Pay someone with social reach to write about it. Effectively, it's marketing of the subtle kind.
Ask HN: I built it, nobody came, now what?
251–260 of 270 posts
Re: Ask HN: I built it, nobody came, now what?
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t know, if OP had included it I would have been suspicious this whole post was just an excuse to push the app. Not mentioning it made the question genuine. A bit of a catch 22...
Yeah, but that's where the hustle and salesman instinct of a founder comes in. You've got to include it in a way that feels natural.
Yes. I would have edited it in right as the questions hit the front page. I mean, people want to see the app, there's nothing wrong with including the link.
Re: Ask HN: I built it, nobody came, now what?
#253Reading the website with my startup founder hat on: -------- — HAS YOUR BUSINESS AN EXCEL PROBLEM? No. I'm good at Excel. — DO YOU HAVE HUNDREDS OF UNMANAGED SHEETS RUNNING REPORTS? Not really. I keep telling people to put files in the right Google Drive folders and one day very soon they definitely will, but we get by and so far it's not been a big problem. — DO THEY TELL YOU IT WOULD TAKE TOO MUCH TIME TO REPLACE W…
No, that's not where I am coming from. I come from major banks and financial industries behemoths who run trading books handling billions of dollars on excel spreadsheets. Are they stupid? God, no! They do it, cause there's no better alternative. They just don't have the time to use anything fancier. There is a European Research group that is funded to tackle what they call "spreadsheet risk", cause at some point, ye…
Also working in and around banking, this is a huge issue. Terrifying. Fat finger mistakes are rampant.
I think you are on the right problem, but your solution is too much built for you and not for the people creating the problem (low-tech analysts).
Think you did get enough feedback here though, so I won't try add anything.
Sadly I think this Excel issue feels so unlikely to get better any time soon. Institutions teach students using Excel, businesses use Excel. The analysts of 10 years in the future are learning Excel today, not python/pandas/R
Re: Ask HN: I built it, nobody came, now what?
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, that's not where I am coming from. I come from major banks and financial industries behemoths who run trading books handling billions of dollars on excel spreadsheets. Are they stupid? God, no! They do it, cause there's no better alternative. They just don't have the time to use anything fancier. There is a European Research group that is funded to tackle what they call "spreadsheet risk", cause at some point, ye…
Also working in and around banking, this is a huge issue. Terrifying. Fat finger mistakes are rampant. I think you are on the right problem, but your solution is too much built for you and not for the people creating the problem (low-tech analysts). Think you did get enough feedback here though, so I won't try add anything. Sadly I think this Excel issue feels so unlikely to get better any time soon. Institutions tea…
My only 2c: Your product from first glance looks like a Spyder python IDE. That immediately turns me away from using it as I'd rather use a Jupyter Notebook, or a Streamlit app, or even better than both I've been testing the hex.tech app which really solves the problem you are working on. I think your issue isn't building the wrong thing but rather perhaps being unaware of the alternatives in the "internal data questions" space, let alone the Business Intelligence tooling space.
Re: Ask HN: I built it, nobody came, now what?
#255The fact that you've got a comment on the front page of hacker news about your products lack of awareness, yet you don't say what the product is or link to it explains a lot. You need to hustle more. This is a huge opportunity to get it in front of hundreds of people. Edit: I had to search through the page to find a link to your app. You need to make it more obvious.
I don’t know, if OP had included it I would have been suspicious this whole post was just an excuse to push the app. Not mentioning it made the question genuine. A bit of a catch 22...
This. As someone who regularly adds (I mean, added) a link to my GitHub library in various comments I make to HN threads, I've learned the bitter lesson that adding the link will often result in the comment getting downvoted.
When I did manage to get a "Show HN" post to the front page (with admin assistance) the link was in the title. Interest in the library was ... muted.
I've come to realise that spamming my library across HN is never going to bring it the recognition it deserves. So I've decided to move on to spamming the link across Twitter and Reddit instead.
Re: Ask HN: I built it, nobody came, now what?
#256This is so cool! Don't know what the best way to contact you is, but I shared some thoughts at the email in the footer.
Re: Ask HN: I built it, nobody came, now what?
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
The main motivation is because "I was there". I've worked 13 years building EUDAs in Excel, with all sorts of addins and what not. I've been very good at it. Being the only developer on successful trading desks for years. Creating tools used by everyone at one of the best hedge fund on the planet. Literally everyone wants out of Excel but can't. Users are too addicted to the speed of iterations. Hiring UI guys to mak…
Do you think that the alternatives failed because they weren't 'spot on'? Perhaps they failed because it's a much harder problem than they recognized when they started out.
Honestly I have no idea... I think it's easier to give it a shot than to try to answer that question
Re: Ask HN: I built it, nobody came, now what?
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fair point, I think it depends how you frame it - and it is a fine line between being earnest and sleazy. As a founder you've gotta get comfortable walking it. Here's some feedback after I unearthed your homepage: You say users of the tool aren't on HN (which is a technology audience), yet your landing page is talking about technology and not the problem your solving. My guess is the audience for EXCEL are Business A…
Yes, this is all fair points. The problem I mostly have is I keep running in circles between the different possible ways this could grow. 1. It's a toy++ for javascript developers. Kind of like Linqpad for .net. "You have a problem with your backend. No problem, fire up Jig, and you can interact with your stuff in a neat way." 2. It's a way for executives to get internal reports much faster than what they have now. 3…
You said you solved the problem for yourself, which of those three was the original problem you were solving?
Re: Ask HN: I built it, nobody came, now what?
#259There's a reason this Justin Kan quote has become famous to the point of being a meme: "First time founders are obsessed with product. Second time founders are obsessed with distribution." You just learnt through bitter experience that distribution is the far harder problem to solve. You need to figure out who this thing is useful for, what is a way to get it in front of them and then how to adapt your product to get…
This is an excellent point. You need to understand why your customers are buying your product, and make sure that's actually why you're actually trying to provide.
Re: Ask HN: I built it, nobody came, now what?
#260Interview with some real users. Ask them to open the product and tell you everything about how they feel and what they miss and what they think and what they want. You mentioned that you already knew HN users aren't the audience. But, do you know where you can find at least 5 of them to do usability testing?