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Show HN: I built a tool I wanted to have, but didn’t exist

madebypixelate.com

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Re: Show HN: I built a tool I wanted to have, but didn’t exist

#11

Post by robjohnson »

As an iOS developer, I can say that I agree with the statement that this would be beneficial for non-game apps as well.

As for the strategy, I would highly recommend you read "Business Model Generation" if you want to flush out this idea a bit more. It seems like you're on the right track, but maybe need to clarify a few points.

Lastly, have you considered going with a monthly subscription based service? Possibly even tiered? I just think that you're more likely to get people to pay $10/mo (with the first 30 days free or something) than $99/year. For recurring subscriptions done easy, check out recurely.com.

Re: Show HN: I built a tool I wanted to have, but didn’t exist

#12

Post by anamax »

mcobrien wrote: post #3

Great idea! I signed up and will definitely use it for my next app. A few initial thoughts: * You refer to "games" throughout the site, but the site is (almost) just as good for non-game apps. A simple word change might make non-game developers like me feel a little more at home. * It's a big leap from free to €99 + VAT. Indie iOS developers don't pay VAT (it's taken by Apple on top of our 30% cut), so a VAT-inclusiv…

> It's a big leap from free to €99 + VAT. Indie iOS developers don't pay VAT (it's taken by Apple on top of our 30% cut), so a VAT-inclusive price is easier.

I always thought that "VAT-inclusive" meant that the price included VAT. If so, doesn't charging VAT-inclusive mean that those developers are now paying VAT twice on this expense, once through Apple and a second time as part of this purchase. (Ordinarily they'd be able to take a credit for the latter, buf if it's bundled, they don't have the relevant information, or rather, receipt.)

Re: Show HN: I built a tool I wanted to have, but didn’t exist

#13

Post by pixelate »

robjohnson wrote: post #11

As an iOS developer, I can say that I agree with the statement that this would be beneficial for non-game apps as well. As for the strategy, I would highly recommend you read "Business Model Generation" if you want to flush out this idea a bit more. It seems like you're on the right track, but maybe need to clarify a few points. Lastly, have you considered going with a monthly subscription based service? Possibly eve…

Thanks for the tip on the book, I'll check it out.

I considered monthly subscription and want to offer it in the long run. Recurly looks like the best solution out there, but it's also pricey when you're starting out and want to keep costs low.

I really went with the most simple solution I could come up with, which is one price point and Harvest+PayPal as a super cheap payment solution that does not require payment gateway and merchant account.

Re: Show HN: I built a tool I wanted to have, but didn’t exist

#14

Post by jasonkester »

It always makes me smile to see a submission like this.

  - Solves an actual problem that people actually have.

  - Charges money to solve that problem.  Without apology or explanation.
My advice to anybody here who doesn't yet have a product out there: Do what this guy did. Build something small that people will pay for.

My advice to anybody here who's currently building one of the four dozen photo tweeting services/Facebook cookie cleaners/thing-that-fixes-the-css-on-hackernews's that get submitted here every day: Stop. Then do what this guy did. Build something small that people will pay for.

Re: Show HN: I built a tool I wanted to have, but didn’t exist

#15

Post by aculver »

After digging into the service a little, I stumbled on to this feature: "Compile the best quotes from your reviews on a great-looking promotional webpage." The result looks like this: http://pixelate.promoterapp.com/pub/spirits/ . That's really cool.

Although I have an app in the App Store, I actually couldn't help signing up for this to help in the promotion of my web app. :)

Re: Show HN: I built a tool I wanted to have, but didn’t exist

#16

Post by ednc »

pixelate wrote: post #5
mcobrien wrote: post #3

Great idea! I signed up and will definitely use it for my next app. A few initial thoughts: * You refer to "games" throughout the site, but the site is (almost) just as good for non-game apps. A simple word change might make non-game developers like me feel a little more at home. * It's a big leap from free to €99 + VAT. Indie iOS developers don't pay VAT (it's taken by Apple on top of our 30% cut), so a VAT-inclusiv…

Thanks for your feedback! There are some things about it that are games-specific, such as the festival calendar and the sites that Promoter is crawling for press mentions. It could be expanded to non-game apps in the future, but I wanted to start with the area I have most expertise in. The VAT pricing is due to the tax rules we have in Europe, but I can see that it adds noise to the price point. Monthly payment is so…

+1 for a more generic 'App' (not just games) approach.

I suppose I could do this today (mostly) by curating my own app-specific RSS list in the app?

Re: Show HN: I built a tool I wanted to have, but didn’t exist

#18

Post by pixelate »

ednc wrote: post #16
pixelate wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for your feedback! There are some things about it that are games-specific, such as the festival calendar and the sites that Promoter is crawling for press mentions. It could be expanded to non-game apps in the future, but I wanted to start with the area I have most expertise in. The VAT pricing is due to the tax rules we have in Europe, but I can see that it adds noise to the price point. Monthly payment is so…

+1 for a more generic 'App' (not just games) approach. I suppose I could do this today (mostly) by curating my own app-specific RSS list in the app?

The RSS list is global for now, but give it a try to test Promoter with your app anyway. There is a big overlap between game and general iOS/Android sites, so it might still be useful to you.

Re: Show HN: I built a tool I wanted to have, but didn’t exist

#20

Post by pixelate »

penetrarthur wrote: post #19

Its gonna take me 5 hours to make this app so it suites my needs and one more day to make it usable for everyone. Basically you are selling the time it took you to add all the blogs to your search engine + the CPU time it takes to parse the results.

It actually took me 4 hours to build the very first version of this. To get it to where it is now took me another 21 months working on it part-time though.
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