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I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

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Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#131

Post by hkxer »

razakel wrote: post #97
crazygringo wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, I do. There's no wait in line. There's no waiting 2 min for each response in chat, or waiting 5 min on hold while the rep figures out what to do. And I've, shockingly, gotten issues resolved faster and better. Using one semi-popular consumer app -- once it pointed me to docs on their site that Google wasn't finding because I didn't know what keywords to use. And twice it escalated me to send a message to th…

I've recently encountered one that just sends you in a loop, and there is literally no way to actually speak to a real person. Unless you want to give them more money; they're very responsive in that case. This is a billion-dollar company you have definitely heard of.

Why don't you just name the company?

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#132

Post by skrtskrt »

ruffrey wrote: post #128

I strongly relate to this post. Having grown mailsac.com to above average side project revenue, the admin overhead isn't crazy, but it's exceptionally repetitive and boring. So much time is spent on fraud and normal "running the business" really sucks the enjoyment out of a side project (for me as an engineer). I think that having a side project co-founder who is a relentless business operator is more important than…

I would personally never get into a side project for anything that requires decent fraud prevention (email, telecom, payments, etc.). I have worked at medium-sized startups in these areas struggle to keep their heads above water on fraud prevention even with well-staffed and well-paid teams of experts.

It's a never ending battle where you cannot win, you just manage to not lose so badly that lawyers and federal regulators pound you in the behind or users abandon your platform.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#134

Post by Vegenoid »

_se wrote: post #10
sklarsa wrote: post #5

I love the ending of this story, which isn't obvious from just looking at the title. The author identified key pain points around customer support, automated them, and went back to enjoying life. This is the kind of thing that gets me excited about the possibilities of technology and AI as a force multiplier, especially when working on side projects, "lifestyle" businesses, or even startups as a single founder.

No one wants to talk to an AI for customer support.

No one wants to perform customer support either. Generally, people who are smart and capable of offering good support will stop doing it because there are more fruitful and enjoyable things for them to do.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#136

Post by djeastm »

btbuildem wrote: post #16

This was a fascinating read, really. The potential customer base being basically suckers waving wads of cash to be taken from them. The wild contrast of how nice the author tries to be to every single person that interacts with the project -- despite majority being the equivalent of single-celled organisms poking the fb markeplace "is it available" button. Reading some of the messages from potential users is so eye-o…

> How would one handle this type of project in 2024? Route most of the rote communication via an LLM, automate as much as possible, ignore all feature requests, dogfood everything as you continue to use the project yourself?

As someone else on the thread said, you start charging more. The large swathes of people looking for freebies will fade away and your customers, fewer in number perhaps, will be higher quality (or at least a bit more serious).

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#137

Post by ipsento606 »

shash7 wrote: post #96
thehappyfellow wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have an example of “polite but curt” tone? I’m struggling to see what you mean.

Both xyproto and Gustomaximus have solid examples. Here's more: - Be direct, Hi, the xyz feature is available on the PRO plan. You can upgrade to the PRO plan at app.saas.com/billing - Be brutal, Hi xyz, your card couldn't be charged for your Saas subscription, and hence your subscription has been deactivated. To reactivate, enter your card details app app.saas.com/billing - Be honest, Hello xyz, thanks for the featu…

> Make your support timelines clear somewhere in your product, eg: Our support will respond within max 48 hours, but most responses take 2-3 hours.

This is the biggest thing I struggle with. I have a couple of semi-successful side projects. They bring in some money, but not enough to hire someone to help with support. I have never been at a place in my life where something like "I will response to all support requests within 48 hours" is remotely realistic for me. I'm lucky if I get to a support request within a week or two.

I don't know what the answer is beyond just "don't sell products", because I hate dealing with support more than I enjoy making stuff to sell.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#138

Post by kebman »

I remember the the BBC would upsell on requests from artists visiting their studios in London.

Artist management: “Hey, can you fix XYZ beverage, towels, etc, in the stage ante room?”

BBC: “Sure! That will cost....”

Most would stop pestering at that time, but ever so often you got artists who were willing to pay for the extra service.

Conversion to the mentioned case:

Individual feature request: “Hey, amazing script, I rated it 5 stars! Can you implement the take profit levels for me?”

Generic reply: “Thank you for your interest in Project X! We get thousands of feature requests each week so sadly we cannot cater to individual ones. If you need help on setting take profit levels, I'm afraid you'll have to revert to TradingView's official documentation. Sorry for the inconvenience. Hope you have a nice day!”

Continued pestering: “Ok, but can you please put them for me? I follow this [insert some YouTube crypto day-trader], and he uses [some very specific take profit levels]. I would like the script to draw them for me.”

Up-sell: “I'm sorry, but we sadly cannot cater to individual requests unless you're a Diamond Member. But if you still want bespoke service you can sign up to the Diamond Member Subscription. Please bare in mind that it entails a 1000 monthly retainer with a 300 hourly consultation fee beginning after the first 15 minutes. Please inform me when you want to sign up, and I'll send you the details so we can get started right away!”

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#139

Post by SoftTalker »

rodrigodlu wrote: post #129
wruza wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m observing this for many years and it feels like there are two types of people. Those who perceive lists as a whole and those who list.shuffle().pop(). Try asking your colleagues/etc three semi-related questions in one message and you’ll get only a partial answer in a significant number of cases. When confronted (constructively, much later) they usually get evasive and can’t explain. I could theorize it’s a learne…

I'm pretty sure it's because they're not paying full attention, even worse, sometimes already building an intense narrative with only few items internalized inside their brains. I also feel that this is happening more and more, since there's more rewards for giving very small pieces of attention and energy to a bigger pool of people, instead giving extra energy or attention to a smaller pool of people seeking for one…

Or simply their priorities are not your priorities. They have encountered a problem, they asked for help, but they have 10 other things going on. By the time you answer, they have forgotten half the context of the issue. They try one thing, it doesn't work, they don't have more time right now so they answer that thing 1 didn't work. Repeat.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#140

Post by siliconc0w »

One suggestion is simply increase the price. Price is strongly correlated with quality of customer. Price also acts as signaling that this is a tool for professionals who make actual money and so shouldn't be bothered coughing up something trivial like $100 for a subscription. You end up making more with far less customer support.
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