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Ask HN: For 10 years I've been trying various projects, still clueless

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Re: Ask HN: For 10 years I've been trying various projects, still clueless

#21

Post by julienreszka »

superdario wrote: post #11
namanyayg wrote: post #3

What all have you tried and how did each of them fail?

Blitzer - hangout application, you put a pin on the map that is active for up to 1 hour and then you can meet people for anything. The problem was the geolocation, because it is hyper-geolocated so I would need to get many people in one small place, like one city. Mimic - if you know what TikTok has duets now, Mimic was supposed to be that before TikTok existed where you imitate a person, mimicking person. The proble…

Dont make any feature that you dont know how you can make it profitable aka estimate the cost and the revenues it will generate

Re: Ask HN: For 10 years I've been trying various projects, still clueless

#22

Post by superdario »

julienreszka wrote: post #21
superdario wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blitzer - hangout application, you put a pin on the map that is active for up to 1 hour and then you can meet people for anything. The problem was the geolocation, because it is hyper-geolocated so I would need to get many people in one small place, like one city. Mimic - if you know what TikTok has duets now, Mimic was supposed to be that before TikTok existed where you imitate a person, mimicking person. The proble…

Dont make any feature that you dont know how you can make it profitable aka estimate the cost and the revenues it will generate

Yes, probably should not do that

Re: Ask HN: For 10 years I've been trying various projects, still clueless

#23

Post by superdario »

thunderbong wrote: post #20
superdario wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blitzer - hangout application, you put a pin on the map that is active for up to 1 hour and then you can meet people for anything. The problem was the geolocation, because it is hyper-geolocated so I would need to get many people in one small place, like one city. Mimic - if you know what TikTok has duets now, Mimic was supposed to be that before TikTok existed where you imitate a person, mimicking person. The proble…

That's quite a list! Congrats on building so many apps. However, all of them seem to be social apps, though. Have you thought of making apps for individuals? What I mean is trying to identify a pain point that many people face and creating an app around that? Just my two cents. All the best!

Of course, but in what sense for individuals? Like some tools that they can use without engaging other people?

Re: Ask HN: For 10 years I've been trying various projects, still clueless

#24

Post by superdario »

defrost wrote: post #19
superdario wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blitzer - hangout application, you put a pin on the map that is active for up to 1 hour and then you can meet people for anything. The problem was the geolocation, because it is hyper-geolocated so I would need to get many people in one small place, like one city. Mimic - if you know what TikTok has duets now, Mimic was supposed to be that before TikTok existed where you imitate a person, mimicking person. The proble…

Looks like you have experience prototyping certain kinds of social sites, you're looking for subscribers that check in daily for fresh content with a side serving of chat and some sense of fan like interest. There are wider circles for this kind of thing and it can span countries starting from your region (maybe). Perhaps look into how people trade and talk about fresh goods daily (vegetables, meat, fish, farm goods)…

Ah yes, those are actually social sites. I never realized I tried to make so many of them. I guess it's because I think that those might drive larger amount of people on the site/app

Re: Ask HN: For 10 years I've been trying various projects, still clueless

#25

Post by superdario »

kebsup wrote: post #17

I'm from central Europe and while I agree with some of your points, I see it as an advantage. If I manage to get 1-2k in passive income, it would completely cover my expenses, so the bar for success is much lower than in the US.

That is true, I lowered by bar also. Right now I think the same as you, even though it will not satisfy my appetite in a long run

Re: Ask HN: For 10 years I've been trying various projects, still clueless

#26

Post by dionys »

superdario wrote: post #13
dionys wrote: post #9

I've had similar experience, also coming from a small Eastern European country. It feels like the market within the country is not big enough, including two nearby countries improves the situation, but you still need to deal with the language differences. To me it just feels there's not enough money, both from the possible customers as well as from investors. My current employer is originally from the UK, but they st…

Isn't B2B even harder when you have to convince businesses to use your product instead of existing one, so they have to completely move to your product. Then of course attend the meetings with them and so on. I'm not a salesman and for me it would be mission impossible

Maybe it really depends on the industry and the size of your clients. But if you target small/medium business, they won't have crazy enterprise requirements. Of course they will want a good product and something that fits their criteria. But often times they won't need to replace their whole X solution, they just might need a small API/plugin that connects their platform with Y.

