5 ms·

The guy had a very successful music blog and used that to kick off the network effect needed to make SubmitHub work. There is zero chance SubmitHub would work w

by fiatjaf 10y ago

The guy had a very successful music blog and used that to kick off the network effect needed to make SubmitHub work. There is zero chance SubmitHub would work without the music blog, so unless you have a very successful blog yourself this article will not help you in any practical manner.

jason-grishkoff 10y ago
I'd like to think that the part about launching and iterating -- getting your product out there rather than trying to make it perfect before launch -- is quite a useful tip for solo founders (and small teams). But, to each their own!
- gloverkcn 10y ago
  If you look at any marketing funnel, the first hurdle is awareness. Getting people aware of a saas product is very difficult. Getting them to try it is even harder. Having the blog provided both a vehicle to get the target market aware, and the credibility that the product is worth trying. It's really smart to be an active member of a community, and then provide services to the community. It's also very difficult, and takes a lot of effort. I think the post you responded to is someone who understands the amount of work you had to put into your blog to make it successful. I don't think this is a negative, but a really good take away for new entrepreneurs. - How will you market and sell your product? The "If you build it, they will come" tactic doesn't work. - How do you know it's a problem people want solved? - How do you know your solution adequately solves the problem ? Your approach answered all these questions and you got to work on something you're passionate about. Congrats on the success!
- blazespin 10y ago
  He missed the advice of launch and iterate below the radar with a very narrow group of customers. For example: on the app store you can launch your app/game in countries other than the US (australia, canada). Iterate, and once you're satisfied, than launch in the US. Launching and iterate in the fully public eye of your customer base is a risky thing to do for your general brand value.
gkoberger 10y ago
Sure, but it's not like someone just handed him a successful music blog. He worked hard on it, and parlayed it into something bigger. Isn't that practical?
- TAForObvReasons 10y ago
  > There is zero chance SubmitHub would work without the music blog > Jason Grishkoff built a $46,000/mo SaaS business helping musicians promote their music, and he did it in under a year. When do you start the clock? If the business success is based on the blog's success, then arguably the clock starts when he first made the blog.
  - jason-grishkoff 10y ago
    I'll just weigh in here: the blog's success was very influential in accelerating the growth. But had I been a smaller blog, I likely would have had similar success in convincing the other blogs that this platform helped solve a problem they were all facing. What I take away as important is that I was part of the problem I was solving, rather than an outsider observing. A blog with 5,000 followers is just as likely to understand that problem as a blog with 100,000 followers. Because I was part of the problem, I was able to build a system that effectively solved it. Today, there are more than 200 blogs/channels using SubmitHub to receive their submissions -- and that happened in less than 10 months. The vast majority of them aren't there because Indie Shuffle did well; they're there because SubmitHub makes their lives better.
    - nicksergeant 10y ago
      Putting on my devil's advocate hat here. I think you're greatly discrediting the value of the network effect. Just because you build something that you need does not mean that you will be successful. People do that all the time, and then wonder why they don't make it. In reality, it's incredibly difficult to get your product in front of people who need it, even if it solves their problems perfectly. Not saying you don't deserve credit for the hard work you put into this - you absolutely do. Just keep in mind that having a great product that solves a real problem for people is not enough. You either need luck or a network effect (and then you still need a little luck).
hellofunk 10y ago
Ridiculous. You make it sound like the efforts to start a business and do well, be profitable, were not impressive.
- jstandard 10y ago
  That's not his point. From the article's headline: "did it in under a year" The author is being very disingenuous with his headline.
  - csallen 10y ago
    SubmitHub as a product is 10 months old, and Jason's only been charging for the past 7 months. So saying that "under as year" is a "very disingenuous" timeline is... very disingenuous. Yes, having a successful blog helped Jason identify and understand the problem, and it saved him from having to partner with someone else's blog. But learning to code was probably pivotal, too. Where do we draw the line?
    - wallace_f 10y ago
      Headline would be more precise had it claimed to have built an app in 10 months, not a business Still impressive, but not the same thing Edit: just to be extra clear, the reason why this is true is because, the customer base he generated was not in the 10 months he used to build his app, that was done over the years of blogging
      - csallen 10y ago
        The app itself is the business, and is separate from his blog. (Although it works together with his blog and with many other blogs, his particular blog is not a necessity.) EDIT: To respond to your edit, I agree he was able to leverage his blog's popularity. But his blog is only one out of 231 listed on SubmitHub. Thus, his blog's readers account for what's likely a negligible fraction of SubmitHub's users. That's not to say his blog wasn't helpful. It's just a totally separate business. The reason SubmitHub is doing so well is because he added to his blog AND to those 230 other blogs, and he did that in 10 months.
paulsutter 10y ago
Or maybe the lesson is to develop a following first before developing a product. The music blog didn't happen by random chance, and his overall approach seems better than developing a product and hoping for a following.
- godzillabrennus 10y ago
  Alternatively you can partner with a community and build a product for them on revenue share.
  - swedish_coder 10y ago
    Interesting take on the concept. Do you have any experience with this? Know where I can read more about this sort of thing? :)
    - nickpsecurity 10y ago
      Facebook might qualify with their third-party apps leveraging the social netsork and FB targeting.
      - fiatjaf 10y ago
        Are you serious? Facebook developer ecosystem is horrible, and it stinks more in this case.
        nickpsecurity 10y ago
        I said "might." I know they have a developer ecosystem with some way of getting paid. I didn't know past that. Figured more knowledgeable people would chime in.
  - abrookewood 10y ago
    Both this and the parent's approach are good options.
  - 10y ago
dpweb 10y ago
Not sure that is true. It's cheap promotion for musicians who have zero contacts. 40 bucks to get featured on 40 blogs, its a decent deal just to get the back links. Look at the sites where people pay for likes or plays or comments. They can be popular without any kind of existing popular service feeding them. This site is in no way like buying likes, as the blogs can and do reject, but it's a service one can see catching on. Not everyone wants to schmooze blog owners.
muse900 10y ago
True that, I find it that literally if you are famous or have some sort of following crowd you can easily do things others wouldn't. I watch a bit of twitch and the famous streamers in there literally could be considered millionaires already.
- erikpukinskis 10y ago
  Why don't you pitch one of them on a plan to do just that, and make yourself rich too?
- fiatjaf 10y ago
  You're exaggerating.
notgood 10y ago
What a quickly way to dismiss his blog post, what if the time scheduling he writes about is practical advice? What if being part of the target audience is practical advice? He talks about lots of things, how much they help in a "practical manner" depends on many things; disregarding it all because he used a prior successful related blog it's just gratuitous negativity and what I dislike most about HN
blazespin 10y ago
Sites like flippa can help with that.

