Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#71

Post by harrisreynolds » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 9:42 PM UTC

Chartly [1] is a project I worked on for about a year and launched but is no longer under active development.

It failed because we spend so much time building lots of random features and never got much feedback.

In retrospect I think the data vis market is just too saturated to get noticed at this point. I am sure it is possible for someone, but it wasn't for us.

Current "side" project is Webase [1] where we incorporate many ideas that were in Chartly, but addresses a broader and much earlier market.

[1] https://chart.ly [2] https://www.webase.com

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#72

Post by aberry273 » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 9:46 PM UTC

While I'm still working on it, I currently have 0 DAU and have been in a perpetual MVP / beta for a while now. I'm still collecting signups however it doesn't have great growth numbers at this stage.

https://bustl-app.com

A Trello + Zapier productivity app that acts like a PA, scheduling your events, reminders, etc. There's going to be a point sometime this year where I decide if its dead in the water or whether to keep going.

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#73

Post by jotto » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 9:52 PM UTC

https://www.roast.io/

I launched it shortly after https://www.prerender.cloud, which server-side renders JavaScript SPAs, to make integration easier.

Prerender.cloud kind of sells itself, but roast.io does not. I've wondered if it appears too complex.

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#74

Post by impostervt » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 9:56 PM UTC

https://www.sprinterval.com/

It's like Couch-2-5k for sprint intervals. I think that not a lot of people are into sprint intervals, or understand why they should be.

Got around 70 users of the app per day on ios&android combined, but just couldn't get it to get any more traction. Pretty much mothballed now, removed from app stores.

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#75

Post by hermitcrab » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 9:58 PM UTC

Launched https://www.easydatatransform.com earlier this year. It has sold some licenses and I wouldn't call it a failure yet, but the visit to download ratio is low compared to my other 2 commercial products. Not sure why. I'm pretty sure the traffic is targeted, I am solving a real problem and the website explains what it does. Any feedback would be welcome!

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#76

Post by elcomet » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 9:59 PM UTC

simon_weber wrote: post #20

https://repominder.com sends release reminders for your open source projects. It works by monitoring the diff between your development branch and how you release (eg tags or another branch). It works well for me and one other power user, but hasn't grown beyond that. My guess is it's just a failure of marketing -- I make lots of these projects that scratch an itch and then just hope people will find them. At least it…

Where do you run the vps?

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#77

Post by hermitcrab » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 10:01 PM UTC

I wrote up an analysis of 13 failed commercial software products here: https://successfulsoftware.net/2010/05/27/learning-lessons-f... it is from 2010, but I think it still pretty relevant. (TL:DR mostly a lack of market or marketing)

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#78

Post by brahyam » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 10:02 PM UTC

harrisreynolds wrote: post #71

Chartly [1] is a project I worked on for about a year and launched but is no longer under active development. It failed because we spend so much time building lots of random features and never got much feedback. In retrospect I think the data vis market is just too saturated to get noticed at this point. I am sure it is possible for someone, but it wasn't for us. Current "side" project is Webase [1] where we incorpor…

Hey!, tried Webase and looks very good. While testing it I found something that could be a bug?. I created a new app, and a new table with just one string field, and then whenever I create a new row it gets added twice. (Name of the app/table is Test App/Robot). Keep it up!

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#79

Post by WheelsAtLarge » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 10:02 PM UTC

raksoras wrote: post #42

https://www.scanfortable.com/ No traction so far most likely because of founder not good at sales.

This seems like a solid idea but it seems to me like it needs to be marketed on a per restaurant and it needs to be part of a more comprehensive suite that helps restauranteurs get customers into the restaurant, ultimately.

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#80

Post by modoc » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 10:06 PM UTC

noir_lord wrote: post #36

modoc wrote: post #8

https://www.thechillypony.com An email alert for horse owners/barn managers when the forecast will be colder than a configured threshold temperature. It's saved us a lot of mental energy this winter (having to check not just the forecast but also making sure to check the temp at 3 AM with windchill factored in, etc...). Got zero interest from various equestrian forums. shrug . I taught myself Spring Boot through so t…

I'm in the early planning stages of doing something somewhat similar for motorcycle riders (which I am one), you feed it your commute route, typical times and it then sends you a summary of the next days commute (or ride) including interpreting the forecast in the context of a motorcycle (i.e. gust delta against base wind speed, temps below 0 in the preceeding 12hrs, estimated windchill at 40mph, 50mph, 60mph and sug…

That sounds awesome! I am also a motorcycle rider. FWIW Darksky API and data is great!