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Ask HN: I'm looking for a partner
Hi Guys,
I'm not totally sure if this type of post is allowed, but I'd love to partner with a like minded person from HN.
I'll tell you a bit about the site, and my dialemma. I have run this site for 2-3 weeks, and it has just surpassed 400,000 page views. I hit profitability in the first week, and it is growing quite well. I'm making money through sponsored cases and affiliate revenue.
The problem is, I'm not sure what type of partner. Whether I want someone with good connections, PR ability, or the technical know how.
Would appreciate all input!
Cheers,
Lachy
- JarekS 16y agoMaybe you should share a link to your site?
- may 16y agoFirst and formost, you want someone with intergerity. Someone who has your back and won't screw you over. They may be great at coding, or business or PR or something else entirely. But you want someone you can trust by your side. Preferably someone who's great at something you're not, since you seem to have your end running just fine. Someone who's in it for the right reasons. At least, that's how I do it. My two cents, - Nicholas E. May http://www.notjustbinary.com http://www.notjustbinary.com
- lachyg 16y agohttp://ipadcasefinder.com/ http://ipadcasefinder.com/ is the site. I'm doing quite well and plan on expanding it to be a network of Case Finding sites. It may look a bit 'lame', but it has the potential to be a very big earner (We could easily make $4k profit in our first month).
- valisystem 16y agoDon't call a your product 'lame' just because it is simple. Making it good as you did is nothing but 'that' simple, maybe your experience make you think it is the natural way to go but not everyone follow that way. And don't be ashamed that such a product doesn't trigger any real technical challenge. Be proud of it.
- lachyg 16y agoYeah, I am quite proud of it, I just think most will underestimate it. I really do appreciate where your coming from. :) Thanks
- one010101 16y agoThat's normal. Just because you're good doesn't mean all your competitors are, though. There's a name for that that I can't remember, but the simple fact is that you can carve out market space even with substantial competition. You only need to distinguish yourself by competence, responsiveness, honesty and transparency and ethical dealings. imho, that's the key.
- orblivion 16y agoWell whatever we think, clearly your customers don't think it's lame :)
- lachyg 16y agoYep! We're getting something like 5 page views per visit, and a bounce rate of less than 40%.
- quizbiz 16y agoPlease email me nnlevy at google's mail service. (For general purposes, you may want to add your contact info in your bio).
- lachyg 16y agoEmailed you.
- zackattack 16y agoHow did you come up with the idea? Also, according to http://danielbru.com/2010/05/03/announcing-my-next-venture/ http://danielbru.com/2010/05/03/announcing-my-next-venture/ you made Daring Fireball...nice.
- lachyg 16y agoThanks! Just to be clear, Daniel was a partner, he's now just an advisor. I'm not Daniel :) My dad basically told me that I should be making some passive income, and a few days previous my friend dropped and cracked my iPad (without a case). Thus, iPCF was born! Hah!
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- zackattack 16y agoThat's really fortuitous. Congratulations.
- lachyg 16y agoThank you!
- pdx 16y agoWhen I Google ipad case, I don't find this site. When I go to google keywords and check ipad case I get 165K searches per month, and that's broad, not phrase. How are so many people finding you?
- lachyg 16y agoThat's a bit of a problem. We had a very high ranking position on that term #5 or so. Then we suddenly dissappeared on every single term. We're trying to get in touch with Google on this issue - just to make it clear - we did no spam / blackhat.
- dmix 16y agoWe track our search term rankings daily and they frequently drop off the frontpage google results for a day than come back higher up or at the same rank the next day. Google is constantly testing sites and seeing which ones perform well. I wouldn't be worried unless its still not back in 2-3 days.
- lachyg 16y agoIt's been one week, and a copy cat site ipadcasestore.org has ranked much better than us. I'm quite annoyed!
- jteo 16y agoThink of imitation as flattery. It also gives you a chance to think about whether your competitive advantage is easily duplicated. And I mean that in a positive way. Really nice site. =)
- shafqat 16y agoWhat tool do you use to track search term rankings? Manually or automated?
- dmix 16y ago
- charlesdm 16y agoThrow me a mail if you want to have a chat. cdmba1 at gmail dot com
- lachyg 16y agoSent :-)
- kevinelliott 16y agoI think before you can really pick a partner, you need to think very thoroughly about what you're very strong at, and what you could use a bit (or a lot) of improvement at. For so many people, it's hard to be willing to identify what you are not so great at doing. Sometimes it's just a matter of admitting it. In other cases, you may actually struggle to determine where your weakest points are. Then, once you've done that, you should look at the list and think about what you LIKE to do, and what you DON'T LIKE to do. Prepare a final list which is composed of a cross section of what you are/aren't good at doing, and what you do/don't like to do. Chances are, a person who is good at and likes to do what you aren't good at and don't like to do, is a good match for you.
- kevinelliott 16y agoIn other words: If you're good at web design and programming, then perhaps you want someone who's more business and idea focused. This person would need to have some connections too. Otherwise, if you just don't like doing the design portion, but you really like to code, then find another entrepreneurial minded person who like to design.
