Hacker News Reader

DavidPPon What did 37signals, Evernote and Wufoo blog when they just get started?

I don't have much to contribute to this discussion myself, but from what I've heard/read, at the beginning, you should target other entrepreneurs/early adopters and when you get some coverage/traction, move to your target audience for your product.

PS: I'm really interested with what you guys have to say about that.

DavidPPon “Our Marketing Is Up Fog Creek” And What We Did About It

I understand what you mean but I think it's still possible (ex. Apple). When I want to do a quick evaluation of a website I usually ask a random person to load the website and tell me the first 3 things they see and to rank them in their perceived order of priority.

When I do the test myself on your website :

1) REX RAY DODOCASE 2) DODO Case - Protects From Extinction 3) Couldn't tell in less then 5-10 seconds

Is that really what you want me to remember ? Also, my comment apply to "Acquisition", repeat customers is another matter.

PS : Sorry for my poor grammar/syntax, english isn't my first language.

DavidPPon “Our Marketing Is Up Fog Creek” And What We Did About It

I'm not patio11, but what I can tell you as a customer is that your first page (from when you launched) did a better job at selling your product to me.

What I still remember from that page was : 1) Hand-made 2) Scarity (in a good way)

I just checked your website and 30 seconds after I don't remember anything about it.

DavidPPon "Why I'm Dropping Posterous This Weekend"

Didn't notice that. Good to know, I was thinking about using Posterous as a super super easy way for some of clients to populate their blogs. That would have been a big mistake on my side!

DavidPPon New web application to manage your pet's life.

Nice job guys, keep the good work.

DavidPPon How we made a $25,000 website for $3,000

The article is informative, but I don't find this approach really "ethical".

DavidPPon Untitled Startup has a title: Simply Measured

Love your website. But as a "new" user having Row Feeder and Export.ly link in the bottom is a bit confusing because the three products mention Excel. Should I register to the three of them ? Why ?

DavidPPon Ask HN: Best tool for saving web passwords?

I had a License for 1password from when it only supported Windows but now I prefer to use LastPass. I work on 3 computers so it's alot easier this way

DavidPPon Fire your designer

To me it's seem he put more than one "job" under the designer bucket.

To me, an integrator (HTML / front-end JS) an art director, a usubility expert are different roles. Can you find somebody that do all this ? Of course, but if you just hire a "designer" without being more specific about your needs, you will end up in a situation like this.

DavidPPon Offer HN: Help with Ruby on Rails

I have this project that I've been delaying because I don't have enough time. I know a bit of Rails, but it's been almost two years since I touched it. I need someone one to help me with architectural choices (should I use Formtastic, hobo, haml, authlogic, ...) and the first model/screen. After that, I would be good to go on my own. I would even be willing to pay for a few hours.

Most of the screens are CRUD (it's a business management thing) but I want to start this project correctly.

Thanks!

DavidPPon Ask HN: Show me your Half Baked project

Maybe, we had good coverage but almost no visits. I think Twitter wasn't popular enough two years ago.

But the real problem is that we aren't really motivated by politics so that the real reason why we didn't add any features yet.

DavidPPon Ask HN: Show me your Half Baked project

http://electopinion.ca/

About two years ago, me and my partner gave ourself 48h to launch a project. We never touched it since then and the database has more than 1 gig of data by now... I guess there should be something to do with it but we never had the time and/or motivation to touch it again after that.

We still managed to get some coverage (press, tv, etc.) on that so even if it's not something really complicated, I'm still proud of it.

DavidPPon Ask HN: Looking for hosting resources. Best practices.. etc

I don't know who is your provider right now, but if you want to stay on dedicated, you should check http://iweb.com/

They have a clearance section where you can get some really good deals

Disclaimer : I know a few ppl who work there but I don't gain anything from "advertising" them.

DavidPPon Ask HN: Monthly billing best practices

As a customer, I don't except a refund, but I do expect to keep my access until the last day.

Example : If a payment go through on the 1st of the month and I cancel 5 days later, I would expect to still have 25 days of service after that.

DavidPPon The real GDrive is here

I think it's due to your branding/feature page. The way it's presented, it's easy to think it's only work with Google Docs.

DavidPPon Paypal is holding over 600,000 euros from the minecraft developer

It's not exactly a prepurchase since for 13$ you get access to the alpha version.

DavidPPon Pay it forward: how to get a free ticket for Business of Software 2010

Even I didn't get a free ticket, I still appreciate what you did. I'm sure those guys are really happy now. Thanks !

DavidPPon Ask HN: Review our webapp: AirDropper

Oh I see. It's work but you have a bug and one or two minor "irritant" :

- If I check the checkbox, I have to input a valid email or I get a something went wrong error. (bug) - The person received an email even if the checkbox was checked (bug) - I have to input a description of the file requested (not needed)

DavidPPon Ask HN: Review our webapp: AirDropper

Would it be possible to get a unique url so that I don't have to send an email ? (ex : if I want to send it by GTalk)

DavidPPon Pay it forward: how to get a free ticket for Business of Software 2010

Why I can't afford it :

This year, I quitted a lucrative job (I'm 27) so that I could create my own web agency. My goal is to bootstrap myself so that I can create an online software in the printing industry (I also work with my father who own a small printing company).

I never would have dream to be able to go to this conference (need to pay for food and rent) but I know that it would really help me create my product.

What I commit : I already work with a non profit organization here in Quebec. They help adolescents/young adult to connect with cybermentors. I gave more than 50% discount on our services (new website) and if I get a ticket, I also commit myself to give them free printing services.

DavidPPon Tell HN: Have a look at Varnish

For people who want to use NGINX caching on top of Apache/Wordpress, I found out this tutorial : http://www.myatus.co.uk/2010/06/28/a-simplified-nginx-apache...

DavidPPon Ask HN: Please review our startup: historious

I just did the sign-up. I hate having to wait for the activation email, then click activate then having to "relog".

Sometime when this happen, I don't even go further and never even try the service. Do you you really need to wait for me to click an "activate" link before letting me try your service ?

DavidPPon Ask HN: How much should I ask for?

I'm not sure if I got the exact word for it (english isn't my first language) so I'll call it the "anchor price" effect.

Basically, if you are the one who mention the first number, you can set the "anchor" of the conversation. This mean that if you ask for 55$ first and they try to offer you 40$ You can focus on the fact that it's around 30% lower than your asking price.

On the other hand, if they mention 40$ first, you are the one who has to convince them to give you 30% more.

PS : I'm not saying you are wrong, just bringing another point of view on that.

DavidPPon A Joke iPhone Sticker Turns Into a Business

Yeah :) I'm soon to be a co-owner in a digital printing company. Thinking about make some of those myself ;)

DavidPPon A Joke iPhone Sticker Turns Into a Business

Unless I'm mistaken, it's only a decal and not a real band-aid.

DavidPPon World’s First Pirate ISP Launches In Sweden

29$ is an upgrade license only.

DavidPPon Ask HN: Places to buy web application templates

There is a couple of not too bad looking admin skins listed in this article : http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/web-roundups/top-50-web-gra...

DavidPPon Google Voice open for everyone (In the US)

Same here (from Canada) : Thanks for visiting Google Voice. We're not yet open for users outside the US.

Guess they should specify it in their communication.

DavidPPon Grab Premium Versions of Your Favorite Productivity Webapps for Cheap

Do it work if we have existing account on those webapp ?

Ex : My Mindmeister account is expiring in about a month.

DavidPPon Voicemail for Hackers

What are the big differences between Twilio and Tropo?