Selling my startup - freescreencast.com • Hacker News Board

Re: Selling my startup - freescreencast.com

#11

Post by qeorge » Thu, Jul 02, 2009, 12:54 PM UTC

sho wrote: post #8

imajes wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and what language/platform, hosting costs, etc...

It's PHP, for what it's worth. I know because the first thing I do at any site is look at their error handling. Here's theirs, trying to load http://freescreencast.com/screencasts2 : Missing controller You are seeing this error because controller Screencasts2Controller could not be found. Notice: If you want to customize this error message, create app/views/errors/missing_controller.thtml. Fatal: Create the class bel…

Doesn't CakePHP have "production mode"?

Yes, its a matter of changing the debug value to 0 instead of 1 in /app/config/core.php. If this were set you'd be getting 404's instead of error messages.

@OP - This probably isn't the best place to sell your site, but you're going to need a lot more stats if you want to sell it anywhere. At the very least you need to show proof of revenue over time. A good place to start your asking price is 8 * monthly_profit.

Re: Selling my startup - freescreencast.com

#12

Post by Zarathu » Thu, Jul 02, 2009, 1:29 PM UTC

Put it up on eBay.

Actually, let's just start bidding right now. I'll put up $50. Anyone for $55?

Re: Selling my startup - freescreencast.com

#13

Post by petercooper » Thu, Jul 02, 2009, 1:31 PM UTC

jaskew wrote: post #2

I have given it a good run. I have a business partner with money, many great developers and testers on my side, and a some-what successful go of it. But I no longer have the time. I'm ready to pass on this torch and give it up to someone. The primary reason is family. The other is I have found several other excellent sources of income and I can't justify spending the time to over come the bump on freescreencast.com.…

Do you own freescreencasts.com as well? I notice it was registered not long after, has the same private registration vendor, and has the same nameservers. Could be coincidence but if you have that domain too it makes it somewhat more valuable.

Re: Selling my startup - freescreencast.com

#14

Post by petercooper » Thu, Jul 02, 2009, 1:32 PM UTC

Zarathu wrote: post #12

Put it up on eBay. Actually, let's just start bidding right now. I'll put up $50. Anyone for $55?

I bid $400 :P Thing is, this is still nowhere near what the OP wants to hear, but we haven't been given any real data yet so it's like sticking a flag in quicksand.

Re: Selling my startup - freescreencast.com

#15

Post by bjplink » Thu, Jul 02, 2009, 2:42 PM UTC

fallentimes wrote: post #5

jaskew wrote: post #2

I have given it a good run. I have a business partner with money, many great developers and testers on my side, and a some-what successful go of it. But I no longer have the time. I'm ready to pass on this torch and give it up to someone. The primary reason is family. The other is I have found several other excellent sources of income and I can't justify spending the time to over come the bump on freescreencast.com.…

You might be better served doing this on the Digital Point forums or Flippa.com.

This site isn't nearly spammy enough for the savages over at Digital Point but Flippa might be worth a try.

Also, if you're serious about selling, put a very visible graphic on every page with a link to a sales pitch PDF. The basic stuff everyone here has asked for should be included: traffic, revenue and background technology information.

With no revenue you're going to find yourself instantly offended by low-ball offers but you might find a diamond in the rough if you're patient.

Re: Selling my startup - freescreencast.com

#16

Post by sho » Thu, Jul 02, 2009, 7:39 PM UTC

qeorge wrote: post #11

sho wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's PHP, for what it's worth. I know because the first thing I do at any site is look at their error handling. Here's theirs, trying to load http://freescreencast.com/screencasts2 : Missing controller You are seeing this error because controller Screencasts2Controller could not be found. Notice: If you want to customize this error message, create app/views/errors/missing_controller.thtml. Fatal: Create the class bel…

Doesn't CakePHP have "production mode"? Yes, its a matter of changing the debug value to 0 instead of 1 in /app/config/core.php. If this were set you'd be getting 404's instead of error messages. @OP - This probably isn't the best place to sell your site, but you're going to need a lot more stats if you want to sell it anywhere. At the very least you need to show proof of revenue over time. A good place to start your…

6 hours later and debug mode still hasn't been turned off, even though you told him exactly how to, in his own thread. Unbelievable. Most of the web devs I know would have panicked, fixed the setting and redeployed within minutes of learning they'd screwed up in a visible and embarrassing way.

Inspire confidence this does not.

Re: Selling my startup - freescreencast.com

#17

Post by dshah » Sun, Jul 05, 2009, 3:50 PM UTC

petercooper wrote: post #14

Zarathu wrote: post #12

Put it up on eBay. Actually, let's just start bidding right now. I'll put up $50. Anyone for $55?

I bid $400 :P Thing is, this is still nowhere near what the OP wants to hear, but we haven't been given any real data yet so it's like sticking a flag in quicksand.

I'll bid $500. For real.

HN is likely one of the worst places to try and sell something like this. We all believe we can rewrite 80% of something like this in a couple of weekends, given sufficient caffeine.

The $500 bid is based on the likelihood that if you find a buyer on HN, some tech bloggers will likely pick up the story, and the PR value itself might be worth it.

Let's see.