"So, instead of an image-gallery app, why not make a survey software specifically targeted at, say, event attendees."
Shameless plug: check out our startup, http://yorn.com, which does exactly this.
Sorry, your “cool” webapp is probably not going to make money
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Re: Sorry, your “cool” webapp is probably not going to make money
#32Beware the fatigue that sets in with these "boring" money makers. It can be very difficult to keep your motivation high when working on something like this, especially in the beginning where you're not making money and no one takes you seriously. With a funky web app, at least your friends and family might understand it and think it's cool.
Doing a startup already takes a lot of motivation. It's significantly harder if you're working on something that you're not passionate about.
(Note: I don't disagree at all with the author. I just want to point out that there are downsides to this approach as well.)
Re: Sorry, your “cool” webapp is probably not going to make money
#33Solid advice.
Young people have to learn this the hard way. Today, it seems everyone wants to write a FaceBook type app and be hugely popular with mainstream folks (a household name). However, there are tons of devs (mostly people you seldom ever hear about and who hardly anyone knows) making a great living writing libraries, device drivers and other non-killer, yet useful software.
Re: Sorry, your “cool” webapp is probably not going to make money
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you miss the point entirely and quoting Paul Graham without understanding what he writes is not going to help either. What Paras is getting at here is that if your goal is to make money then you are probably better off building something that has that premise baked in to it from the first moment rather than to just go and make some consumer app that might get traction but that will be hard to monetise. The 'p…
Nah. pg's post fits perfectly here. Specifically the part "Don't be discouraged if what you produce initially is something other people dismiss as a toy." This is exactly what paras is doing. Dismissing apps he doesn't think can make money as toys. Why should the focus just be on making money? Saying "if your goal is to make money" is sort of strange to me anyways. Probably because my goal is not to make money, but t…
> Saying "if your goal is to make money" is sort of strange to me anyways. Probably because my goal is not to make money, but to build new and interesting things that have an impact.
That's sort of the point Paras is making though. If your building a new and interesting things to have impact, but your expecting it to make money and calling it a startup, it's not OK.
> Why should the focus just be on making money?
He's not saying it should.
> Dismissing apps he doesn't think can make money as toys
He's not doing this either.
Re: Sorry, your “cool” webapp is probably not going to make money
#35That explains what I'm working on right now to a T. It's an industry that is currently being run on fax and lots of manual data entry. A big key for us was having connections with people inside, which made it easier to learn exactly what they were looking for and then ultimately set up sales meetings.
Re: Sorry, your “cool” webapp is probably not going to make money
#36"So, instead of an image-gallery app, why not make a survey software specifically targeted at, say, event attendees." Shameless plug: check out our startup, http://yorn.com , which does exactly this.
Your site design completely rocks. It's fantastic.
Re: Sorry, your “cool” webapp is probably not going to make money
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep, agree with your recommendation of B2B. Going B2B instantly simplifies a lot of issues that startups face because (as you say) businesses are usually inclined to pay money for services even if it is in $100-$1000/mo range. Consumers, on the other hand, will cringe at the sight of paying $5. 99 cents apps, thanks so much for setting expectations of consumers that everything on the web should be free or sub $1 rang…
you know what 99c apps have done? They've got people paying for software. Normal people. People who have probably never paid for software in their life, save for Office (probably bundled with their PC), and a few XBox games They've got used to paying 99c for apps, then they've slowly adjusted their price expectations up to the $5-10 range for iPad apps, and the advent of the Mac Store looks like helping ease prices p…
Amen, If I could I would upvote all day..
Hearing my uncle say 'This is less than a coffee, why not?' or 'For this price (10$), I get more fun and entertainment than going to the cinema' has no price.
Thanks Apple
Re: Sorry, your “cool” webapp is probably not going to make money
#38No disrespect at all to the author, but when I see advice on how to do something I always ask. "What have you done that proves that your advice works?"
If this came from Paul Graham, I would probably sit up and take notice but here, meh.
Still the blog is well written and the advice is worth a try if you are wired that way.
Re: Sorry, your “cool” webapp is probably not going to make money
#39No disrespect at all to the author, but when I see advice on how to do something I always ask. "What have you done that proves that your advice works?" If this came from Paul Graham, I would probably sit up and take notice but here, meh. Still the blog is well written and the advice is worth a try if you are wired that way.
This is not total theory. I run a startup http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com -- I can't tell you how much money it makes, but it does support a small team full time.
Re: Sorry, your “cool” webapp is probably not going to make money
#40No disrespect at all to the author, but when I see advice on how to do something I always ask. "What have you done that proves that your advice works?" If this came from Paul Graham, I would probably sit up and take notice but here, meh. Still the blog is well written and the advice is worth a try if you are wired that way.
Reading his blog, you get a sense that he has gone back and forth on the idea of web apps as startups. Which is perfectly alright because only close-minded people never change their mind.
He's the guy behind http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com