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Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

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Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#11

Post by cdiamand »

I launched, and have now shut down oppsdaily.com. https://oppslist.com is still up as a zombie.

We asked people about problems or inefficiencies in their industry that could be solved by Saas products and then sent those ideas out as a daily newsletter. I learned a lot, but had difficulty making money with it. Also, I'm not totally sure my heart was in it. I think about it a lot.

I've recently launched a new project - https://topstonks.com where I'm exploring this new speculative culture of investing emanating from places like reddit's Wallstreetbets, and 4chan's Biz.

We currently look at the most mentioned equities and send out a list of those. Once or twice a week we'll post an analysis with some comments from those communities (heads up, if you're easily offended, the language can be a bit crude.)

There are bigger plans on the roadmap, but we're just starting w/ the newsletter for now.

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#12

Post by kozakor »

jcims wrote: post #3
tapejek wrote: post #2

It was the opening of a flower shop. My business didn't make a profit.

Kudos for trying, having taken advantage of these recently it can really help people cope with loss. Finding one you trust is huge as they vary widely in care and competency. On the business side, the supply chain seems like a nightmare. Any specific lessons learned?

Goods that quickly deteriorate hard to deal with

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#14

Post by NoOneNew »

modoc wrote: post #8

https://www.thechillypony.com An email alert for horse owners/barn managers when the forecast will be colder than a configured threshold temperature. It's saved us a lot of mental energy this winter (having to check not just the forecast but also making sure to check the temp at 3 AM with windchill factored in, etc...). Got zero interest from various equestrian forums. shrug . I taught myself Spring Boot through so t…

Damn, knowing some horse owners, I don't see why they wouldn't like the extra reminder. Sure, you should always know yourself. But a little backup wouldn't hurt.

Are you still pushing it? I don't think you should give up on that as just a magnet idea, at the very least. Maybe try fleshing out an extra feature/service?

Out of curiosity, how are you handling the emails? In house or 3rd party service?

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#15

Post by RikNieu »

https://coddle.app/

Coddle is a service that checks if your sites are online, how fast they load, and lets you know if something is wrong. As a bonus, it takes screen shots of your sites with a selection of device options.

It didn't pick up the traction I was expecting, guess this is not really something people need.

I learned a lot making it though and will use it for my own sites, so not a complete loss.

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#16

Post by NoOneNew »

cdiamand wrote: post #11

I launched, and have now shut down oppsdaily.com. https://oppslist.com is still up as a zombie. We asked people about problems or inefficiencies in their industry that could be solved by Saas products and then sent those ideas out as a daily newsletter. I learned a lot, but had difficulty making money with it. Also, I'm not totally sure my heart was in it. I think about it a lot. I've recently launched a new project…

Those are actual, real world requests in the oppslist?

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#18

Post by greentrust »

jacquesm wrote: post #5

If you start a side project with the goal to make money then you are making an error of definition. A side project should have the goal of teaching you something or being useful in some other way. If it doesn't then it has failed. If it makes money that's gravy but it should definitely not be the first factor in deciding whether or not it has failed.

The goal of a side project can be whatever a person wants it to be. Make money. Learn something. Improve people's lives. Creative outlet. Your definition limits people's ambitions.

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#19

Post by modoc »

NoOneNew wrote: post #14
modoc wrote: post #8

https://www.thechillypony.com An email alert for horse owners/barn managers when the forecast will be colder than a configured threshold temperature. It's saved us a lot of mental energy this winter (having to check not just the forecast but also making sure to check the temp at 3 AM with windchill factored in, etc...). Got zero interest from various equestrian forums. shrug . I taught myself Spring Boot through so t…

Damn, knowing some horse owners, I don't see why they wouldn't like the extra reminder. Sure, you should always know yourself. But a little backup wouldn't hurt. Are you still pushing it? I don't think you should give up on that as just a magnet idea, at the very least. Maybe try fleshing out an extra feature/service? Out of curiosity, how are you handling the emails? In house or 3rd party service?

I'm going to leave it up, and ideally add to it/improve it, but I'm not actively pushing it because I haven't figured out how to do so effectively... I'm currently using SES to send the outbound notifications.

Re: Ask HN: What's your latest failed side project and why?

#20

Post by simon_weber »

https://repominder.com sends release reminders for your open source projects. It works by monitoring the diff between your development branch and how you release (eg tags or another branch).

It works well for me and one other power user, but hasn't grown beyond that. My guess is it's just a failure of marketing -- I make lots of these projects that scratch an itch and then just hope people will find them.

At least it's cheap to run ($2/month for the vps plus <$10/year for the domain).

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