donmatito

Isn't that EXACTLY the problem solved by cryptography, ie I can reliably know that only supplier X could have signed the message with the public key of supplier X ?

I feel like a private/closed blockchain would defeat the purpose. I want a future where a public blockchain would act a repository of everything that has happened to the final product throughout its history, on top of which applications would be developped, relevant for each step of the chain. The producer A that would input certification of origin, the manufacturer B, and the end consumer C would need very different services, web, app, industrial applications, ERP integrations and so on.

To express it in an analogy with current services, I would like the blockchain to be a database, exposing a universal API. I don't really see a private blockchain allowing this, but I may be wrong. And indeed there will be the thorny authentication issue... I don't know the solution, really !

no need to shill here. I don't know which projects will end up successful, I am however convinced that some of them will be

I don't know. What about Git ? Errors happen, then you correct them, but you can see the error and its correction, and it's considered quite healthy, right?

I have read somewhere else a very interesting way to look at token projects. There are merely incentive for protocols that could have been baked into our browser.

For example, we could have had an identity verification protocol, bound to our browsers, that would have logged us in websites. We would not have needed FB oauth for ex. But it was not prioritized, and now that the Web has been taken over by closed garden, individual companies have very little incentive to contribute to these general-benefits protocols.

Token can be seen a way to incentivize adoption of these general-benefits protocols

No but it certifies who has entered the info, right? That might be part of the solution here

Haha no I initially purchased all the tokens in supply-chain related fields, but I sold them a while ago at a loss. It doesn't matter - I still think these projects are very relevant for the future.

I do not have the answers to your objections. I was replying to the common theme of "this is a solution is search for a problem". I am stating that there is a problem in search for a solution

Coming from a logistics background, coordinating tracability data is painful within a company, even with help of ERP like SAP. But when you need tracability across an industry, it becomes almost impossible.

I had professional experience in an industry where we had to go to the plants to ensure rolls of paper certified from suppliers using responsibly-managed forests were physically separated from the non-certified ones. We needed the paperwork coming from China, then another one from the transformation plant in Morocco, then in customer warehouses across Europe.

An external protocol that would provide universal tracability, usable by any actor of the chain, seem like a great solution to a real problem. Blockchain provides some "neutrality", ie no need for each actor to find its own certificate provider (I imagine that service shops would help larger companies set up their systems, but the back-end would be common across all actors).

I'm not very convinced by pseudo-decentralized apps in most domains, but in logistics... very bullish !

Coming from a logistics background, coordinating tracability data is painful within a company, even with help of ERP like SAP. But when you need tracability across an industry, it becomes almost impossible.

I had professional experience in an industry where we had to go to the plants to ensure rolls of paper certified from suppliers using responsibly-managed forests were physically separated from the non-certified ones. We needed the paperwork coming from China, then another one from the transformation plant in Morocco, then in customer warehouses across Europe.

An external protocol that would provide universal tracability, usable by any actor of the chain, seem like a great solution to a real problem. Blockchain provides some "neutrality", ie no need for each actor to find its own certificate provider (I imagine that service shops would help larger companies set up their systems, but the back-end would be common across all actors).

I'm not very convinced by pseudo-decentralized apps in most domains, but in logistics... very bullish !

Whereas government policy papers could massage figures and make optimistic projections, the prospectus, which provided financial information for potential investors, could not bend the truth. “A government paper was one thing,” said the former civil servant, “but if the figures were misleading in the prospectus, it was a criminal offence. That was not at all like a government paper, to be honest. It was quite a moment for us all.”

:-D :-D :-D

The bot is freely usable at https://www.facebook.com/botremindme (it also had a landing page, but, smart me, I did not renew the domain and now it's squatted by a porn site).

I need to take an hour to open source the code, that's clear. But feel free to try and let me know if you have any question!

While I most probably don't follow the tactics of GTD (haven't read them and don't want to) I aggressively follow a strategy that really works for me : reducing cognitive load. I make a point to commit nothing except the task on hand to my working memory.

