81–90 of 204 posts
Sites that hit the homepage on HN crash so often I dream of quitting my job to launch a startup whose sole service is to HN-proof your site
First, congratulations! The site looks good and the product seems interesting and useful. Unfortunately, you're getting hit hard with HN traffic being number one on the front page currently and thus things are slow. However I was able to load the index page and watch the introductory video. One thing that bothers me is I clicked on your Terms of Service link and was prompted to login: you might want to consider makin…
At what point is it okay to post you have started a new website / business on hacker news? Here goes my karma. Since we are doing shameless plugs here are my two (and yes I quit very high paying jobs ... 1.5~2 times more than @gozman ...): http://snaphop.com http://evocatus.com
I haven't been here long enough to know what the decorum is so hopefully somebody else will answer you, but you already did a couple of things I probably wouldn't do myself: 1) Plug your business in the comments section of another post (unless it's somehow related). You will likely not get as many people seeing it and also it's kind of rude considering it diverts attention from the OP. 2) Post 2 unrelated links at on…
2) Yep your right. I blame my multi-tasking (programming while reading hacker news).
Your suggestion is extremely appreciated. The design is somewhat pinterest inspired which seems to attract people like my mom but infuriates programmers.
Kudos to you for following your dream, but I do have to say I'm fully against making it easier for people to move that which should stay on the web to native apps. We have web browsers for a reason.
hey mark! it was strange to me too at first, but we built it in response to the fact that we kept on getting asked about getting onto the "app store" by small business owners who were going digital and building Wordpress sites. Everyone wants an app nowadays - so we're filling a niche. In the end, browsers are great but mobile safari doesn't yet let you have access to everything you can get in Cocoa. We want to open…
Ugh, that makes my stomach turn, but I know it's true. And I don't fault you for capitalizing on it, but man is it irritating.
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1. I was a software engineer that got an MBA and was doing management consulting. 2. Over 80k / year 3. My runway is private, but we financed ourselves by taking on short-term iOS/Wordpress dev/design consulting gigs to stay fed.
Thanks. Did you change your standard of living to to follow your dream? If so, to what extent? Are you now eating raman? Also, do you have any dependents (wife, children)? Oh, and how old are you? Sorry, I know you are really interested in sharing your product but many of us want to know what people are willing to give up to chase their dreams. Thanks again.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I haven't been here long enough to know what the decorum is so hopefully somebody else will answer you, but you already did a couple of things I probably wouldn't do myself: 1) Plug your business in the comments section of another post (unless it's somehow related). You will likely not get as many people seeing it and also it's kind of rude considering it diverts attention from the OP. 2) Post 2 unrelated links at on…
1) Whoops. As my wife can tell you I'm often completely oblivious of my rudeness. Do you think I should delete the post? It was an honest question. 2) Yep your right. I blame my multi-tasking (programming while reading hacker news). Your suggestion is extremely appreciated. The design is somewhat pinterest inspired which seems to attract people like my mom but infuriates programmers.
And yeah, like the other person who relied to you, I initially though Snaphop was some kind of marketing agency and Evocatus was a little too much all at once. Although with the right intro header it could work. Pinterest has this very prominently on the first page "Pinterest is an online pinboard. Organize and share things you love". That's all I need to know to start off with. Your intro header didn't jump out at me like that. Maybe it's the colours or it could also be the actual copy.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm in a similar situation (quit high-paying job, following startup dream). May I ask how you broke into dev/design consulting? I'll have to go that way too, and soon. But I'm still a bit mystified about where one finds consulting gigs... Places like ODesk/Elancer?
Networking by and large will be your best bet. An odesk may get you some short-term work, but it won't necessarily be all that high paying. With a decent rep on odesk or elance you might get some good gigs, but those will probably develop in to non-odesk relationships with clients ("going direct"). I don't know many people who use odesk who pay more then $20-$25/hour, and it's typically for smaller type stuff. There…
I know a few YC founders that pay $70/hr - $80/hr for really great Rails devs, iOS devs, and front-end engineers that are not local to SF/PA (mid-west devs or southeast devs). I think the price for an experienced Rails freelancer in a big metro is around $100/hr - $125/hr.
On the design side, I have friends in DC, SF, and Chicago that are top notch visual designers and have worked on big "brand" sites, and depending on how busy they are, they'll charge anywhere from $75/hr - $80/hr. An art director I know will not go below $150/hr bc it's not worth his time to do more work outside of his day job.
But there are price inefficiencies everywhere, and if someone fresh out of college doesn't really understand how good of a designer they are or the going rates for freelancers, then you can find someone who's good for your MVP for $25/hr.
All of the above assumes you are pricing projects on a straight hourly rate (legalese = "Time & Material Rates").
Be warned that most small business owners will want firm-fixed pricing (ie - "I want a fully redesigned site for $a,000"). In that case, you'll need to figure how long it will take for you to complete the project, add a 10% - 15% buffer for client changes/indecision, and then settle on a firm-price of $x,000.