I have substantial experience architecting and building modern, cloud-native applications and leading a remote team. I currently oversee the platforms used by thousands of developers & scientists at a Global 250 in a SRE/Architect role. I am most interested in roles that involve leadership & development of technical/software products.
That’s sort of the vision I have for https://www.naverator.com/. Make planning the actual specifics of a particular trip easier, but also make it easier to discover and share ideas with others both within the site and on other platforms.
Neat project! If anyone's interested in more of a full-featured web app for travel planning, I've been working on developing https://www.naverator.com/
You're right, it is all manual for now. I do like the idea of some sort of import, but it's intended for a more general audience. I'm not sure my mom would figure out how to create and then import a CSV.
> The ability to take the feedback and double down in just a few days is motivational.
Maybe. I took it slightly differently. They received negative feedback after a 10 minute pitch, and immediately dropped everything to change their product & strategy to appease a potential investor.
Was monetizing in this manner at this moment the right strategy for them? That's a pivotal decision to make and not one I'd throw together at 2 am to try impress a party with no skin in the game.
Their willingness to make the change may reflect the fact that deep down, they had been thinking that they should monetize, and having YC tell them to do it may just have been the kick in the ass they needed.
It's not like YC told them "put on a chicken suit and dance in front of our headquarters and we might consider you".
Monetizing and finding out whether there's anyone willing to actually pay for the product is a straightforward move. They weren't building a social network or something with a massive network effect. Putting off the terrifying discovery ("hey, will anyone pay for this?") in their case may just have been procrastination - and YC's rejection may have been a useful trigger to end it.
I think considering they've grown the MRR to $5000 from nothing since then, it looks like it was a pretty good strategy even if you don't like how it was concocted.
It is very rare that I upvote two comments that seem to be in opposition to each other. In this case, I think it's warranted because you're both likely correct.
In your favour, the strategy was successful and they grew to $5k MRR in four months with estimates suggesting they'll hit $100k in recurring annual revenue by the end of the year. It worked so it's hard to criticize it.
But, what if it hadn't, or what if the founders were in a different situation where they had a bigger team? Last minute "we have to do this now" decisions are often wrong. When they're not, they often result in some really ugly code that will be tough to maintain. Further, they can be hard on morale.
Chances are that the founders had this type of conversation and talked about the risks while they were brainstorming. It almost sounds like they had debated this in the past. Those kinds of debates are very valuable and I think that founders need to talk about how a new feature can go bad.
It can be pretty stressful working for people who pivot too easily.
Some investors may be attracted to this kind of behavior, and I fear they are also the least pleasant to work with. Things can get a little exploitative sometimes.
I mentioned in another comment that I've been working on something targeted more at the personal vacation space: https://www.naverator.com
TripIt is good for business travelers and works for personal, but it's very utilitarian. I definitely see space in the market for something more visual & pleasure-oriented.
It's a trip organizer/sharing platform that aims to be the place for you to collect all the various bits of information & reservations & such for your trip. Currently web-only but mobile on the roadmap as well as offline/export functionality which was one of the nice features of Google Trips.
Feedback welcome. I know it's still a little rough around the edges. Hoping to have things buttoned up nicely in another week or two and then start advertising it more officially to everyday folks.
Sign up was a bit rough. Had to copy-paste a code from email (no link to click), then it just said I was confirmed and I could log in. Seems like it's pretty common for all of that to just be done through a single click on an email link. But do you even care if folks use a bogus email?
It's all done through AWS Cognito so it's something I got working with the default code-based method and then moved on to other things. I'll look at reprioritizing a confirmation link to smooth that process.
I do care somewhat about confirming accounts in general just because it cuts down on spam/abuse, and it ensures someone didn't fat-finger their email and then can't regain access when they forget their password in a month. Also, I have on the roadmap a feature for configurable reminders/notifications, and services like AWS SES track bounces. Too many invalid recipients and you run the risk of getting throttled or suspended.
Don't think of it as a call for a quote, think of it as an initial sales contact. An unsolicited inbound phone inquiry is about the strongest possible lead you can possibly get. The potential customer typically won't expect you to provide a full quote on the spot, but will expect to have a brief conversation and either a follow-up email with pricing details or a follow-up formal sales/demo call scheduled.
In terms of pricing/value, you should already have estimates of value for different customer sizes/use-cases and put together prices based on those estimates. On the call, it's your job to learn as much as you can about their problem so that you can determine how best to solve it with the products you offer and where it falls on your pricing scale.
Don't do on-prem unless they pay you a boat-load more and SaaS isn't an option they're willing to consider. It's way more of a headache.
NDAs are usually fine, but better to pay a lawyer a couple bucks to throw together one for you and try and use that one all the time rather than having to review a bunch of different ones coming from other companies.
Travel is case-by-case. Definitely not necessary for just a quote, and not strictly necessary for sales if your video demos/sales calls are on point, especially if your customers are tech-inclined.
> Essentially, I come up with a new tactic to motivate myself every couple of months. If I don't do so, I find myself struggling to meet my goals and distracted.
How often do you think about your goals? How important are they to you?
I was in your shoes for a long time, and the way I got past it was to think consciously about the end-result on a regular basis.
Do you want to skate by on your niche skills and watch as other harder workers get the bigger/better contracts from your contacts in the future?
Do you want to passively step through the motions of life and regret not trying to start that business when you're 60?
Do you want to look back and wish you had learned & built more instead of drinking beer and playing COD?
At the end of the day, you are 100% responsible for your own decisions and path in life. You aren't going to be able to artificially motivate yourself forever (as you are discovering). You have to find something that truly motivates you.
Remote: Willing (some travel OK too)
Relocate: No
Technologies: AWS (SA Pro), Go, Python, JS, Scala, Linux, Postgres, Dynamo, Cassandra, Redis, Terraform, Ansible
Email: michael (at) okner (dot) com
Resume: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeokner/ (full PDF available via email)
I have substantial experience architecting and building modern, cloud-native applications and leading a remote team. I currently oversee the platforms used by thousands of developers & scientists at a Global 250 in a SRE/Architect role. I am most interested in roles that involve leadership & development of technical/software products.