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Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

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Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#131

Post by guynamedloren »

KedarMhaswade wrote: post #110
guynamedloren wrote: post #3

I know this is not the norm for projects here on Hacker News and I realize that it may be seen as rather exploitive, so here's a very very brief background and my thought process: - Idea was conceived around 2am this morning. Saw a few events on facebook picking up speed (hundreds of thousands of attendees) so decided to leverage that instant-market - Wasn't sure whether or not it would work, but I didn't have too mu…

Can't believe it. When I was getting bored of discussions like "trying to hire an igloo", "move to California" over the snow-storm, this HN came along and made my day/night. Hacker of the year award! Maybe YC should start such an award if it doesn't already exist.

Maybe they could just accept me into Y-Combinator instead of sending that nasty rejection e-mail again* =]

* As an aside, I did apply to Y-Combinator in the previous application batch, with Pocket (http://letspocket.com) when it was barely more than an idea. As crazy as it sounds, I really didn't even know how to program at that point, which is a bit of an issue for a one-man tech startup. I didn't except to be accepted and I'm not bitter about being rejected. That rejection e-mail came and went, and I kept hacking away. Two weeks ago I shared Pocket with HN and it was received ridiculously well. And yesterday this. I honestly don't even know what I'll be doing in another few weeks, but I can tell you that my head is down and I'm still hacking away (Pocket Premium!). So anyway, YC: please be aware that I am not stopping. - From Loren

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#132

Post by reneruiz »

guynamedloren wrote: post #27
endlessvoid94 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This IS awesome. Could you please provide details about the logistics behind the tshirts? Are you using Zazzle/CafePress? Do you have a contact in the industry that allowed you to very quickly start printing and shipping them? I think that's the part most hackers will be interested in. Congrats on your success!

No zazzle or cafepress. I'm building up orders for a bulk wholesale order of good quality screenprinted tees. Haven't started printing or shipping just yet, as is explained on the site. I don't have a "contact" per se, but I have dabbled in the indie t-shirt world quite a bit so I have printers that I've worked with and I've gotten packaging/shipping down to a science. I can ship shirts in really nice, secure packagi…

Can you talk more or share some tips about packaging? I've had an idea for a shirt I've kicked around for a few weeks now but I don't know anything about the process.

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#133

Post by guynamedloren »

jmtame wrote: post #121
mmaunder wrote: post #79

What would be cool, and a nice courtesy gesture since HN gave you so much traffic, is if you shared actual numbers with us. Data we can use. I'd like to see: Cost price of your tshirts, how many you sold over X time, conversion rate on the site, main sources of traffic, highest conversion source, lowest conversion source, fraud levels if known yet. Thanks.

if I understand this model, he has to get a certain number of orders (say 100) before he can actually print. the price of each shirt depends on a bulk amount and if he doesn't hit that, he can't ship the shirts. for these shirts I'd suspect it costs about $10 each (silkscreen printing), plus whatever shipping and handling. maybe $3-$4 profit each shirt x 100 = $300-$400

I've mentioned this several times, but I'll bring it up again because I'm legitimately surprised at how expensive many seem to think these shirts are. Screen printing should absolutely not cost $10/ea for a 2-color print, especially for anything over 36 shirts. If you're paying this, then you're being robbed. End of story. I have had many shirts printed before so I know where to look, but it's really not that difficult to find a decent printer with fair prices. Right now my costs are below $6/ea, and that's for medium-grade, fashion fitted tees. If I went with cheapy Gildan tees, I would be at less than $5/ea, but I'd rather not sacrifice the quality to squeeze out a tiny more profit. I want people to be pleased with what they're buying. I'm thinking of myself in their shoes.

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#134

Post by guynamedloren »

antihero wrote: post #114
guynamedloren wrote: post #3

I know this is not the norm for projects here on Hacker News and I realize that it may be seen as rather exploitive, so here's a very very brief background and my thought process: - Idea was conceived around 2am this morning. Saw a few events on facebook picking up speed (hundreds of thousands of attendees) so decided to leverage that instant-market - Wasn't sure whether or not it would work, but I didn't have too mu…

Thanks for inspiring me to put money into a "pot" for small, act-fast business ideas like this. Could I ask some details: * Where did you get the T-Shirt made? * How exactly did you go from nobody knowing about it to 1000s of hits?

