Show HN: I built a gamified forum to help hackers fund each other
1–10 of 30 posts
Re: Show HN: I built a gamified forum to help hackers fund each other
#2Is it just me, or does this seem like it's likely to be extensively abused by the worst kind of startups that make flashy presentations, but don't have any sort of worthwhile tech (and when you ask them about their software, they mindlessly claim "trade secret" to skirt that fact). At least in VC, the funders put some of their own people on the ground floor.
Re: Show HN: I built a gamified forum to help hackers fund each other
#3Is it just me, or does this seem like it's likely to be extensively abused by the worst kind of startups that make flashy presentations, but don't have any sort of worthwhile tech (and when you ask them about their software, they mindlessly claim "trade secret" to skirt that fact). At least in VC, the funders put some of their own people on the ground floor.
It seems so. Think about Theranos, would've been a breeding ground for that imo. There are many other startups who can leverage this and basically defeat the purpose of this idea. The idea is good actually though if you use it the right way but then again that stands true for most ideas that became bad, Chatroulette for example.
Re: Show HN: I built a gamified forum to help hackers fund each other
#4I like that the (potential) value prop for an individual user increases as more people join the platform. Seems like a pretty novel idea for the whole "flywheel" concept.
Re: Show HN: I built a gamified forum to help hackers fund each other
#5Is it just me, or does this seem like it's likely to be extensively abused by the worst kind of startups that make flashy presentations, but don't have any sort of worthwhile tech (and when you ask them about their software, they mindlessly claim "trade secret" to skirt that fact). At least in VC, the funders put some of their own people on the ground floor.
That might be more the case if it was a pitch competition, but those kinds of startups wouldn't do well in this kind of game if they're not making real progress.
When you've got good feedback loops in place and clear progress updates, being flashy without substance week after week just wouldn't work.
Re: Show HN: I built a gamified forum to help hackers fund each other
#6Seems like this might put focus in the wrong direction. Hacking for points from this community could detract from focus on client needs. IME a hacker type community will value things much different than GenPop and for sure your SAM/SOM.
The sites UI is very slick.
Re: Show HN: I built a gamified forum to help hackers fund each other
#7It’s clear that the addition of money can incentivize some great community standards.
Are you focusing on any specific kinds of companies at first? Ie. IndieHackers or ProductHunt type?
Also, do you plan to run any competitions or challenges from the platform side?
Re: Show HN: I built a gamified forum to help hackers fund each other
#8It’s clear that the addition of money can incentivize some great community standards. Are you focusing on any specific kinds of companies at first? Ie. IndieHackers or ProductHunt type? Also, do you plan to run any competitions or challenges from the platform side?
At the moment we're definitely looking at IndieHackers and ProductHunt, but also using Pioneer's tournament aspect.
We have some basic weekly challenges right now that help boost your score to incentivise community feedback (these are only be visible to users). Adding competitions is not something I'd thought about, but it's a fantastic idea.
Re: Show HN: I built a gamified forum to help hackers fund each other
#9Is it just me, or does this seem like it's likely to be extensively abused by the worst kind of startups that make flashy presentations, but don't have any sort of worthwhile tech (and when you ask them about their software, they mindlessly claim "trade secret" to skirt that fact). At least in VC, the funders put some of their own people on the ground floor.
That might be more the case if it was a pitch competition, but those kinds of startups wouldn't do well in this kind of game if they're not making real progress. When you've got good feedback loops in place and clear progress updates, being flashy without substance week after week just wouldn't work.
We do hope that real progress will bring in more votes form other users.
It's early days, but we do plan on adding features that allow people to better communicate their progress.
Re: Show HN: I built a gamified forum to help hackers fund each other
#10Just curious, how are you handling the legality if at all :)
Are "popularity contests" considered sweepstakes or lotteries?