I'm not a salesman either, but I think it's easier to persuade 1 business person to spend $400/mo on your solution rather than persuading 100 individuals to pay you $4/mo. Individuals (even I'm like this) tend to have high, almost unreasonable, standards for the quality of service you get for $4 per month. Comparatively I think for a lot of business, $400 a month is nothing.

Re: Ask HN: For 10 years I've been trying various projects, still clueless

#27

Post by greazy »

superdario wrote: post #11
namanyayg wrote: post #3

What all have you tried and how did each of them fail?

Blitzer - hangout application, you put a pin on the map that is active for up to 1 hour and then you can meet people for anything. The problem was the geolocation, because it is hyper-geolocated so I would need to get many people in one small place, like one city. Mimic - if you know what TikTok has duets now, Mimic was supposed to be that before TikTok existed where you imitate a person, mimicking person. The proble…

Amazing list. The only one which i think solves a real world problem is the gay dating website.

I think if you focus on the issues facing every day people and try to solve them you'll find a good niche.

I'm in Norway atm, i found an app that collates all the supermarket pamphlets in a nice layout. It's very useful due to the remoteness of sum parts of Norway.

There's an app in Australia called fuelspy that's widely used to find the cheapest petrol/ notify when best time to buy.

These are all small shops creating and maintaining these apps/websites.

Also have you considered freelancing instead of building these apps?

Re: Ask HN: For 10 years I've been trying various projects, still clueless

#28

Post by ipaddr »

superdario wrote: post #7
tudorw wrote: post #5

'I have the feeling like I'm trying impossible', with no resources, network or prior successes, you pretty much are, this is not to put you off, but to acknowledge that what you experience is common to a lot of people. Having great ideas, being able to code, understanding markets, understanding promotions and advertising, knowing how to craft and ship a product to your market is all well and good, however, look at th…

There is some niche in my market that I'm trying to tackle and it's fun for me, I'm enjoying it. I will definitely try that one, but the problem is that mentality of people in my country is that they are so unwilling to pay for something or try, most people are like: "Do I need to pay for this? If yes, then I'm not going to".

Then stop trying to sell a product and give one away.

Re: Ask HN: For 10 years I've been trying various projects, still clueless

#29

Post by bhu1st »

ipaddr wrote: post #28
superdario wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is some niche in my market that I'm trying to tackle and it's fun for me, I'm enjoying it. I will definitely try that one, but the problem is that mentality of people in my country is that they are so unwilling to pay for something or try, most people are like: "Do I need to pay for this? If yes, then I'm not going to".

Then stop trying to sell a product and give one away.

Then what pays the bill?

Re: Ask HN: For 10 years I've been trying various projects, still clueless

#30

Post by ipaddr »

superdario wrote: post #11
namanyayg wrote: post #3

What all have you tried and how did each of them fail?

Blitzer - hangout application, you put a pin on the map that is active for up to 1 hour and then you can meet people for anything. The problem was the geolocation, because it is hyper-geolocated so I would need to get many people in one small place, like one city. Mimic - if you know what TikTok has duets now, Mimic was supposed to be that before TikTok existed where you imitate a person, mimicking person. The proble…

I see your issue: marketing. Each of your products can succeed if you spent 99% of your time/effort/money on marketing.

Blitzer seems simplifier. You pick a city, a local one would be easier. You join local groups, connect with local media, setup local events, talk to people locally. Put up fliers with qr codes.

Maybe you have a big prize somewhere in the city gl and you get everyone excited to look for it in some geo search game.

Follow that and you will succeed. My guess is you don't want to do that. That's not fun, or technical. That's what it takes to succeed.. and it can work in any industry from selling t-shirts to rocket fuel.

Most people want to come up with a unique idea or twist, create the site/application and expect everyone to come because of the quality of the idea. This rarely works unless your product is 100x better than what exists and even then you still need to get lucky go viral. Meanwhile everyone thinks your idea is great and is now copying it.

Your comment here tells me you understand this: "But then again why would they do it through my site when they can do it via IG or Twitter"

Why would anyone try to sell farts through you? Have you build up a fart audience? That's your first step. Find a way to get people who like farts to visit your fart content farm. Once you built that you can approach fart suppliers directly or buy thier farts and resell at a higher price.

Spend 99% of your time creating a community. 1% of your time coding.

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