171–180 of 253 posts
A big fallacy that I always see - and that is implied by this post - is that the work ends after shipping, a.k.a. "build it and they will come". That doesn't happen any more. So after you "ship" it, you need to promote it, advertise it, create buzz around it and make people use it. And that is a totally different kind of beast than coding something. But on the flip side, if you develop a side project just for yoursel…
Serious question, how do you know whether it's your product or your marketing that sucks? For example, I tried twitter ads for my product [1] and I got zero sales after spending $50. What are good marketing strategies for niche hardware products? [1] https://www.invisible-computers.com/
I was actually thinking about exactly this product earlier this week. I have kids and their schedule is really complicated these days - some days some of them need packed lunches, uniform is different on PE days etc etc. I want to walk into the kitchen and have the details for the day right there. There’s a real use for the product, you need to work on the landing page (I’d suggest considering starting again with a template)
A big fallacy that I always see - and that is implied by this post - is that the work ends after shipping, a.k.a. "build it and they will come". That doesn't happen any more. So after you "ship" it, you need to promote it, advertise it, create buzz around it and make people use it. And that is a totally different kind of beast than coding something. But on the flip side, if you develop a side project just for yoursel…
> "build it and they will come" I also used to think that build it and they will come was a big fallacy, but it's not really. The fallacy is, "build it and the whole world will fight to get what you built". That sure won't happen by itself or by chance. But if you build something reasonably good, some people will come. That may not be enough for you to make a living out of it, but it will make it worthwhile. > Learni…
A big fallacy that I always see - and that is implied by this post - is that the work ends after shipping, a.k.a. "build it and they will come". That doesn't happen any more. So after you "ship" it, you need to promote it, advertise it, create buzz around it and make people use it. And that is a totally different kind of beast than coding something. But on the flip side, if you develop a side project just for yoursel…
Serious question, how do you know whether it's your product or your marketing that sucks? For example, I tried twitter ads for my product [1] and I got zero sales after spending $50. What are good marketing strategies for niche hardware products? [1] https://www.invisible-computers.com/
So it has to be something people want. And it doesnt look cool/sleek/exciting enough for people to want it. The bezel is huge, its black and white, and looks overpriced.
Some marketing angles work, but your product has to honestly support them. Ex:
- hackable. Need to show off connection interface, API, some cool project examples. As far as I can tell, LEDs never hurt here.
- sophisticated/elegant.
- useful. Seems easier to use /better than what people are already doing.
- cool. Buys access to a group of exciting people you wouldn't get to meet otherwise.
But the absolute best way to market a hardware product is to stop making it about tech. My dad bought a digital picture frame a while back as a gift. Thats a way easier bar to clear, its emotional, sentimental, symbolic, so the technical execution doesnt need to be as flawless.
A big fallacy that I always see - and that is implied by this post - is that the work ends after shipping, a.k.a. "build it and they will come". That doesn't happen any more. So after you "ship" it, you need to promote it, advertise it, create buzz around it and make people use it. And that is a totally different kind of beast than coding something. But on the flip side, if you develop a side project just for yoursel…
You're so wrong. I built it and they came. And when I say they, I mean millions of users. Here's my blog post about it: https://catonmat.net/if-you-build-it-they-will-come
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The money award helped pay for my entire grad school tuition. Is that what the award was...intended for? You maybe don't want to brag about that on the internet.
I assume the award was to pay for development. As long as it wasn't grossly in excess of prevailing dev wages, why shouldn't they be able to use their salary as they see fit...?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is extremely true. I think some people are "maximizers" - They will always do research to seek out the "best" for their given budget for even moderately priced purchases. Engineers tend to fit this profile, so its easy for them to get psyched-out when trying to ship a product. But people - and businesses - aren't always like this. They will buy what's available and seems to get the job done and seems like less o…
It's worse if we routinely read highly critical message boards like this one. I'm currently developing a desktop app using Electron, but comments like this [1] make me wonder if I should scrap it and start over using purely Rust and/or C++. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31350035
Electron works great for some of those use cases.
The other stuff works great for other use cases.
Anyone giving general advice on that is giving bad advice, period.
This is just a personal viewpoint, but I think the era of "just ship it" will be gone after a decade or so. * Software "development" skill will become so common and cheap that simple tools won't get any market. * The market will be dictated by tools instead of code content . * Language-as-a-service will be a thing, as it allows customers to fill in business requirements AND allows the backing company to perform engin…
> I started building an app on 01.01.2018. It was New Year's Eve and we just had the crappiest night ever. Yes, imagine a night so bad that at midnight you decide "you know what, fuck it, I'm gonna work on WEB DEVELOPMENT". That bad. Am I the only one that actually enjoys development ? I do development for fun in my free time, often with things that are completely throw away.
I got stuck on weird integration with the payment processor. This, plus a few other minor issues set me back two months. No biggy, right? Wrong. I have shipped B2B product in late November. Came in December downtime. Close to 4-5 months wasted because I delayed shipping. Till day I slap myself in the face for that.