There are some flash-in-the-pan things and some that are evergreen. When it comes to the former, getting HN front-paged, a Techcrunch write-up, PH, etc tends t

There are some flash-in-the-pan things and some that are evergreen. When it comes to the former, getting HN front-paged, a Techcrunch write-up, PH, etc tends to lead to a spike in traffic and eye balls, but very rarely do you get your true base of customers from these things. (But hey, they don't hurt!) In the latter category you'll hear things like SEO, content marketing etc. Those are all important and must-haves, but these days it's also table stakes since it's what everyone is doing as well. When it comes to getting differentiators that can take you from $1k to $2k or $2k to $4k you need a distribution channel -- preferably a partner or a distribution platform where you can narrowly focus on a small audience. Yes, this means you'll need to reach out and talk to people with similar audiences and folks who are willing to help. For those of us who prefer talking to computers (coding) more than talking to humans (eww emails and phone calls) this can be unnatural but is also extremely important. I'm personally happy to chat with any part-timers looking to grow their projects or even become full-time entrepreneurs. Just hit me up via my profile here on HN. My personal experience: I've started two businesses as side projects that went on to be full-time ventures. Ronin (https://www.roninapp.com https://www.roninapp.com) was started in 2008 (eventually went full-time, acquired, and then spun out). Later on Reamaze (https://www.reamaze.com https://www.reamaze.com) was actually a side project on a side project, but is now at full time with a small team and growing very nicely.