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Hey guys, what kind of product can I bring to the platform? Any limitations?

UPDATE: We've decided to run a discount on the Business Builder, $50 off, the next 12 copies and to see if this helps. https://gumroad.com/l/gfXK/fzzlpie Apologies if I'm breaking a rule by responding with this - I hope not, let me know if so... but I do want everyone to know that we are trying to take your advice! :)

Thanks so much! We really appreciate the insight!!

Awesome, awesome feedback. Thank you so much! You guys are awesome. :)

That's a really flattering comment! Dan told me he is blushing, hahaha... We're taking your feedback and we're going to do whatever we can to make things better in the messaging. We'll get some clear communication about this being a one-time payment up there ASAP.

Thank you for commenting! We worked extremely hard to get it shipped despite some massive life obstacles. It represents a huge triumph of willpower and overcoming self-doubt just to be at this point.

We will continue adding support for other 3rd-party services (InfusionSoft is nearly complete) and plan to offer those later on, as single purchases, and we have talked about ideas in the realm of consulting (ie priority support, sales and marketing help, etc), but at this point, we're just hoping for some response. :)

Thanks for responding! Our target audience is folks who don't have the technical know-how to get their Gumroad product overlays into their Wordpress themes, and they need a quick, convenient solution to stitch together Gumroad, their Wordpress website, and their email service (Mailchimp, GetResponse, Aweber, and soon others like InfusionSoft). It handles everything in a single motion. Thank you again for the well wishes!!

Thank you for being honest. Can you elaborate on why you came to that conclusion? It would be very helpful to us!

Hi All, this is Fred, the developer who built Gumpress. I'm happy to answer questions about the plugin. It's been a long road for me and Dan, my friend and partner on this project, and we're hoping that we can help a few people, starting with this. I'll be honest, I'm a little nervous about how this will be received. I've never done a "Show HN" before and this is also my first plugin I've made for the general public... :) Thank you for your time.

I know this story, I think most of us suffer from this feeling.

First off, we shouldn't just sit down and start typing into a blank page. We all do it, but remind yourself just the same that doing some high-level conceptualization is very helpful.

Maybe you are getting overwhelmed thinking about all that you need to do, and it's discouraging you out of being in your "zone"? That happens to me. Remind yourself to only focus on the next five minutes.

I'm self taught. I have and had a lot of broken knowledge, misunderstood concepts, etc. I was able to overcome most and self-teach by first trying to find a patch of code that did something similar to what I needed or wanted, and then I copied it and re-purposed it. I truly can't think of a better teaching method than to find and tweak analogous code snippets.

I also think you are in a corporate culture that kinda... sucks. It doesn't seem very collaborative. Get out of there as soon as you can, and I mean don't wait till you think you are ready, I mean do it as soon as sanely possible.

Helpful advice on this listing: Designers are not Developers, and vice-versa. Split out the requirements into two positions.

+1 this. SMBs all the way. It's a good balance between too small and too large. I always saw it as better to be standing on 100 legs rather than 5. Less instability when you lose one.

Thanks Peter! You're right, I really have nothing to lose to risk a few hours making a landing page.

Thanks!

Thanks Matt! That's very detailed advice, I greatly appreciate it!

That's true, but don't forget, in the context of the product that I'm working on right now - it was built at the request of a client, and their system integrator saw the results and was seriously impressed, enough to suggest we try to resell it and offered to help through referrals, though I'd much rather have him on board in a more formal capacity to reach out to other integrators he knows (he's got a good-paying gig and has no reason to move on quite yet from it)

Not yet. I have a name picked out, but I haven't had the ability to hire the creative talent to start working on a decent identity for it, and that's not where my time is best spent right now. The plan is to sell another and then put aside some of that for the branding and website.

The first working version was just wrapped and went live in the past couple of weeks, to clarify the timeline - we've just begun, but this is something I could turn around and sell, I just need to start spreading the word.