There's no silver bullet - my four hours of hacking were backed by a lifetime of work, learning, and experience. I'll be running a series of blog posts detailing the entire project, from start to finish. Be on the lookout http://madebyloren.com

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#136

Post by Shooter »

aruban wrote: post #100
Shooter wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most people on HN like case studies because they help them learn things that they can apply to their own businesses. If you have no interest in improving your business, or learning new techniques, or getting "fresh eyes" - then I'm sorry you are here. Part of hacking culture is testing and trying out things, not just making assumptions and saying fuck it. Little things on landing pages can make a big differen…

I keep thinking that auto-censoring to gain some sale isn't a good thing. That line amused a lot of people (me included) and as you'll always offend somebody at some point, specially when you play with humor, I think that playing as far as you feel like is the way to do. It keep the thing spontaneous and that the strength of that project, natural joke quickly implemented and that amused and talk to the target. ------…

And I am sorry I called you a name that added nothing to the discussion. It is not a 'casual' word, but I have a very developed vocabulary of obscenities ;-) - so it was just the first thing that came to mind that I thought would make a point about offensiveness and your tone bugging me. In any case, it was flippant and I regret it.

Re: auto-censoring. I may be completely wrong about the lines...I thought they were mildy funny, just not worth losing sales over. It was just a suggestion. If it were the OP's actual stance/belief on something, then that's different. I just thought he could put in something funnier that wouldn't necessarily be creepy to anyone. I have a different perspective than most, maybe. My companies have (aggregate) revenues in the low billions, so a small tweak can be a big thing for me. I don't want to offend a customer unless I think there is a good reason. I started out with exactly this kind of small, opportunistic approach as the OP's t-shirt, so I thought I might have something to contribute. I was apparently wrong.

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#137

Post by guynamedloren »

reneruiz wrote: post #132
guynamedloren wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No zazzle or cafepress. I'm building up orders for a bulk wholesale order of good quality screenprinted tees. Haven't started printing or shipping just yet, as is explained on the site. I don't have a "contact" per se, but I have dabbled in the indie t-shirt world quite a bit so I have printers that I've worked with and I've gotten packaging/shipping down to a science. I can ship shirts in really nice, secure packagi…

Can you talk more or share some tips about packaging? I've had an idea for a shirt I've kicked around for a few weeks now but I don't know anything about the process.

I'll touch on this when I do my writeup for this whole ordeal, but the packing portion will likely be a reiteration of this:

http://beetnikaesthetics.com/blog/product-presentation-and-p...

That's a tutorial I wrote a couple years ago. It has made it's rounds in the indie t-shirt world (with hundreds of steady hits long after I stopped blogging).

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#138

Post by endlessvoid94 »

guynamedloren wrote: post #133
jmtame wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if I understand this model, he has to get a certain number of orders (say 100) before he can actually print. the price of each shirt depends on a bulk amount and if he doesn't hit that, he can't ship the shirts. for these shirts I'd suspect it costs about $10 each (silkscreen printing), plus whatever shipping and handling. maybe $3-$4 profit each shirt x 100 = $300-$400

I've mentioned this several times, but I'll bring it up again because I'm legitimately surprised at how expensive many seem to think these shirts are. Screen printing should absolutely not cost $10/ea for a 2-color print, especially for anything over 36 shirts. If you're paying this, then you're being robbed. End of story. I have had many shirts printed before so I know where to look, but it's really not that difficu…

Which printer are you using?

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#139

Post by eru »

fduffner wrote: post #95
guynamedloren wrote: post #3

I know this is not the norm for projects here on Hacker News and I realize that it may be seen as rather exploitive, so here's a very very brief background and my thought process: - Idea was conceived around 2am this morning. Saw a few events on facebook picking up speed (hundreds of thousands of attendees) so decided to leverage that instant-market - Wasn't sure whether or not it would work, but I didn't have too mu…

I tried a similar thing about a fad in Germany during the soccer WC but it didn't go anywhere as I sucked at marketing it. Can you tell how you did marketing and especially how did you became the official T-Shirt for that facebook event?

Which fad?

Re: Show HN: My 4-hour project, already profitable

#140

Post by eru »

Shooter wrote: post #87
aruban wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the D , no need to be aggressive, my point is just that if you offend a very few and get attention of the mass, somewhere, you win. Piss off a potential client isn't a big deal when you got hundred other to laugh! I also think that making fun of dramatical situation might help to get over the trauma. But I guess you are to sensitive to follow this.

I think most people on HN like case studies because they help them learn things that they can apply to their own businesses. If you have no interest in improving your business, or learning new techniques, or getting "fresh eyes" - then I'm sorry you are here. Part of hacking culture is testing and trying out things, not just making assumptions and saying fuck it. Little things on landing pages can make a big differen…

I do like your contribution to the discussion. The the endearments did not add anything, though.
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