The saddest “just ship it” story (2020)

Post by goatcode » Fri, May 13, 2022, 12:58 PM UTC

bogwog wrote: post #217

goatcode wrote: post #204

Having experienced this very thing, I can say: there's a good chance the other guys had already made their app in some form long before this guy did. Don't worry, bro: everyone has had a cool idea (all of which are very cheap -- ideas, that is) and then seen someone else doing it later. The good news is this though: if you're dishonest and connected enough, you can still make your app succeed. Especially if it's wors…

> if you're dishonest and connected enough, you can still make your app succeed. Especially if it's worse than your competitors'. Wtf is that supposed to mean?

Post by Anapologetos » Fri, May 13, 2022, 3:04 PM UTC

aidos wrote: post #172

konschubert wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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/

Yeah, your website sucks. The product looks really nice, but the landing page barely even feels like it wants me to check it out. I can barely even tell it’s a landing page. 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 k…

Post by ashes-of-sol » Fri, May 13, 2022, 6:48 PM UTC

konschubert wrote: post #141

corobo wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your business wraps up does this turn into a pretty brick? My instant wonder and would be a deal breaker until I found out if the device pulls from the calendar directly or via a proxy you run if it helps any Going by the language in the privacy policy it’s the proxy method. I’d have to pass, personally. Looks great but I got no use for it if you shut down Also it’s “sold out” so I assume it doesn’t and won’t exis…

It’s pretty cheap to keep the API running and I promised myself I’d be doing that for many years even if I make 0 money with it. But I want to be upfront about the fact that there are things beyond my control that might force me to shut down some or all functionality. For example, if google shuts down access to the calendar API, the calendar feature will be in trouble.

Post by donatj » Fri, May 13, 2022, 7:05 PM UTC

hansonw wrote: post #228

donatj wrote: post #158

I have been working on a side project for going on 12 years now. In that time a bunch of competitors popped up. I gave up on the idea several times. All the competitors shut down their public APIs though, which is why I started up on it again about 5 years ago. I've got it in a place I really like. I use it daily. The biggest blocker for me right now to making it open is wanting improved security. I ideally want all…

plug in https://www.etebase.com/ and ship it :D

Post by CRConrad » Sat, May 14, 2022, 12:52 AM UTC

cercatrova wrote: post #185

Perseids wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it really fascinating how a completely different subset of Hackernews users answers to you than are present on other threads. As literary no sibling is voicing a dissenting opinion I feel compelled to present it: Purely from the user perspective I hate electron, because of its RAM usage. The speed argument is a straw man: Of course V8 is fast. And yes, VSCode is a very good IDE. But the problem is real world e…

> I find it really fascinating how a completely different subset of Hackernews users answers to you than are present on other threads. As literary no sibling is voicing a dissenting opinion I suspect the difference is because they are responding from a developer's mindset, not a user's. For devs, Electron really is the easiest way to make desktop apps, especially if one already has web experience. Users who dislike E…