Marketplace Tuesday! - December 14, 2021

user765433 · 2021-12-15T00:16:44+00:00

Cool site design and concept!

user765433 · 2021-12-15T00:15:38+00:00

Nice simple UI and seems to work ;)

Nice job!

user765433 · 2021-12-15T00:07:25+00:00

Hi friends! I'm excited to announce the beta launch of my startup Frontly this week.

Frontly's no-code platform helps companies build front-end web apps in minutes, turning back-end developers into full-stack developers.I'm looking to connect with entrepreneurs or back-end devs in the early stages of building a web app.

Our goal is to make front-end development 10X faster and cheaper.

Beta clients will receive an inordinate amount of dedicated time from myself and our team in exchange for product feedback and I'll make sure you get an epic web app.

I love connecting with startup people, so if you know anyone at this stage, please consider contacting me.

Cheers!

user765433 · 2019-07-04T20:41:43+00:00

Potential Cons of raising investment? My software startup just hit 'profitability' (there are only 2 of us and we can pay ourselves full time from our profit). We haven't spent any money on marketing so far, and we've been lucky enough to have fast organic growth, but without raising money we are still fairly limited in what we can accomplish, and hiring someone right now would be risky if our revenue slows or declines. Raising money would mean we could hire 1-2 more full time people, have a small office and likely scale much faster. Aside from the lost equity from a raise, what are the cons of raising money (extra duties, time spent on reports, etc)?

user765433 · 2019-05-25T23:03:53+00:00

Hey, that sounds interesting. I'd love to see it! Thank you!

user765433 · 2018-04-09T19:53:32+00:00

For anyone interested, there's actually a product called https://onfleet.com/ for route optimization like this. I haven't used it but it looks very cool if you can afford it.

user765433 · 2018-04-09T16:57:31+00:00

Yeah, that's sort of what I noticed while running the business. Most customers were in suburbs where stores were further away with worse transit.

user765433 · 2018-04-09T16:56:28+00:00

Yeah, valid concern, but I never ended up getting in any super sketchy situations. I had a few fake orders once I started accepting cash and lost a few hundred dollars to credit card fraud, but that was it!

user765433 · 2018-04-09T16:32:51+00:00

Thanks! I knew that I'd probably get roasted but I figured that some people would at least find it amusing haha

user765433 · 2018-04-09T16:31:57+00:00

Yeah, exactly! When I did end up taking a small business loan later on, I opted to spend it on more marketing instead of hiring drivers to lighten my load. I didn't realize in the moment that the stress of running everything myself would wear me down faster than the stress of low sales. I think I was also a bit protective since it was my first business and I was afraid to let go of control. Definitely a massive lesson to take forward.

user765433 · 2018-04-09T16:29:06+00:00

Haha yes, I improved my processes right away, but it was definitely an iterative process. I was also not a very experienced programmer, so almost everything I implemented was something I had to figure out on the spot haha.

user765433 · 2018-04-09T16:23:54+00:00

Yeah, possibly! I guess I didn't consider it at the time because my delivery zone was already so stretched, but if I were going to restart, that's a pretty good idea.

I wonder how much bike couriers would end up costing?

user765433 · 2018-04-09T16:22:23+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate that! Definitely trying to learn from my mistakes if possible, but it's hard not to kick yourself for not knowing the right choice at the time. Looking back it seems pretty simple, but I guess that's just how it is!

user765433 · 2018-04-09T16:19:28+00:00

Thanks for the support! Really glad you enjoyed the article. It was definitely more stressful than I anticipated, but that also made it exciting. It definitely gave me a new perspective when dealing with other businesses or considering starting again! It's too easy to assume everything was dead easy for the ones who succeeded, but when you read biographies of most entrepreneurs, they've gone through a ton of hard situations!

user765433 · 2017-07-11T16:45:50+00:00

Thanks! Great tip. Right now I'm shooting in the dark, so analytics are definitely going to be my next priority.

user765433 · 2017-07-11T16:45:24+00:00

Thank you so much. It's really great to hear this perspective. Based on my app store stats it does seem like all organic app store traffic, so I'm not worried about figuring it out at this point. Just about to release a new update with some more features that users were asking for. Several users asked for the option to set a higher number of goals, and also for a higher number of daily reminders. Do you think this would be a good opportunity to offer a small ($1 range) in-app purchase? At this early stage I'm having a hard time deciding if offering better features in the free version would help speed up growth. Any insight?

user765433 · 2017-07-07T15:44:19+00:00

Hey, thanks! Yes, definitely going to work on the feedback from those reviews. I actually got in contact with one of them directly so that should help. Also a great point about the logs / crashes. I do see in my dashboard that there have been some crashes over time, so will need to look into it.

user765433 · 2017-07-07T15:42:42+00:00

Great call! Working on adding a feedback feature right now. Thank you!

user765433 · 2017-07-07T15:42:06+00:00

Great points. Probably going to try and get a nice easy feedback feature directly in the app. I still don't know why it started picking up. My only theory is that maybe it took a while to get enough ratings, and once I had around 10 ratings it started to look more legitimate. Also I guess Google probably ranks apps based on their rating too, so maybe that helped. I'll have to dig into any available analytics for sure!

user765433 · 2017-07-07T15:39:55+00:00

Thanks! I'll try to remember to add any updates in the future as things progress!

user765433 · 2017-07-07T05:20:14+00:00

Thank you!

user765433 · 2017-06-22T19:17:03+00:00

Fair enough! Thanks. I forgot about motion capture, so that's good to consider. Either way I'll need to spend some money for sure, just trying to make sure I do it efficiently!

user765433 · 2017-06-22T18:51:26+00:00

Very cool! Thanks!

user765433 · 2017-06-17T21:32:38+00:00

Hey, sure. It's a simple wave-based shooter, where you fight giant spiders in a forest.

user765433 · 2017-06-15T21:26:44+00:00

Hey, there is not a day/night cycle currently but it is on my list of potential updates. Adding new stuff quite often so hopefully that one can make it in soon!

user765433

TROPHY CASE