61–70 of 120 posts
Sad to say I've only recently come to this realization. It applies to pretty much anything, whether it's building a business or exercise or learning to draw. And if your motivation can't sustain you long-term, change your perspective so that you have a motivation that will let you see it through. "Make something cool and get rich" doesn't take you very far once you step back for a moment.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just be careful of inventions assignments. If you live in the US you probably signed paperwork that says anything you invent or create is property of the company you work for. If you signed one of these and hack on the side… successful business could be owned by your previous company. You can always ask that they release the IP which requires the lawyers to officially sign it over to you. Before you quit your job mak…
that's not exactly how those work (they can claim an invention if it's done during work hours, with company equipment, in the business area of operation. Might differ from state to state, but that's the gist of those contracts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Isn’t a big part of your userbase into new age stuff? If you think of it as nonsense, how do you earnestly try to serve them? Aren’t they asking for features you think are bunk? A chiropractor uses maps of human bodies to understand where things are, even though they use the information differently than doctors and surgeons, both groups base their understanding on the same facts. I'm guessing the same can apply in…
> both groups base their understanding on the same facts Chiropractors base their knowledge on secret messages from a ghost [1]. [1]: https://nationalpost.com/health/the-first-chiropractor-was-a...
> Some lease company somewhere is getting data on wherever I go. Quite frustrating to figure out who too, unless you can find some debug ports or an SD card holding configuration.
I think you commented in the wrong story
Most of the success cases for Indie Hackers comes from B2C or personal apps usage. Does someone knows great public cases related with B2B? My impression is that in the B2B sales there’s a huge component in terms of being a corporation to give some sort of credibility.
My sense is the opposite. I meet and hear about many more successful B2B founders and a lot more struggling B2C founders. If you look at who's speaking at conferences or who's appearing on podcasts to talk about their successful business, it's almost always B2B. Look at the schedule for the last listed Microconf: all B2B.[0] Arvid Kahl's maybe the exception, as he does more B2C stuff now, but he was there presenting…
I am actively moving further away from B2C, and even though I have a few individual users, the true power of the business shines with agencies, departments and enterprise companies.
My advice would be to create a product that YOU need and design it how you would want it to work if it was an app someone else made. Then dog-food the hell out of it.
Also, make sure not to compete directly with enormous companies because you will always lose. If an enormous company creates a feature that could Sherlock your app, find a way to pivot. Always be on your toes.
Finally, recognize the strengths you have that large companies cannot provide. For me, that is support. My customers can instantly get access to the person who wrote the software and don’t have to go through multiple tiers of support to get the correct answer. Several customers have said the support I provide is the main reason they do not use my larger, better-funded competitors.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just be careful of inventions assignments. If you live in the US you probably signed paperwork that says anything you invent or create is property of the company you work for. If you signed one of these and hack on the side… successful business could be owned by your previous company. You can always ask that they release the IP which requires the lawyers to officially sign it over to you. Before you quit your job mak…
that's not exactly how those work (they can claim an invention if it's done during work hours, with company equipment, in the business area of operation. Might differ from state to state, but that's the gist of those contracts
i.e. your employer can require you to assign the invention to them if it's done during work hours OR with company equipment OR related to the company's business.
The full text in the California labor code is here:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio....
I would add this advice: 1) start by working on your apps on the side while working another job, 2) while working said job, save and invest. Over time this can provide the cushion necessary to jump to full time indie.
What about marketing? I don’t mean necessarily traditional ads but more how to get the word out if you have a good product? I’ve personally find it easy to reach “tech enthusiasts” but much harder to penetrate towards normies who would really benefit from the product but don’t read HN, tech blogs etc.
You can try doing a press release, for example through PrWeb or similar, that will send your announcement to multiple outlets that might write it up if it fits their audience. It’s kind of a shotgun approach though.
Most of the success cases for Indie Hackers comes from B2C or personal apps usage. Does someone knows great public cases related with B2B? My impression is that in the B2B sales there’s a huge component in terms of being a corporation to give some sort of credibility.
Generally, buyers don't know if you are 1 guy in his bedroom or 100 guys in California. In my experience, they also don't care that much as long as they like the product and price (might be different for mission critical software). I am a 1-man band and I have sold software to lots of big and famous companies and organizations.