When I say "I should remember to", I immediately stop and use a Messenger bot I coded for that purpose

When my wife say "Can you remember to" I immediately ask her to put it into our shared calendar, or I add it to the same bot

When a coworker says "can you do X", we add it as a trello card with the appropriate priority

People start to get used to it, they probably assume that I have very bad memory or that I'm weird, and we make it work :-) I feel very light since I started enforcing these procedures

While your comment certainly points a flaw in their approach, it is not something that cannot be addressed with a little bit of manpower/insider knowledge/more data.

They have demonstrated a proof of concept that hunting bots on Twitter can be achieved, and that Twitter could do it easily if it wanted

> That style of explanation can actually make readers dumber about what happened because it leaves out counterexamples.

Thank you for writing this

I had the opportunity to attend a fireside chat with d'Agostino at The Family in Paris. Someone asked that very question. The answer was they view pitching one's product as a perfectly valid answer to questions such as "what's the best product to achieve X".

As a dev I don't mind these pitches when looking for tools. The comments/votes often provide a rather complete picture, at least for the most active questions

You may both be right. There is an increasing amount of scientific evidence that screens (TV in particular) and junk food (sugar and saturated fat in particular) are severely impairing brain development in children, leading among other issues to difficulty to focus and ADHD. So yes, keeping children off screens as much as possible (+ healthy food + sport) looks like a good advice.

However, when you have this condition as an adult... well, there is some level of plasticity in the brain, but it looks harder than just "change your behavior", it may be required to also treat the symptoms.

Couldn't access the website - too many pop-up! Hopefully the HN comments made me want to try DDG again

As the joke goes Programmer : chooses her variables always different, with a name as explicit as possible Mathematician : chooses her variables from a handful of greek letters

Thank you for ruining my productivity

B2B Sales can mean a lot of things... from very low-touch to involving a lot of in-person time. To help you better, we'd need to know more about your product and your market.

It's odd only if you have not tasted it. Once you have the experience of work with a sense of purpose, working without it (if you're skilled enough to be in a position to choose) looks like an odd life choice.

You say you envy them but I'm not sure you really do. Working without feeling involvement or purpose in what you do is mind-numbing. Of course lots of people have to endure it, and some find solace in hobbies/family. But if you are the type of person who always feel you have skin in the game, I don't think you'd last a month in a position where you don't care :-D

It IS self sustaining, thanks to very low churn and very low but steady growth thanks to some content marketing and presence in directories.

I'm sure spending more time on sales would increase the revenue, but not sure if that'd be enough to offset the cost of time spent

I think you're onto something. Go make the next billion-dollar company :-)

Not a bad idea! thanks. However it starts to be a bit too involved for a side project :-D

Curious - what other alcohols?

Well, direct sales is a bit difficult because my core target is "Agencies that use Slack, of which clients use Slack". So I need to convince a layer of users (let say 10% conversion) and they have to convince another layer (10% again) => 1% conversion rate.

What worked was publishing some articles on Medium and optimizing a bit for SEO, so that the handful of people who actually has the problem, can find me. The Slack app Directory helped quite a bit at first, but I should take better advantage of it now that they have add features.

But really, the main growth factor is : almost no churn. People are super satisfied. So even if I don't spend much time finding customers, the very low growth keeps adding up...

Me too :-) Lots of people around me were dismissive of the early days of Smooz, that it would never be a "real business". My big goal is 1000€ / months. Not a billion-dollar company : just a life step I'd be really proud of

At first, probably, yes. But then you start to optimize for different things, because the interests are not aligned : you want "engaged eyeballs" on your service, which may or may not be best for the user. Hence tactics like gamification, notifications, the whole Hooked model, and so on.

Of course we can debate on the definition of what is "best" for the user. Maybe users like and need clickbait headlines and fake news. But to me it's just a softer version of "Maybe users like gambling machines and being addicted to cigarettes"

What I find interesting with Indie Hackers is that it covers a wide range a personal/business situations. It goes from real lifestyle business, to beer-money-making side-projects.

I feel that there is a world of difference between a side-project that is free, to one where you ask customers for their credit cards. Of all professional experiences, I have never learnt as much as I did taking a side-project idea from idea to MVP, then to beta users, then to paying customers, scaling server issues, and marketing strategies. It's not so much about the money, than the fact that you learn so much on so many dimensions.

Sincere thanks + shameless plug, the interview about Smooz was fun, a good self-reflection exercise, and a good source of traffic too (https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses/smooz)