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Ask HN: who started something in 2012 that didn't or won't become profitable?

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Re: Ask HN: who started something in 2012 that didn't or won't become profitable?

#111

Post by daveid »

genwin wrote: post #106
daveid wrote: post #17

I built http://artistsnclients.com - It was an idea I had back in 2011 but couldn't find time to do. Now I built it, but it doesn't seem to be viable. I had a few people test it and the profit is at about $4 right now. At least I improved my skills a lot thanks to it, especially in regards to financial processing.

Get rid of the warning "use at your own risk". That's what the Terms of Service is for, on every site.

Yeah.. replaced it with just a Beta message. I feel like it's right to indicate that it's still in development. Thanks!

I'm quite surprised I got any upvotes.

Re: Ask HN: who started something in 2012 that didn't or won't become profitable?

#113

Post by fmstephe »

I am writing a location service to allow people to add 'local interaction' easily to an application. There is a demo of a multiplayer tankwars clone using it at

battlewith.me.uk

The initial idea was that when I was young I played games on a single computer with a shared computer, things like Tankwars, Worms and Mortal Kombat. That was a lot more fun for me than fragging strangers over the internet.

After the web-demo I would like to look at mobile apps. Actually about to post a Show HN of it very soon.

Source @ https://github.com/fmstephe/location_server

Re: Ask HN: who started something in 2012 that didn't or won't become profitable?

#114

Post by patio11 »

simplegeek wrote: post #82

Hi guys, I started selling an ebook and haven't earned a single $ yet. Though I've been making constant improvements. Slightly taking advantage of this thread: is there anyone who has successfully sold ebooks on Internet? I definitely need some help. Thanks in advance.

Drop me an email, I know a few things about a few things.

Re: Ask HN: who started something in 2012 that didn't or won't become profitable?

#115

Post by marquis »

RBerenguel wrote: post #102
marquis wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great idea but it returned Dutch for "voy al supermercado", though it was correct for "ik ga naar de supermarkt' and 'je vais au supermarché'. Good luck!

For very short phrases the data corpora are too shallow. I have to improve that, and the identifier logic, and... The most important part was discovering that django is amazingly fun & simple. Thanks for the encouragement :)

Right, that makes sense that you need a bigger chunk of data. You could fix that on the user end by just adding a note 'works best with more input'.

Re: Ask HN: who started something in 2012 that didn't or won't become profitable?

#116

Post by marquis »

daveid wrote: post #17

I built http://artistsnclients.com - It was an idea I had back in 2011 but couldn't find time to do. Now I built it, but it doesn't seem to be viable. I had a few people test it and the profit is at about $4 right now. At least I improved my skills a lot thanks to it, especially in regards to financial processing.

There are some real gems here, it's a great concept and I think it's worth putting in the time to make it shine. Maybe hit some people up on other artist sites like deviantart and ask them to submit to beef up the portfolio. I commission art for various occasions and it's also a great gift idea, eg. http://artistsnclients.com/slots/13

Re: Ask HN: who started something in 2012 that didn't or won't become profitable?

#117

Post by kmx411 »

Few friends and I launched www.chooseforchange.com Technically "we" are not profitable since all the income is going to a cause. But it's working pretty well, having some difficulties figuring out how to get people to place the markers that friends buy for them. People are thinking our wall posts are "spam" and ignoring them.

Re: Ask HN: who started something in 2012 that didn't or won't become profitable?

#118

Post by vineet »

bearwithclaws wrote: post #15

Richerd and I built http://sinkorship.com/ about a month ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3899231 . Got on the HN front page for 10+ hours, tons of attention, tweets, press etc. Except nobody paid.

I liked the idea. But perhaps it needs to be tweaked. Getting gaming right is hard. Maybe:

* offer a $100 credit to start off.

* offer more services than just a tweet if successful - for example a very simple feedback widget that shows up.

* charge only for delaying ship dates, but not for changing what is being shipped, or for minor delays (say within a week).

* don't charge if the person accepts public humiliation with a tweet saying "I sucked and did not ship my planned item.".

Re: Ask HN: who started something in 2012 that didn't or won't become profitable?

#120

Post by edmarriner »

sparknlaunch wrote: post #22

Started writing a blog to document our startup experiences but no one visits it. Those that visit don't stay. Tried promotion through social media without success. Everyone said it will be easy to interact with those with similar interests. While not the aim to make a profit, currently no chance of making any traction, let alone profit from the blog. http://sparknlaunch.wordpress.com/

bookmarked!
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