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Ask HN: Are you a solo creator?
79 points by iisbum on Jan 6, 2011 | hide | past | favorite | 38 comments
I know that YC prefers having a team of co-founders, but I've found that working solo is great for others me included!

Did you plan, design, and develop your own idea to launch? If so, I'd like to showcase your work on a new interview site I've started:

http://www.madebyone.com

Please email me: hello{at}madebyone.com and we'll get the interview rolling.




[deleted]


I appreciate your point of view, and the picture used was provided by Josh himself, so perhaps he wishes to promote a more fun/"silly" side.

I am in no way trying to hurt anyones reputation, quite the opposite in-fact.


I deleted my original post because I want to be clear that I don't believe Josh's reputation was hurt in any way. If it came across that way, I want it gone.

I think his app and business look very interesting, and I LOVE what you are doing to promote solo-entrepreneurs.

All I'm saying is that the picture he submitted, and you posted, has set the "tone" for your site, and by doing this, you've kind-of defined your marketing strategy to match his by default, and I question whether this is the direction you really want to go with your site. Which - maybe it is, I'm getting older after all, and I'm not as silly and fun anymore.

Josh is setting the tone for his business by submitting that picture. That's how he wants to paint the picture of his business, and that's what works for him, and that's how HE will become successful, but does it help your business? I have no idea.

Anyway, no big deal, sorry for yet another confusing post on Hacker News.


Honestly I don't see what the big deal is. A silly picture or personality is not going to sway me from using an app. Being an asshole will however.


Thanks for clarifying your point.

I see what you're saying the tone of site, but I hope the readers are able to distinguish what the site is trying to do and the personality of the solo-entrepreneurs that are featured.

And in the worst case, the picture will be replaced in a little while with another one! :)


Yes, but, for example, I wouldn't want to be the next entrepreneur on your site at this point.

I would wait until there were more people on the site, because at this point, if I were to send you a picture of myself in a tie, but then every other picture that showed up on the site was developers making faces - "I" would look like the sore thumb.

This conversation is going to be pointless :) I have a feeling you are going to do really well.


You just never know who's watching.

Some people might like a silly photo, other people might be offended by it.

Some potential app users might not care, but some might be more conservative and want to see a more serious image. Certainly a person who may be looking for investment in the future (even somebody who's bootstrapping today) is going to be concerned about the image they project.


You sound like my grandfather.

How "professional" the developer of an app looks in a photo has absolutely nothing to do with the success of an app.

Build junk people want and quit worrying about how "professional" you're perceived.


Build it and they will come only happens in movies. The way you present your company and app is very important in your marketing strategy.


Completely agree, but the "solo regular person takes on the Internet" narrative has often been more effective than the "solo regular person tries to be perceived as multinational corporation" narrative, depending on the audience.


Do you have any idea what the Angry Birds developers look like? Well most of their users have no clue because promotion and the development team don’t need to be connected at all.


Two things.

1) Funny, because the app I was interviewed for worked out exactly like that. I haven't spent any money on marketing and done very little to promote it. People just like the app and tell their friends about it.

2) You're confusing marketing a person and marketing a product. Who cares what _any_ of the developers of an app look like? Seriously. People care than an app solves their problems. That's it. End of story.


Not true.

I care a lot about how the employees of a company present themselves.


2b) Except when the company is only 1 person. Then the public persona of the individual is the public persona of the company / product.


We're not all kids.


I'm a solo. You should join http://www.reddit.com/r/solostartups

My apps at https://zetabee.com


Thanks so much for showing me that sub-reddit. Wish it was more frequented though.


Do you have any plans beyond just taking the interviews?

This idea's been done a few times, and I've interviewed for each site, but the sites never went anywhere and virtually nobody read the interviews.

You'd have to convince me it's worth the time again.


I wasn't aware that this topic/format had been done before.

Whilst I can't guarantee that the interviews will be read by millions of people, I do have a fairly large network of sites in the web development industry and will be promoting all the interviews as best I can.

I've also tried to keep the interviews pretty short, so hopefully it won't be too large an investment of your time.

I don't know where this will lead, at the moment I'm just trying to promote some great projects from some talented people.

Could it lead to a book with more detailed interviews at some point, I can only hope :)


Mixergy is probably your closest major competitor in my opinion. They seem to have a lot of solo-entrepreneurs on the site.

What keeps "me" coming back for more are real numbers. If developers will share their real numbers like profits, downloads, active users, stats, etc, that's what gets me back.


Not really launched, still validating ideas and such. But www.unscatter.com is all me. Not really interested in doing interviews or anything right now, it's more or less been pushed back to being a hobby rather than a project due to less time with an infant and a toddler in the home :)


Is there some sort of network of solo entrepreneurs in San Francisco that get together to ask/answer questions and share experience? Last day at my job is today, I've filed incorporation papers, I've never done this before and I have a bunch of questions.


I've in the same boat (except keeping the job for now). So fa the two closest I have found are: http://sfnightowls.com/ and https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Noisebridge

Of course, there are platform specific meetups that can be pretty good.


Already got some emails, thanks for reaching out guys, will be emailing back ASAP.

Clickable link: http://www.madebyone.com


You should visit Micropreneur Academy: http://micropreneur.com and also check out http://softwarebyrob.com and http://singlefounder.com. I belong to the MA, and it's a great resource for solo founders.


I have created http://watchdogdaemon.com by myself. I need to be able to monitor client applications at multiple hosting companies that are behind firewalls.

Its currently in private beta, I'm going to be sending out a fresh round of invites, if you signup and mention HN I will move you up the list.


http://ohboard.com It is a little Chrome whiteboarding app that I sell for $3.99. Being a solo creator, I really enjoying numbers without pressure: http://ohboard.com/blog/10-sales-in-2-weeks/


+1 for https://www.blamestella.com/

P.S. Love the pic on the homepage :]


I was going to ask what the big deal is about being a solo creator, but then I realized it's sort of like being a single-parent. There is definitely a unique set of challenges associated with both, which I think presents the opportunity for active communities in either group. Neat idea!


If you are a solo founder please join us in the ##solofounders channel on Freenode (note the double hashes).

If you don't have an IRC client you can use this:

http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=%23%23solofounders&...


Created http://www.supersaas.com all by myself, although by now there are a bunch of people doing customer service and sales worldwide.


For one project I'm a solo technician so far, but have two peers for sales & marketing. Seems quite fun!

For a few smaller things I'm a "pure solo". Looks like it's harder this way.


I made http://www.findanewgame.com, but I don't know if it counts :-)


Can't say creator. I have a lot of ideas but the day job is draining too many hours that cannot be dedicated to execute them.


Are you looking for founders of monetized creations only, or interested in cool just-for-fun or free to use stuff as well?


http://www.rawsignal.com is made by one


great idea! :)


I created http://digest.io all by myself and for myself. It has paying clients now and I am close to releasing the iPhone / Android apps.


Just to tell, the youtube video its said to be supressed by the user :P




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