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Show HN: I learned to code to launch my new startup

uncover.com

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Re: Show HN: I learned to code to launch my new startup

#101

Post by onlyup »

wmat wrote: post #89
spencerfry wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. I wrote a little bit about it here http://spencerfry.com/why-and-when-to-learn-to-program and I'll write more about that on my blog in the near future. We're using Ruby on Rails as our backend code and mainly picked that because that's what most of my friends were good in and I knew that I could go to them with any questions.

Given the title of this HN post, you should really be linking to your blog post, not the product itself. I clicked around your site a bit searching for your "learning to code" story to no avail.

I think this is an error on your part, not the OP. The title was set up to show off a product IMO.

Re: Show HN: I learned to code to launch my new startup

#102

Post by princess3000 »

spencerfry wrote: post #81
princess3000 wrote: post #80

Would you mind going briefly into what "I learned to code" entailed? Did you identify the languages/technologies you needed to learn at first? How did you go about learning them, etc.? There's a ton of info about learning languages out there but a lot of it tends to be abstract, I'd be very interested in hearing how you learned within the context of actually launching a product.

Sure. I wrote a little bit about it here http://spencerfry.com/why-and-when-to-learn-to-program and I'll write more about that on my blog in the near future. We're using Ruby on Rails as our backend code and mainly picked that because that's what most of my friends were good in and I knew that I could go to them with any questions.

Awesome, thank you 8]

Re: Show HN: I learned to code to launch my new startup

#103

Post by spencerfry »

matthuggins wrote: post #100

I would swap the left/right sides of the homepage. You were giving me "reasons" for your product when I didn't know what it was yet, and I had to look around to figure out what it was. With that said, fantastic job, and way to take the initiative to see your idea through!

Thanks a lot. Seeing that feedback a lot in the comment thread here. I think we'll definitely give it a shot.

Re: Show HN: I learned to code to launch my new startup

#105

Post by wmat »

onlyup wrote: post #101
wmat wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the title of this HN post, you should really be linking to your blog post, not the product itself. I clicked around your site a bit searching for your "learning to code" story to no avail.

I think this is an error on your part, not the OP. The title was set up to show off a product IMO.

I respectfully disagree. A title such as "Show HN: My Employee Rewards Site" would have been more applicable.

However, I don't begrudge the OP, as he's certainly gaining lots of useful feedback for his site.

I just can't help but feel slightly gamed ;)

Re: Show HN: I learned to code to launch my new startup

#106

Post by spencerfry »

wmat wrote: post #105
onlyup wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is an error on your part, not the OP. The title was set up to show off a product IMO.

I respectfully disagree. A title such as "Show HN: My Employee Rewards Site" would have been more applicable. However, I don't begrudge the OP, as he's certainly gaining lots of useful feedback for his site. I just can't help but feel slightly gamed ;)

Not my intention. I'll follow up with more how I learned to program posts. I have some from a few months ago. See http://spencerfry.com/why-and-when-to-learn-to-program for example.

Re: Show HN: I learned to code to launch my new startup

#107

Post by wallawe »

Checked out the site and some of your blogs, congrats on launch! I have a similar path so far, with no formal coding education (biz background) but a front end dev job which is going great.

Question: Did you and your 2 partners quit your jobs all at the same time completely to build this? Would love to hear more about the work/money/time side of things that allowed you to get to this point. Best of luck.

Re: Show HN: I learned to code to launch my new startup

#108

Post by angryasian »

muster wrote: post #83

Spencer is my hero, really. I'm learning how to program, and I am doing so, so as to get into the business of starting a startup, and he started a startup, and coded to fit into it. Amazed. Well, Spencer, if you ever get to read this, please answer a few questions for me: When did you begin writing programs/web design? Like, when did you get from 0 to where you are now, programmably? What did you use to learn? What d…

he forgot to mention two years of under graduate computer science courses

Re: Show HN: I learned to code to launch my new startup

#109

Post by spencerfry »

randomdrake wrote: post #15
spencerfry wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the support. We're trying to solve a similar problem as BetterWorks was, but with a completely different approach. If you're unfamiliar with BetterWorks, you can read more about them here: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/betterworks

Interesting. Along the vein of similarity to other services, your approach looks kind of similar to AnyPerk. From what I can sort of gather, you are going the approach of providing on demand perks, for individual recognition, and not an ongoing perk? Is that an accurate assessment?

Well, AnyPerk and similar services are discount based. From our what we believe section: "Discounts aren't effective. There's a difference between "here's a discount" and offering something special."

With Uncover, you can provide both ongoing perks as well as individual recognition. We call those two products "Benefits" and "Rewards".

Re: Show HN: I learned to code to launch my new startup

#110

Post by spencerfry »

wallawe wrote: post #107

Checked out the site and some of your blogs, congrats on launch! I have a similar path so far, with no formal coding education (biz background) but a front end dev job which is going great. Question: Did you and your 2 partners quit your jobs all at the same time completely to build this? Would love to hear more about the work/money/time side of things that allowed you to get to this point. Best of luck.

Thank you!

We're bootstrapped for now. I have had some previous exits with TypeFrag and Carbonmade, so financially I haven't had to work another job while bootstrapping Uncover. Mike and Jason have been doing contract work to pay their bills while working on Uncover.

Happy to go into it more privately (email in my profile) or I can potentially write a bigger blog post on it.

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