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https://vidgen.io https://vidgen.io It's a web app that generates summary videos of online articles/content. I launched it in February and it hasn't made a di

https://vidgen.io https://vidgen.io It's a web app that generates summary videos of online articles/content. I launched it in February and it hasn't made a dime. I was charging ~$3 per generated video, but since it's had zero traction, the videos can now be downloaded for free. The main feature it's lacking is a way to customize the generated videos. Once I get this implemented I will try promoting it again. Spent about 3 months building it and over $2k in hosting + licensing.

zackify 9y ago
Would be nice if you could put a url in without https in front. Otherwise, this is a really cool idea. It makes sense that most people wouldn't find it worth $3 though. I'm trying it out now :)
- deleted 9y ago
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- timbowhite 9y ago
  Thanks! And good point about dropping the http/https in the URL validation.
dtien 9y ago
There's a germ of a really interesting idea in here, esp with video sort of becoming the de facto standard of content consumption these days ( at least in short form across social media ). Maybe take a breather from the tech side and go out to some possible users, and I would almost start super niche-y with this type of thing. Don't bother developing some type of customizing generated video tool yet. I bet there's a substantial group of people out there that either have historical content that they would pay to put in video form to distribute across social, or some group that's forced to produce content in standard text format, but would love an easy 'to-video' button solution. And in both cases, I would imagine they would have very specific requirements for you in terms of transforming their content, how the output should look, etc, etc, etc. It would probably be all kinds of specific code that you would be loathe to write for a single client, but you should. And from that maybe it will help guide you w/ whatever next tech thing is worth implementing. Anyhow, 2 cents from internet stranger so take it for what it's worth ;) I am curious though, what is the bulk of your costs in hosting that's pushing it to 2K in 3 months -- or am I mid-reading that?
- timbowhite 9y ago
  Thanks for the suggestion! That makes a lot of sense. You're right, most publishers are very particular about format of their content in these generated videos. Focusing on a single client would help nail down at least one use case, and bring in some much needed cash flow :) The text-to-speech software was ~$1500, and it's been running on a $100/month dedicated server since February.

zackify 9y ago

Would be nice if you could put a url in without https in front. Otherwise, this is a really cool idea. It makes sense that most people wouldn't find it worth $3 though. I'm trying it out now :)

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
timbowhite 9y ago
Thanks! And good point about dropping the http/https in the URL validation.

dtien 9y ago

There's a germ of a really interesting idea in here, esp with video sort of becoming the de facto standard of content consumption these days ( at least in short form across social media ). Maybe take a breather from the tech side and go out to some possible users, and I would almost start super niche-y with this type of thing. Don't bother developing some type of customizing generated video tool yet. I bet there's a substantial group of people out there that either have historical content that they would pay to put in video form to distribute across social, or some group that's forced to produce content in standard text format, but would love an easy 'to-video' button solution. And in both cases, I would imagine they would have very specific requirements for you in terms of transforming their content, how the output should look, etc, etc, etc. It would probably be all kinds of specific code that you would be loathe to write for a single client, but you should. And from that maybe it will help guide you w/ whatever next tech thing is worth implementing. Anyhow, 2 cents from internet stranger so take it for what it's worth ;) I am curious though, what is the bulk of your costs in hosting that's pushing it to 2K in 3 months -- or am I mid-reading that?

timbowhite 9y ago
Thanks for the suggestion! That makes a lot of sense. You're right, most publishers are very particular about format of their content in these generated videos. Focusing on a single client would help nail down at least one use case, and bring in some much needed cash flow :) The text-to-speech software was ~$1500, and it's been running on a $100/month dedicated server since February.