by fiatjaf 10y ago

jason-grishkoff 10y ago

I'd like to think that the part about launching and iterating -- getting your product out there rather than trying to make it perfect before launch -- is quite a useful tip for solo founders (and small teams). But, to each their own!

gloverkcn 10y ago
If you look at any marketing funnel, the first hurdle is awareness. Getting people aware of a saas product is very difficult. Getting them to try it is even harder. Having the blog provided both a vehicle to get the target market aware, and the credibility that the product is worth trying. It's really smart to be an active member of a community, and then provide services to the community. It's also very difficult, and takes a lot of effort. I think the post you responded to is someone who understands the amount of work you had to put into your blog to make it successful. I don't think this is a negative, but a really good take away for new entrepreneurs. - How will you market and sell your product? The "If you build it, they will come" tactic doesn't work. - How do you know it's a problem people want solved? - How do you know your solution adequately solves the problem ? Your approach answered all these questions and you got to work on something you're passionate about. Congrats on the success!
blazespin 10y ago
He missed the advice of launch and iterate below the radar with a very narrow group of customers. For example: on the app store you can launch your app/game in countries other than the US (australia, canada). Iterate, and once you're satisfied, than launch in the US. Launching and iterate in the fully public eye of your customer base is a risky thing to do for your general brand value.

gkoberger 10y ago

Sure, but it's not like someone just handed him a successful music blog. He worked hard on it, and parlayed it into something bigger. Isn't that practical?

