A couple of years ago I started DataCommandr which was supposed to be an Excel for big data - an easy to use self-service tool for data transformation and analysis: http://conceptoriented.com . Yet, I had to split between several quite different activities: development, marketing, prototyping (it is an innovative product). Eventually, I decided that the process is too slow and with this speed I will never reach the goal. So I decided to re-position the technology: instead of developing a classical WPF desktop application targeted at Excel-like users, I started developing a Java cloud service for in-stream analytics (for IoT). The main goal is to decrease marketing so that the product can sell itself.
Ask HN: Single Person startup/company?
111–120 of 399 posts
Re: Ask HN: Single Person startup/company?
#112I work on https://www.blabladns.co - a free dynamic dns service with an easy api and many integrations (e.g. Slack, PagerDuty, Messenger, etc.).
Working Solo on it and its not profitably, because there is no paid plan yet. More premium features will cost and will be integrated soon.
Growth? Very slowly with one to two user per week. Probably because I dont do marketing at all (only the blog).
Re: Ask HN: Single Person startup/company?
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
How was your overall experience for the swich to self-hosted ads in terms of time and money you had to invest given that the main sellingpoint for Adsense is its ease of use?
I had Adsense and self-hosted ads simultaneously for a while and had built a decent base of advertisers and contacts over the years so there wasn't much additional investment of time above what I was already doing. Getting an advertiser on board with your program is the hard part, swapping graphics in and out is the easy part.
Are you selling by impressions or clicks or time? Did you build your own ad serving and tracking software?
Re: Ask HN: Single Person startup/company?
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
A word of advice from an internet stranger: start charging as soon as you can. This will determine whether you are a running a business or a fun side project.
Thanks for your advice. There are couple competitors on a market right now ( launchkit.com, storeshots.net etc. ) and they have richer functionality than my service. So i'm not sure why people would pay for my app rather than for theirs.
Because the features they are offering may not be something a prospective customer values.
Re: Ask HN: Single Person startup/company?
#115I started https://officesnapshots.com as a side project 9 years ago and it has been my full-time work for the last ~4 years. If you don't count the cost of me, it has always been profitable as the business costs itself are pretty low. I had zero business goals at the beginning and now it is probably the most popular site in its niche (office design). The thing most people are interested in here is that I moved from u…
I wasn't expecting to see familiar names in this thread. I remember when you started OS! Fantastic to hear it's going so well.
Hey! Worth noting for people reading that you were responsible for some of the site's early success with your tweeting about it and it subsequently being of the front page of digg several times.
OS has changed a lot in its look and features and the audience I target, but it is essentially the same concept.
Re: Ask HN: Single Person startup/company?
#116I started https://officesnapshots.com as a side project 9 years ago and it has been my full-time work for the last ~4 years. If you don't count the cost of me, it has always been profitable as the business costs itself are pretty low. I had zero business goals at the beginning and now it is probably the most popular site in its niche (office design). The thing most people are interested in here is that I moved from u…
Is your content all provided by the design firms responsible? How did you solicit your first submissions?
Re: Ask HN: Single Person startup/company?
#117A couple of years ago I started DataCommandr which was supposed to be an Excel for big data - an easy to use self-service tool for data transformation and analysis: http://conceptoriented.com . Yet, I had to split between several quite different activities: development, marketing, prototyping (it is an innovative product). Eventually, I decided that the process is too slow and with this speed I will never reach the g…
So running a single-person startup is not a problem by itself - it can be either a positive factor or negative factor:
NEGATIVE:
* It is very difficult to attract investments because of some formal requirements like "no one-man teams" or "no marriged couples"
* You need to choose a product and business model where it is enough to focus on one or two major activites at least before the scaling phase.
POSITIVE:
* it is much easier to change strategy (pivot) for any reason (say, you fell in love and want to suspend the project)
* It is much easier to make strategic decisions like partnering or relocating
Re: Ask HN: Single Person startup/company?
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had Adsense and self-hosted ads simultaneously for a while and had built a decent base of advertisers and contacts over the years so there wasn't much additional investment of time above what I was already doing. Getting an advertiser on board with your program is the hard part, swapping graphics in and out is the easy part.
Are you selling by impressions or clicks or time? Did you build your own ad serving and tracking software?
Ads are priced $/month and are sold in blocks from one month all the way to 12 months.
The site is on Wordpress so I just use plugins to handle that stuff. I'm basically a publisher so Wordpress is perfect for almost anything I could need to do.
Re: Ask HN: Single Person startup/company?
#119I’ve been working on http://focuster.com for about 2 years now as a side project. It’s a productivity tool for entrepreneurs and freelancers that turns your todo list into a schedule in your calendar, and then gives you smart notifications to keep you focused on the highest priorities. Basically solves the problem of getting distracted and not knowing what to work on next.
Launched on Product Hunt in January 2016 and we were #2 for the day. It’s generating revenue now, though not enough to give up my other gig yet. But I have customers that are giving me some great feedback.
Initially I did everything myself (including UI/UX) but last year I hired a designer to help with a redesign. Also even though I am a developer I hired another developer to help when I had some other things to look after in my consulting business.
LOOKING FOR COFOUNDER: Do you have the marketing and business development chops that will complement my technical and product experience? Drop me a PM or email to jordan @ my domain.
Re: Ask HN: Single Person startup/company?
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why did you chose to sell your software versus a subscription model? Was it just easier, or did you do research and find that selling was more profitable?
I tried to do research by asking more experienced people in the niche. I've got many conflicting suggestions and advice so I went with my gut feeling. I felt there was some reluctance in the gambling world against subscription model and I felt one time fee would maximize chances to get it going. As to the cloud vs stand-alone dilemma, the reasons for choosing stand-alone were: -everyone has a CPU at home and those co…
I had not considered the issue of trust in the cloud. I know that I trust privacy in the cloud, but I had not considered that customers might not.