[Journey] My Adventure with 4 Startups

figaro03240

figaro03240

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(I'm adding it again, this time without links on screenshots, sorry!)

Hi!
I've decided to quit my job as a programmer to focus on creating the startups I've planned. Why? I simply can't manage to juggle everything time-wise. I have a financial safety net as a cushion.

What are these startups? I'll be revealing them slowly - one after the other. Today, I'll tell you about the first one.

Name: Startup 1
Description: A curated open-source list of places where you can promote your products, both paid and free.
Revenue model: None. It's open-source. The main idea is that I want to build a database (newsletter) of people who are interested in developing their startup. This will be key for the second startup.

What have I done so far?
  1. Frontend and backend of the app.
  2. Architecture and integration with external sites.
  3. A full version of the app (not just a waitlist, available now) with functionalities.
Some screenshots below.

sh-1.jpg

sh-2.jpg

sh-3.jpg

Next steps: Launch of the app (scheduled for April 18 on producthunt), finishing the project I'm currently involved in (I'm serving my notice period at my current job), and working on the second startup. After the first launch, I'll check to see if I think I'm doing the right thing. If so, I'll launch the second one. If not, I'll need to change my approach to reaching people.

Currently, I'm also managing several social media accounts and have started being more active on Twitter.
 
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My background in brief:

2 years as a graphic designer and social media activist
3 years as a programmer
 
How will u promote 1st startup to reach potential users? And. What will be my benefit as a startup or saas creator to use your app?
 
p3n7357 said:
How will u promote 1st startup to reach potential users? And. What will be my benefit as a startup or saas creator to use your app?
Click to expand...
User Benefits: A large database (over 200 records at this moment) of places where you can promote your SaaS. You don't have to manually search for them on the internet. Everything in one place with data on domain authority to boost your own startup. The list is updated periodically. No login and spending money required. Ultimately, I want companies/creators of their sites to contribute to the list themselves.

Promotion: It takes place in several ways. Mainly:
  1. Product Hunt - I'm counting on this to generate the most visits on the first day.
  2. Reddit - I have tested various tactics in the past for reaching people on Reddit. The highest number of views I've achieved is 120k (for a post, not site visits). I see that some subreddits offer greater possibilities.
  3. Product databases - submitting the site to all the places that will be on the startup page.
  4. Facebook groups - announcing on Facebook groups.
  5. Medium/Dev.to - I currently post materials about startups/adventures from time to time. The results aren't sensational, but I have a large backlog of posts from the past, so I've built up a small audience.
  6. Company blog - I am friends with a company that operates within technology. I don't want to reveal its name, but it's a giant that generates huge amounts of views. I plan to submit two articles to them with the content "How [company product name] helped with my startup" etc. They are open for cooperation - i wrote for them in past.
  7. Others - Twitter, LinkedIn.
Marketing will only start after the startup is launched. For now, I'll be sporadically posting a link to the waitlist.
 
From April 15th, the plan is to increase content creation and community building. The plan is to daily create:
  1. One post on various blogs.
  2. One post on Twitter and at least 15 interactions with others.
  3. More active participation on ProductHunt.
Currently:
  1. One post every 5 days.
  2. One post on Twitter every 3 days maximum and at least 5 interactions with others.
  3. Minor participation on ProductHunt (to maintain the streak).
The idea of one post a day is not detached from reality - I did it for 30 days about 1.5 years ago, but back then, the content was definitely harder to prepare (technical articles focused around penetration testing of applications).

I'm also thinking whether it wouldn't be a good idea to buy premium on Twitter and post the same updates there as here. From a blackhat perspective, I have nothing to hide. Also, please let me know in a few days if this reads well and if such content is suitable for Twitter :p

+ if anyone reading this is from Poland, maybe you'd like to meet for a coffee and exchange experiences?
 
Interesting, but woulnd't it be a better idea to only stick to 1 or 2 in the beginning?
 
Contrudy said:
Interesting, but woulnd't it be a better idea to only stick to 1 or 2 in the beginning?
Click to expand...
That's the plan. One after another, step by step. I don't intend to abandon the projects, but I hope that over time they will take on a life of their own. In the next startups, I also have a background for automating promotion.

Additionally, I don't plan to run them all by myself until the end - one of the projects is very much "TikTok material" and catchy in terms of the topic. I myself don't have the time, face, or desire to create promotional content (in terms of tiktok), so I want to engage someone. I already have a specific person in mind who I believe will be eager to collaborate.
 
I recently purchased premium twitter. One of my posts, where I asked about the rationale behind creating daily updates for app development, received 900 views and a significant engagement in the comments. I bought premium to be able to interact with people more and more effectively.
 
Last night, I compiled a full list of applications that will be listed (almost 200). I sourced them from many places. I processed them in Python and used ChatGPT to generate categories and descriptions. The descriptions are a bit detached from reality. Now, I'm refining them, checking each website, and adding their logo and preview image in Photopea (a free version of Photoshop in the browser).
 
RmnOn92 said:
you just mentioned 2, what about 2 other startups?
Click to expand...
I'll be revealing them gradually - for now, I'm focusing on the first one. If I finish the development work on it today/tomorrow, I'll focus on the second.
I will also reveal its details once it's scheduled on Product Hunt.

The next two are not related to them, and I'll start working on them after I finish the development of the second startup.
 
Yesterday, I spent all my free time (~8h) processing the list of companies that will be on my site. I removed many of them because they are buggy or outdated. Today, I plan to continue this work.
 
Yesterday, I finished compiling the list on the first startup. Additionally, I added filtering by type of promotion sites and implemented displaying the total number of results. In practice, the entire first startup is ready.

Today, I plan to conduct research and prepare a list of animations for implementation into the second startup. Moreover, I found a great YouTube channel with effects (im not sure if i can promote it here lol). I will definitely use something from them in my next project.
 
Ehirepip said:
Yes, take your time and do things gradually. Nice journey!
Click to expand...
LouWatson said:
Best of Luck, I Think The Deal Is Fine.
Click to expand...
Thanks guys!

Yesterday, I found some very interesting animations that I will definitely use in my project for my second startup. I also made an opening for the homepage (I removed the website name, so please moderator, do not delete).

Screenshot 2024-03-26 at 08-06-58 Create Next App.png


What do you think? The background waves are moving. The design is very similar to my first startup because I would like to make it based on my components, which I will later turn into a boilerplate for sale.
 
Yesterday, I created two new components for my landing page using shadcn. I also started working on a third one, but I'll show it only once it's finished. GSAP will be particularly useful here.

New Projectsss.jpg

The text on the left has a typing animation, while in the rectangle on the right, the email contents are scrolled in a carousel, which creates a very cool effect. Unfortunately, I can't directly post videos on the forum, so it's not visible. In the future, I will upload it to third-party sites.

For those curious about the second startup, you can slowly start guessing the main functionalities and purpose:p
 
Maaz Meerab said:
I am following this one and best of luck
Click to expand...
thanks mate! I quit my job to work on these four startups, although in Obsidian (btw, I recommend it for taking notes - it's like Notion but less overwhelming) I have eight startups noted that make sense. I probably won't gather all of them, but I would like to document four.
 
Best of luck. I suggest you use bold fonts for headings. Especially the first thing that the user will read should be bold in SaaS landing pages imo.
 
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