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Maker here. Side note: Took all the feedback from HN on my previous demo. Still working hard on a searchable database with a ton of curated newsletters. My goal

Maker here. Side note: Took all the feedback from HN on my previous demo. Still working hard on a searchable database with a ton of curated newsletters. My goal is to make it easier for fellow creators to share their startup & side projects with thousands of potential customers. And to have newsletter owners monetise their emails. Creating a win-win situation for both sides.

LukasRos 9y ago
Promoting newsletter sponsorships as a vehicle for side project growth is a great idea. I think using an email newsletter itself is not the right format but looking forward to a searchable database.
- garysieling 9y ago
  It is a good way to get newsletter owners to fill out their information
- pixelfeeder 9y ago
  The searchable database is the real product, but to protect myself from procrastinating on this I forced myself to launch quickly. Hence the v0.5 solution.
  - LukasRos 9y ago
    Yes, I agree with that; MVPs and fast iteration!
  - SyneRyder 9y ago
    So awesome. I was about to say the same about the searchable database, but I love this launch quickly / minimal viable approach. (I think I remember your previous iteration.) Still eager to follow this one!
lprubin 9y ago
How will you validate active subscriber numbers so new buyers can ascertain the value of a particular newsletter?
- pixelfeeder 9y ago
  Getting data (Open rate, CTR etc.) from a recent email campaign, should already give a good indication of the level of engagement each newsletter has.
  - lprubin 9y ago
    How are you going to get and verify that data on an ongoing basis at scale?
    - sah2ed 9y ago
      Scale is a nice problem to have but I think it is premature to be asking about that now when the business is just trying to get off the ground. The project was previously featured under the name Mailman on HN [0]. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14107063 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14107063
      - lprubin 9y ago
        I'm still interested in knowing how they're going to do it even at the beginning. Are they going to request access to people's newsletter software for verification or are they just going to take people's word for it?
        sah2ed 9y ago
        I would think that Upstart will evolve into a marketplace type of business where the onus is on the business (buyer) to do their due diligence before shelling out money to a newsletter (seller) in the hope of increasing their reach. Of course if the feature of showing metrics (subscribers, open rates etc) proves to be popular enough they might consider ways to rank newsletters using metrics that are publicly verifiable or internal metrics from running Upstart after several months (that cannot be easily be gamed). Hopefully @pixelfeeder will respond.
estreeper 9y ago
> Still working hard on a searchable database This would be very valuable for us, because as far as I know there is essentially no systematic way to locate these. We have a product which is meant to be of use to many niche audiences, making them difficult to find. We are very early stage, and are just now getting some initial partners to work with and looking for ways to market the service to initial customers (in the thousands). I would most prefer a marketplace where I would know up front how much it would cost to sponsor a newsletter. Without that, my concern would be friction in dealing with lots of small organizations directly, though we would still be willing to do this at our stage. If payments are happening through the site perhaps you would just take a cut, but alternately if this worked reasonably well and had a fair amount of newsletters for us to find, I would probably pay $10-15/month to use it.
bluetwo 9y ago
I think it's a nice idea. No doubt people need help with marketing here. I'm a little fuzzy on the mechanics. If you focus on a couple quality offerings every week, won't those particular newsletters get inundated with requests? Also, how do you plan on generating revenue?
chrisfrantz 9y ago
How do you plan to differentiate yourself against competitors like Paved? They already have a searchable database of newsletetters with open rates, CTR, etc.

LukasRos 9y ago

Promoting newsletter sponsorships as a vehicle for side project growth is a great idea. I think using an email newsletter itself is not the right format but looking forward to a searchable database.

garysieling 9y ago
It is a good way to get newsletter owners to fill out their information
pixelfeeder 9y ago
The searchable database is the real product, but to protect myself from procrastinating on this I forced myself to launch quickly. Hence the v0.5 solution.
- LukasRos 9y ago
  Yes, I agree with that; MVPs and fast iteration!
- SyneRyder 9y ago
  So awesome. I was about to say the same about the searchable database, but I love this launch quickly / minimal viable approach. (I think I remember your previous iteration.) Still eager to follow this one!

lprubin 9y ago

How will you validate active subscriber numbers so new buyers can ascertain the value of a particular newsletter?

pixelfeeder 9y ago
Getting data (Open rate, CTR etc.) from a recent email campaign, should already give a good indication of the level of engagement each newsletter has.
- lprubin 9y ago
  How are you going to get and verify that data on an ongoing basis at scale?
  - sah2ed 9y ago
    Scale is a nice problem to have but I think it is premature to be asking about that now when the business is just trying to get off the ground. The project was previously featured under the name Mailman on HN [0]. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14107063 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14107063
    - lprubin 9y ago
      I'm still interested in knowing how they're going to do it even at the beginning. Are they going to request access to people's newsletter software for verification or are they just going to take people's word for it?
      - sah2ed 9y ago
        I would think that Upstart will evolve into a marketplace type of business where the onus is on the business (buyer) to do their due diligence before shelling out money to a newsletter (seller) in the hope of increasing their reach. Of course if the feature of showing metrics (subscribers, open rates etc) proves to be popular enough they might consider ways to rank newsletters using metrics that are publicly verifiable or internal metrics from running Upstart after several months (that cannot be easily be gamed). Hopefully @pixelfeeder will respond.

estreeper 9y ago

> Still working hard on a searchable database This would be very valuable for us, because as far as I know there is essentially no systematic way to locate these. We have a product which is meant to be of use to many niche audiences, making them difficult to find. We are very early stage, and are just now getting some initial partners to work with and looking for ways to market the service to initial customers (in the thousands). I would most prefer a marketplace where I would know up front how much it would cost to sponsor a newsletter. Without that, my concern would be friction in dealing with lots of small organizations directly, though we would still be willing to do this at our stage. If payments are happening through the site perhaps you would just take a cut, but alternately if this worked reasonably well and had a fair amount of newsletters for us to find, I would probably pay $10-15/month to use it.

bluetwo 9y ago

I think it's a nice idea. No doubt people need help with marketing here. I'm a little fuzzy on the mechanics. If you focus on a couple quality offerings every week, won't those particular newsletters get inundated with requests? Also, how do you plan on generating revenue?

chrisfrantz 9y ago

How do you plan to differentiate yourself against competitors like Paved? They already have a searchable database of newsletetters with open rates, CTR, etc.