- lachyg 16y agoI'm a marketer, with basic technical knowledge. I know how to run and adjust WordPress blogs, I can dive into the code and change basic things. I owned www.PSDtoWP.com - so I'm quite compitent. It's just the decisisions.. Do I want: - A designer - A coder - Someone well connected, or versed in device peripherals - Or another good PR / Marketing person (This is what I'd call myself)
- kevinelliott 16y agoBut your strong attribute seems to be marketing (according to you) with only basic technology knowledge. Think of all the hours and hours you may have struggled trying to figure some things out. You may enjoy it (or you just think you do) but perhaps it actually takes you longer than an actual development minded entrepreneur. Of course, I don't know you, so I don't know. But that's how you should be figuring out who to pair with. You should be thinking "Whats the BEST use of my time?" This is why some people pay people to clean their homes, cars, and clothes.
- aneth 16y agoYou sure got a lot of coverage and link love really quickly for a fairly simple idea. I'm curious how you accomplished that.
- lachyg 16y agoIt's really quite simple actually. I know it sounds cliche, but if it's good, people will write about it (if you tell them too). Basically, I get in touch with junior writers at the sites I target, and talk to them for a while before asking them for a favour. Usually works!
- jacquesm 16y agoCongratulations, you've got a live one. Be critical about your prospective partners, and build in a trial period, if at all feasible meet in person.
- lachyg 16y agoSounds like a good plan. First step is finding a partner though!
- jacquesm 16y agoThink of it as dating with handicaps. A good business partner is my opinion about as hard find as a good marriage partner. And you only really know how good your partner and you work together when you hit a serious obstacle. Take your time, better to work a little harder and keep your options open for a while than to say 'yes' to someone too early. This is probably even harder than finding a live startup, you seem to have that one licked though :) One down, 50 to go or so! btw, it's 'dilemma'.
- gosuri 16y agoCongratulations. You have solved the problem really well. My biz partner is currently some one I went to school with and a good friend for years, some one I can share my bank account password with. Connections are important but my personal thought is if you have a great product and achieved the market-fit hiring a professional or an advisor to help is at your disposal. But don't partner if the only asset they bring is connections. I recommend looking in your circle first, some one you've worked with in the past, understands you really well, shares your vision and trust you. There is some great advise on http://venturehacks.com/articles/pick-cofounder http://venturehacks.com/articles/pick-cofounder that might help you. Good luck with the search.
- dord 16y agoIf you're interested in a techie startup partner, I'd be happy to tell you more about myself. dan at danmunro dot com
- rockstar9 16y agoCan you describe how you got your initial traffic? I'm very curious, and will probably be helpful to the community :)
- lachyg 16y agoWell, it was basically just getting featured on big blogs, driving links and traffic. Then keeping it going on Twitter. What I do is find junior writers on the blogs, and then discuss the site with them, my story, etc. They will usually do a post. Now my job is to keep it going.
- rockstar9 16y agoany numbers on direct/referring/searchengine percentages?
- vaksel 16y agosince iPad is a registered trademark...you can lose that domain at any time Milk it as much as you can...but don't expect to keep it forever. I think a big problem with trying to rank for trademark terms, is that you'll never beat out apple for the #1 position. So even though "ipad case", is searched 70K+ a month, #2 position will only see a 1/3 of that if lucky.
- lachyg 16y agoDo you think Apple would come at us?
- vaksel 16y agoeventually yes...they have to defend their trademark or they'll lose it. Here you can see a bunch of domains that they fought for: http://www.udrpsearch.com/index.php?query=apple&search=parties http://www.udrpsearch.com/index.php?query=apple&search=p... Granted for each one of those, there are probably hundreds of domains flying below apple's radar...but if you get big, you can expect them to sue.
- lachyg 16y agoI'm prepared to think we're safe, for at least quite a while. I imagine they would allow you to move before having to give it up as well. They seem to mainly be after direct names e.g. iPod Nano, or Airport, etc.
- vaksel 16y agowhat I would do in your position is start a site called skinz.com or something along those lines. And use the ipad site as a way to direct traffic to it. i.e. in the footer list "a skinz company". Also setup a newsletter and add a subscribe to newsletter button prominently on your site. This way you'll have a way to contact your users when Apple hits you(and if you get big, they will). Then you just tell them to come to your skinz.com/apple-ipad-skins website and instead of losing all your traffic, you'll lose just half.
- wesley 16y agoWhy would you need a partner for a simple affiliate site like this?
- mawhidby 16y agoThere was a HN thread a few months ago regarding a cofounder wish list. Here's a link to the Google Spreadsheet that was created http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AgCvDTyBjHdOdDFfMENqeWVGNVFxTXdnaDZBRkd0cUE&hl=en http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AgCvDTyBjHdOdDFfMENq...
- lachyg 16y agoOk, so I've found this rip of a site: http://ipadcasestore.org http://ipadcasestore.org. What should I do? I know we bought the theme, but they ripped the concept, the filtering, the theme, etc. This sucks! (Also, they're ranking for our keyword - Which we had for about a week, then Google dropped us from all major keywords).
- lewi 16y agoOh that is harsh! What douche bags!
- shafqat 16y agoI just clicked on a link over to a vendor, and didn't see any affiliate tags on the URL. How do you make money on this purchase? The product was the first one (CNS360 Neoprene)? Great looking site, and nice idea.
- lachyg 16y agoWe only make money on some of the cases!
- eagleal 16y agoIf you're ok with a front-end, design bg guy, email me pmura A/T pmura.commercial
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]