Solo.im – A single founder peer group • Hacker News Board

Re: Solo.im – A single founder peer group

#41

Post by mladenkovacevic » Fri, Feb 14, 2014, 9:22 PM UTC

I am always worried that these things are just acting as "idea harvesters" ... so while these single founders are discussing strategies and tactics.. some company out there is selecting the best one to build an MVP and pitch to an investor.

The fear is completely unfounded, but I guess that's how my mind works.

EDIT: Having said all that, I am still waiting for my confirmation email.

Re: Solo.im – A single founder peer group

#42

Post by ritchiem » Fri, Feb 14, 2014, 9:50 PM UTC

Sounds great I was just having a bad 10days. So need a kick in the right direction that I'm hoping this sort of thing could offer.

Re: Solo.im – A single founder peer group

#43

Post by _zen » Fri, Feb 14, 2014, 10:07 PM UTC

Great landing page photo, I had it as my desktop a few months ago.

http://500px.com/photo/43639202

Re: Solo.im – A single founder peer group

#44

Post by chrissyb » Fri, Feb 14, 2014, 10:10 PM UTC

omnisci wrote: post #30

Love the idea, I'm a single founder as well and tend to talk to my poor GF about my issues (luckily, she is awesome :) ). Looking forward to see where this goes.

Haha this post could have been written by me. Perhaps I should sign up!

Re: Solo.im – A single founder peer group

#45

Post by eropple » Fri, Feb 14, 2014, 10:52 PM UTC

mgkimsal wrote: post #11

gregormck wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We looked at lots of different community software. Cost came into it too - so it came down to Google+, Facebook or Linked In Groups. We chose G+. On iii) we are working on improving this all the time

Most community software would give people the option of G+, FB and LI identities, on top of regular email identity. I can't imagine the cost/hosting of something like buddypress or elgg would be all that burdensome, which would give you multiple social logins as well as keeping things in-house vs under google's control. You're trying to go after a rather single-minded crowd (solo founders) and you may end up losing a…

I'm not a regular G+ user but I'd rather use G+ any day of the week over either BuddyPress or Elgg (because they're terrible) and I am certain that these guys have way better things to do with his time than write a better community portal. It is burdensome and it's presumptive of you to expect him to burn his time on something that benefits a tiny outlier of the audience. To be honest, I'd be less interested if it was populated with people who care that much about waving their Not Google+ flag because trivialities like that should be a very low priority for people in that solo-founder bucket.

Thanks, gregormck and crew! It's a great idea, I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of it. I'll be looking into it this evening.

Re: Solo.im – A single founder peer group

#46

Post by rwillmer » Fri, Feb 14, 2014, 10:59 PM UTC

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #41

I am always worried that these things are just acting as "idea harvesters" ... so while these single founders are discussing strategies and tactics.. some company out there is selecting the best one to build an MVP and pitch to an investor. The fear is completely unfounded, but I guess that's how my mind works. EDIT: Having said all that, I am still waiting for my confirmation email.

I'm one of the early people on solo.im; all I can say is that it hasn't felt like that to me. Just a really useful supportive group of people who are out there doing it, willing to share our experience.

Rachel

P.S. And I don't buy the idea of "idea harvesters" anyway. Ideas are easy; ask any founder. Execution is the hard bit...

Re: Solo.im – A single founder peer group

#47

Post by zavi » Fri, Feb 14, 2014, 11:09 PM UTC

So, a meetup.com with selectivity and a better looking website.

Re: Solo.im – A single founder peer group

#48

Post by jankins » Fri, Feb 14, 2014, 11:32 PM UTC

I'm not a G+ user but am interested in joining this group. I filled out the form without realizing that the whole thing is run over G+, so I put in my own website instead, assuming the only reason you were asking for G+ was to find out more about each applicant. I think some explanation about why the G+ link is on the application would be helpful.

Re: Solo.im – A single founder peer group

#49

Post by jasonkester » Sat, Feb 15, 2014, 12:17 AM UTC

Excellent timing. Over the last few months, I've been finding less and less things here at HN that have anything to do with building/running/growing a software business. I scan down the entire homepage and there's just nothing to click on anymore. It just looks like /r/programming or Slashdot used to look.

Something new will emerge pretty soon to fill the void, and our demographic will slowly find their way there, sadly leaving this place to all those folks currently having so much fun arguing about the time-wastish stuff on the front page.

If this has a chance of being that place, sign me up.

Re: Solo.im – A single founder peer group

#50

Post by lifeisstillgood » Sat, Feb 15, 2014, 12:21 AM UTC

jasonkester wrote: post #49

Excellent timing. Over the last few months, I've been finding less and less things here at HN that have anything to do with building/running/growing a software business. I scan down the entire homepage and there's just nothing to click on anymore. It just looks like /r/programming or Slashdot used to look. Something new will emerge pretty soon to fill the void, and our demographic will slowly find their way there, sa…

normally I ignore this "HN is not what it used to be comment". But this time there is a "something else" to compare to. And we have lost something on the front page - but Ask is still vibrant.

Now I must go ignore myself