts that are probably not so obvious to many people. The real trick is figuring out how to apply them yourself.
I think this class would be best delivered as an eBook -- since the teachers seem to want to fully automate most of it anyhow. I'm guessing live classes have more money-making potential though.
Note: I took this class in February. Amy kicked me out mid-course for no apparent reason (she would not respond to me, so I really don't know). I had to contact my credit card company to dispute the charge and get a refund. The little bit of knowledge that I did gain was surely not worth the time, money, or hassle involved. Buyer beware.
Re: Ask HN: What to work on?
#49Here's an idea I have had for a while and I dont figure I am going to make it so why not just see if someone else wants to make it. It's mostly a mobile app because you have to be mobile to use it. (You can emulate mobility at a desk, sure) In my head I call this app "Road Stories" The premise of this app is that while you're driving around, your phone knows where you are, what speed you're going, etc. As you're driv…
I believe this is an absolutely awesome idea. I hope you, or someone else can make it fly.
Re: Ask HN: What to work on?
#50What is 30x500? I googled and it looks like some kind of class but I don't understand. What is 30 and what is 500?
30x500 teaches two things: 1) How to uncover real problems that people are wiling to pay you to resolve 2) How to speak to those people in words they can understand (like 30x500.com speaks to people who don't know what to build). The classes are live, but are basically just a series of pre-recorded videos that you watch along with your classmates and have limited time to discuss afterwards. Nearly everything done out…
They are quick to respond up until the point where you've paid. But, their interest drops off pretty steeply after that point.
Thanks, you just saved me 2k. Please write up a blog post, you may save others.