Also, congrats on winning BattleHack Austin. ;)

You hit the nail on the head here, I can't afford to (nor do I want to) reach end users - that's why the system integrators are key, and I know they want a good solid solution to offer.

Thanks for putting a unique angle on your point, that helps reinforce my feeling on who I should be talking to. Its the same way I sell system architecture and development services - through designers who need it. Keeps me from dealing with end users who have no idea what I'm doing back there. (during the sales process at least) ;D

I see, thanks for clarifying. My direct sales activities haven't ramped up yet for this product. I've been working with my client who has told me endless stories of the vendors who charge ridiculous money for really poor results. I'm frustrated in general with companies who do great not because of quality products, but because of sales & marketing.

That got an audible laugh, thanks :D

Agreed, my attitude did smack of defeat.

My plan however is to get on some focused groups, for example, LinkedIn SAP groups and try to find some system integrators to talk to there.

I'm not quite sure why you're skeptical on my understanding of marketing. Before I worked for myself, I worked for marketing firms, I'm not concerned that there is some base confusion there, I'm just saying

a) I don't have a working budget for design work, branding, or sales staff

b) Some folks around here have been there before too, and found a way over the bootstrapping hump, I'm curious how.

My question is poorly-worded. It was written at a moment when I was frustrated, but I was hoping for a good story from someone about how they got past the stage where you don't have the capital to commit to scaling the business up but you have good tools ready.

Couldn't see the forest for the trees for a moment.

It is an E-commerce solution for SAP Business One clients. Like SAP, each client's needs are base toolset + customization work. It is a vast step forward over the current solutions available. We've enabled the systems to work together and greatly reduce the order fulfillment cycle while leveraging the SAP B1 tools.

More Detail:

The next steps are to add a CRM module (original client is funding this work) so that their CSR staff can avoid using any of the POS system SAP comes with, which is pretty terrible from the interface perspective and takes a long time to process orders. The CSRs prefer to run through checkout with phone orders due to these improvements. The client is a 5-10-mil/year client, and we will have replaced their in-house order intake process entirely by leveraging the web tools. Phase 2 also included broker/outside sales staff order processing tools.

Absolutely. That's the dilemma right now. The way I see it, the solution is:

1) Sell 2+ or more of the toolset to get some working capital

2) Promptly hire inside sales on 1099 to get out there and get the business with base salary. I've been assured the time & effort to find someone with commission-only offers is futile.

Thanks for the Input! You're right, I should be clear - I don't think these competitors suck at all, I envy their marketing and sales. I've spent time in sales myself. I just lack the resources to do it and continue my normal daily responsibilities to my clients, so I was looking for some anecdotal advice on how to get over that hump in any way possible.

Thanks for your response, very thought-provoking.

How about setting up a presentation/web conference? Then call and invite people over the phone. I think you're more likely to have success than cold email - I've got an ongoing project where we had 0 success with cold emailing, even with very personalized approaches. Hour for hour, the more you can engage someone via live exchange, the better.

The product is nearly greek to people except those who are

a) System Integrators (SAP BusinessOne and other possible systems)

b) E-commerce professionals

It's not an end-user thing, its not vertical market really either.

Thanks for weighing in. Its not a matter of whether I can do that, but rather, how to break into an already heavily-marketed-to vertical full of crappy vendors with aggressive marketing and sales staff, so that's what I'm hoping to gain some insight on.

Thanks! I did a guest post for SixRevisions a couple years ago, that led me to a designer that I've since done a few projects with. It works!

Thanks for weighing in, Ben.

I built it for the ideal user, I have a second one that is a luke-warm lead in the pipeline but currently getting screwed by a vendor who shall remain nameless. The problem is, these sub-par vendors have been around and have strong marketing, I have no marketing, and we both know marketing is what gets people's attention first.

I actually have one system integrator for the product this connects to interested, and I'd love to get more of them on board with it and selling it to their customers as well.