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Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

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Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#271

Post by rlue »

Const-me wrote: post #197
robertoestivill wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I suggest investing in an SSL certificate for your website? I find it really hard to really trust if that's your contact information ;)

Not OP, but I don’t have certificate on my personal web site either, and I don’t think I need one. > find it really hard to really trust if that's your contact information Because Google implemented warning in their web browser, and you comply without understanding their reasons? SSL is most useful for credit cards processing. SSL makes some sense for e-mails and chat messages, also for authentication. SSL is useless…

This view is way behind the times.

Lots of commenters have raised good points and pointed you to instructive resources on the subject, and you've quite selectively ignored the best ones. Please take a moment and withhold the assumption that we've all been brainwashed by Google, and consider that other people might know something you don't.

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#272

Post by prabugp »

pbiggar wrote: post #40

When we started CircleCI, there were at least 3 other things that were pretty much the same. In addition, two similar services had died, and one had pivoted to be a PaaS. There was also Jenkins, TeamCity, Bamboo, and lots of other alternatives. And then over the next two years, there was at least 20 competitors that started, some with significant funding. I agonized over so many competitors, and none of them mattered…

That’s inspiring! Did you get to a point where the joy of creating something was superseded by the need to keep it alive and winning? How do you balance both? Often I worry that when a product that I feel so passionate about turns into a business, then the time I spend running the business (which I might not like) will be far more than what I’ll spend working on the product. Not sure if it will be as much fun.

Also is it still the same thing that you envisioned when you first stared?

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#273

Post by pbiggar »

prabugp wrote: post #272
pbiggar wrote: post #40

When we started CircleCI, there were at least 3 other things that were pretty much the same. In addition, two similar services had died, and one had pivoted to be a PaaS. There was also Jenkins, TeamCity, Bamboo, and lots of other alternatives. And then over the next two years, there was at least 20 competitors that started, some with significant funding. I agonized over so many competitors, and none of them mattered…

That’s inspiring! Did you get to a point where the joy of creating something was superseded by the need to keep it alive and winning? How do you balance both? Often I worry that when a product that I feel so passionate about turns into a business, then the time I spend running the business (which I might not like) will be far more than what I’ll spend working on the product. Not sure if it will be as much fun. Also i…

I was always looking to make a business, though I really enjoy the creation and product side of things. It turned into a business pretty quick, though: we had customers within 3 months and paying customers within 6. 18 months later we had $1m ARR.

I enjoyed running the business up until about 15 employees. When it turned to 25 people I asked someone else to take over as CEO, which was a pretty good decision in hindsight. Circle is now 200 people, and the activities that the CEO does are not ones I would enjoy.

I'm the CTO of https://darklang.com now, and honestly I much prefer being CTO than CEO, especially now that I appreciate how hard being CEO is, and given that I'm working with a great CEO.

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#274

Post by Schwolop »

rchaud wrote: post #244
aeorgnoieang wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your English is great.

I like the "Crank" potion idea, that was a bonkers action movie, and I'd love to see a modern game use those types of powerups.

It's very like a Fighter's 'Rage' ability from D&D. They must hurt things or receive damage or they lose the ability.

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#275

Post by dennisgorelik »

At the end of 2006 I decided to build a job search aggregator. After 2 months of developing a prototype I found out that indeed.com and simplyhired.com already implemented job aggregators for ~2 years.

So, instead of continuing with job aggregator - I decided to build a job board (postjobfree.com)

My job board grew OK, because indeed.com and simplyhired.com sent us organic (free) traffic for couple of years.

But then (~2009) Indeed and Simplyhired started to charge job boards money for the traffic, and then refused to send even paid traffic to job boards (~2012).

In addition to that, Japanese "Recruit" holding bought Indeed in 2012 (for $1.2B).

Then "Recruit" bought Simplyhired (2016).

Then "Recruit" bought Glassdoor in 2018 (for another $1.2B). Glassdoor worked as a job aggregator as well.

So now largest job aggregator companies convert from "job aggregator" model to "job board" model where customers are direct employers and not other job boards.

So few years ago I started to transform my job board business into job aggregator again. I think if I never abandoned job aggregator idea in the first place, my business, probably, would be a little bit more successful by now. However it is hard to tell for sure. I could have given up competing against Indeed and SimplyHired back in 2007-2012.

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#276

Post by vpatryshev »

dennisgorelik wrote: post #275

At the end of 2006 I decided to build a job search aggregator. After 2 months of developing a prototype I found out that indeed.com and simplyhired.com already implemented job aggregators for ~2 years. So, instead of continuing with job aggregator - I decided to build a job board (postjobfree.com) My job board grew OK, because indeed.com and simplyhired.com sent us organic (free) traffic for couple of years. But then…

An impressive story. As I understand it, you did it more or less singlehandedly.

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#277

Post by [deleted] »

dennisgorelik wrote: post #275

At the end of 2006 I decided to build a job search aggregator. After 2 months of developing a prototype I found out that indeed.com and simplyhired.com already implemented job aggregators for ~2 years. So, instead of continuing with job aggregator - I decided to build a job board (postjobfree.com) My job board grew OK, because indeed.com and simplyhired.com sent us organic (free) traffic for couple of years. But then…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#278

Post by dennisgorelik »

vpatryshev wrote: post #276
dennisgorelik wrote: post #275

At the end of 2006 I decided to build a job search aggregator. After 2 months of developing a prototype I found out that indeed.com and simplyhired.com already implemented job aggregators for ~2 years. So, instead of continuing with job aggregator - I decided to build a job board (postjobfree.com) My job board grew OK, because indeed.com and simplyhired.com sent us organic (free) traffic for couple of years. But then…

An impressive story. As I understand it, you did it more or less singlehandedly.

As a single founder - yes, but not singlehandedly.

I always used help from employees. Initially part-time, then full-time, then more than one employee/contractor.

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#279

Post by avichalp »

alexobenauer wrote: post #213
throw082 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could very well be that people simply don't know they are dealing with a problem that can be solved.

These are my favorite problems - the ones people hate but seem resigned to living with; almost as if it's a simple fact of life. When you come in with a solution, they'll be skeptical at first, but you'll know quickly whether or not you're on a great solution for them.

Do you suggest asking people directly what are there most pressing problems helps? Or do you think it is better to observe people struggling with something and then propose a solution and have them evaluate it.

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#280

Post by rburhum »

Jorge1o1 wrote: post #205
nicoburns wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> good software is not enough to win. But presumably if you combine it with the other stuff then it helps?

Depends. If your software is really good, you are probably paying your developers a lot. Someone else can copy your idea for a fraction of the price, while using outsourced developers from East Europe or India

Don't you think that saying that all software that comes from these places is plain old racist? Some of the best engineers I have worked with are from Ukraine, for example.
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