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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

#11

Post by superdario »

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 problem was marketing, no budget and no idea how to market.

xoxoSnap - what OnlyFans is now, xoxoSnap used to be where these models could sell their content, but without a subscription. I gave up without a reason, but I had interested models. This was the worst decision I made with my projects.

SMS Schedule - enable people to automatically send some SMS at a certain time, such as for someone's birthday or Christmas, so that you never forget to congratulate someone. I didn't feel like it would be used.

Gay sex site - Current gay dating is all about sex but covered as dating. So I wanted to make it what it actually is, about sex. Mostly profiles are empty without pics so I wanted to tackle that problem. The problem is again location, need to get people from one city otherwise website makes no sense.

JustBelievers - OnlyFans for believers. Type to subscribe to a priest or pastor who preaches. Nobody was interested

Timechat - a chat application that forces you to answer as soon as possible, otherwise you lose points and fall in the ranking. I didn't do it because I didn't know how to promote it

PhantomChat - a chat that has no history, there is already a bunch of it

CryptoAdults - OnlyFans with crypto. Not working because crypto isn't really used and it's complicated for people

A website selling fetish stuff like farts in a bottle, panties, piss and so on. I didn't make it because I want to find supply before I look for demand. So I need to connect with women who want to sell those things. But then again why would they do it through my site when they can do it via IG or Twitter

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

#12

Post by superdario »

WheelsAtLarge wrote: post #6

Doing it alone is a big disadvantage. You need people with diverse backgrounds to get a business running for the most part. You are the tech brain now focus on finding someone that can sell and manage a business structure. All countries have businesses so it's possible where you live. Start small so you can figure out what it takes to have a continuing business then build upon that.

I agree, definitely harder working alone. So far I spent energy on my partners trying to keep them motivated, trying to make them work and constantly pinging them, it was time, energy and motivation wasting, I could have focused on the project itself instead.

It happens all the time. Even when I had a partner with their own project. They start super motivated and within a month they drop and stop contacting me, so I have to contact them to work on their own project. Either they don't have time so I do all the work

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

#13

Post by superdario »

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

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

#14

Post by bags43 »

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…

Dude you need to find girlfriend and normal 9-17h job.

All these ideas just show how immature you are.

My advice is to find real problem that people have in that region and try to solve it.

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

#15

Post by superdario »

js4ever wrote: post #4

Focus on B2B products, if you are able to convince 5 customers to pay 5k per month or 50 customers to pay 500/month it's enough for you as a solo entrepreneur. B2C is another beast and indeed needs tons of capital.

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. I don't feel comfortable in that role and I'm bad at it

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

#16

Post by superdario »

bags43 wrote: post #14
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…

Dude you need to find girlfriend and normal 9-17h job. All these ideas just show how immature you are. My advice is to find real problem that people have in that region and try to solve it.

Why do you assume I don't have a normal job or a girlfriend or boyfriend?

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

#18

Post by julienreszka »

superdario wrote: post #15
js4ever wrote: post #4

Focus on B2B products, if you are able to convince 5 customers to pay 5k per month or 50 customers to pay 500/month it's enough for you as a solo entrepreneur. B2C is another beast and indeed needs tons of capital.

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. I don't feel comfortable in that role and I'm bad at it

You can make one feature that is lacking and that customers want. Usually the big competitors have apis and plugins so you just integrate it to the larger product

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

#19

Post by defrost »

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…

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), land and houses (real estate deals, land release data from local government), stock and investments (daily public releases from whatever stock exchanges serve your nexus of countries).

That adds to your challenges as you might not know anything about these markets, you are still left with the challenge of finding sufficient core subscribers and promoting for expansion, but it might be the kind of poke in the eye that makes you look about with a different mindset at the wants and needs of those with money doing deals on a daily basis.

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

#20

Post by thunderbong »

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…

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!

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