TAForObvReasons 10y ago
> There is zero chance SubmitHub would work without the music blog > Jason Grishkoff built a $46,000/mo SaaS business helping musicians promote their music, and he did it in under a year. When do you start the clock? If the business success is based on the blog's success, then arguably the clock starts when he first made the blog.
- jason-grishkoff 10y ago
  I'll just weigh in here: the blog's success was very influential in accelerating the growth. But had I been a smaller blog, I likely would have had similar success in convincing the other blogs that this platform helped solve a problem they were all facing. What I take away as important is that I was part of the problem I was solving, rather than an outsider observing. A blog with 5,000 followers is just as likely to understand that problem as a blog with 100,000 followers. Because I was part of the problem, I was able to build a system that effectively solved it. Today, there are more than 200 blogs/channels using SubmitHub to receive their submissions -- and that happened in less than 10 months. The vast majority of them aren't there because Indie Shuffle did well; they're there because SubmitHub makes their lives better.
  - nicksergeant 10y ago
    Putting on my devil's advocate hat here. I think you're greatly discrediting the value of the network effect. Just because you build something that you need does not mean that you will be successful. People do that all the time, and then wonder why they don't make it. In reality, it's incredibly difficult to get your product in front of people who need it, even if it solves their problems perfectly. Not saying you don't deserve credit for the hard work you put into this - you absolutely do. Just keep in mind that having a great product that solves a real problem for people is not enough. You either need luck or a network effect (and then you still need a little luck).

hellofunk 10y ago

Ridiculous. You make it sound like the efforts to start a business and do well, be profitable, were not impressive.

jstandard 10y ago
That's not his point. From the article's headline: "did it in under a year" The author is being very disingenuous with his headline.
- csallen 10y ago
  SubmitHub as a product is 10 months old, and Jason's only been charging for the past 7 months. So saying that "under as year" is a "very disingenuous" timeline is... very disingenuous. Yes, having a successful blog helped Jason identify and understand the problem, and it saved him from having to partner with someone else's blog. But learning to code was probably pivotal, too. Where do we draw the line?
  - wallace_f 10y ago
    Headline would be more precise had it claimed to have built an app in 10 months, not a business Still impressive, but not the same thing Edit: just to be extra clear, the reason why this is true is because, the customer base he generated was not in the 10 months he used to build his app, that was done over the years of blogging
    - csallen 10y ago
      The app itself is the business, and is separate from his blog. (Although it works together with his blog and with many other blogs, his particular blog is not a necessity.) EDIT: To respond to your edit, I agree he was able to leverage his blog's popularity. But his blog is only one out of 231 listed on SubmitHub. Thus, his blog's readers account for what's likely a negligible fraction of SubmitHub's users. That's not to say his blog wasn't helpful. It's just a totally separate business. The reason SubmitHub is doing so well is because he added to his blog AND to those 230 other blogs, and he did that in 10 months.

paulsutter 10y ago

Or maybe the lesson is to develop a following first before developing a product. The music blog didn't happen by random chance, and his overall approach seems better than developing a product and hoping for a following.

godzillabrennus 10y ago
Alternatively you can partner with a community and build a product for them on revenue share.
- swedish_coder 10y ago
  Interesting take on the concept. Do you have any experience with this? Know where I can read more about this sort of thing? :)
  - nickpsecurity 10y ago
    Facebook might qualify with their third-party apps leveraging the social netsork and FB targeting.
    - fiatjaf 10y ago
      Are you serious? Facebook developer ecosystem is horrible, and it stinks more in this case.
      - nickpsecurity 10y ago
        I said "might." I know they have a developer ecosystem with some way of getting paid. I didn't know past that. Figured more knowledgeable people would chime in.
- abrookewood 10y ago
  Both this and the parent's approach are good options.
- 10y ago

dpweb 10y ago

Not sure that is true. It's cheap promotion for musicians who have zero contacts. 40 bucks to get featured on 40 blogs, its a decent deal just to get the back links. Look at the sites where people pay for likes or plays or comments. They can be popular without any kind of existing popular service feeding them. This site is in no way like buying likes, as the blogs can and do reject, but it's a service one can see catching on. Not everyone wants to schmooze blog owners.

muse900 10y ago

True that, I find it that literally if you are famous or have some sort of following crowd you can easily do things others wouldn't. I watch a bit of twitch and the famous streamers in there literally could be considered millionaires already.

erikpukinskis 10y ago
Why don't you pitch one of them on a plan to do just that, and make yourself rich too?
fiatjaf 10y ago
You're exaggerating.

notgood 10y ago

What a quickly way to dismiss his blog post, what if the time scheduling he writes about is practical advice? What if being part of the target audience is practical advice? He talks about lots of things, how much they help in a "practical manner" depends on many things; disregarding it all because he used a prior successful related blog it's just gratuitous negativity and what I dislike most about HN

blazespin 10y ago

Sites like flippa can help with that.