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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?

#141

Post by corentino »

I launched http://www.jaimelesstartups.fr with a friend in mid february.

Goal is to make french startup famous ... in France. No ads ! No business model ! (cost us zero since it's hosted on my server I use for my projets) We started with 3 visitors/day now we are at 200. Got a partnership with the French techcrunch Got contacts with famous french entrepreneurs to interview

We are happy and we continue to work hard (I work all day long) Actually, I'm working on the design (which is not that easy for an engineer...)

Any feedback are more than welcome

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

#142

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

prezjordan wrote: post #85
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #41

I launched http://websocket.us/ to tell people about WebSocket. Unlike its competitor, websocket.org, it's not for profit.

Been looking for something like this for quite some time! May I donate?

For what reason? To say thanks?

And, yeah, email me and I can send you my PayPal address.

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

#143

Post by onlyup »

jontonsoup wrote: post #13

I built http://stalltalk.info/ . Its a toilet based social network. The amount of fun I have had with this far outweighs the profitability.

I clicked on this thinking it would be really dumb but I was surprised. It seems fun!

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

#144

Post by onlyup »

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.

You should link to somewhere we can read about and maybe even buy the book.

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

#146

Post by onlyup »

andyfleming wrote: post #107
nhebb wrote: post #49

I updated my circa 2007 website design last week to a more modernized look based on twitter bootstrap and my sales plummeted. Does that count?

Dropped ~75%?! Let's see a post with some screenshots!

Another +1 for wanting to see comparisons and an analysis.

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

#147

Post by ComNik »

jtolj wrote: post #60
ComNik wrote: post #19

I started Rankique - http://www.rankique.com/ - basically a price tracking app. Made about ~20$ so far, so it's "profitable", but you get the point..

Awesome job! I would definitely use this - but I'm getting a 500 error trying to enter my email address with plus character in it.

Oh so you are the lonely, malformed entry in my db... I'll fix that, sorry!

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

#148

Post by ComNik »

dfgonzalez wrote: post #87
ComNik wrote: post #19

I started Rankique - http://www.rankique.com/ - basically a price tracking app. Made about ~20$ so far, so it's "profitable", but you get the point..

Made something similar just tracking products in Argentina, where I'm from, pretty much the same concept but I don't understand why don't you put a big nice button with an affiliate link to buy the best price listing you found for today, that would help, believe me :) This is my version: http://numok.com PS, the guys from priceonomics.com seems to be the leaders in this.

I really like your design (:

And yes, I'll be changing design and button placement in the coming weeks, that's a valid point.

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

#149

Post by jtolj »

cheatercheater wrote: post #139
jtolj wrote: post #32

I quietly launched/brought out of beta http://requeue.com this year. I built it mainly for myself, since I found myself watching more and more long-format web video and wanted a better way to organize it. The terms of the Youtube API pretty much rule out monetizing the site with advertising, but usage has (sadly?) been low enough that I just eat the cost of the two Linodes it takes to run.

How about this: let a user enter a tag (#awesome, #sxswi) and your app trolls the tag's search results on twitter for videos. They get sorted by hotness and presented as a playlist. New things get added to the end.

Thanks for the suggestion. When I initially starting brainstorming on the idea, I had some Twitter integration included: auto-adding videos from your timeline (stolen from the Boxee folks) and hashtag "subscriptions"... but it started getting more convoluted to explain to people, so I thought I'd start more simply with just allowing folks to subscribe to "shows".

Obviously my execution is not resonating with people (great signup conversion rates, terrible usage rates), so when I have time I may reboot it as something more like what you're describing.

I still think there is something to the idea of improving the leanback and placeshifting experience for all this great long format web content that's out there (Rev3, This Week In, etc). I'm apparently just not smart enough to figure it out on my own ;p.

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

#150

Post by ComNik »

jtolj wrote: post #60
ComNik wrote: post #19

I started Rankique - http://www.rankique.com/ - basically a price tracking app. Made about ~20$ so far, so it's "profitable", but you get the point..

Awesome job! I would definitely use this - but I'm getting a 500 error trying to enter my email address with plus character in it.

Should work now, sorry for the inconvenience.
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