5 ms·

Sure. If enough folks want to dig into this much detail, I'd be happy to put together an in-depth write-up.

by amirkhella 16y ago

palish 16y ago
Yes.
- websockr 16y ago
  Ditto. Please, if you're exposing this much about the process and not trying to keep it a secret or anything, give us the play by play.
  - amirkhella 16y ago
    :) No secrets here. I've been keeping a journal of the whole experiment, and can compile it into a couple of posts this weekend.
    - Unseelie 16y ago
      Excited to read that!
    - yosho 16y ago
      definitely would like to read, getting traction is the hardest part of any startup
    - bvi 16y ago
      Great way to generate interest. :) Good job, looking forward to reading your posts.
patio11 16y ago
You'd be surprised how often nuts&bolts issues stop people from starting. I was mildly mystified by "Set up website, collect money, deliver software" prior to starting, too. Turns out it is trivial, but that was not obvious prior to doing it. (Relatedly: taxes, bookkeeping, accounting, and government regulation were all walks in the park. Marketing is hard. Who knew?)
- jcoby 16y ago
  Yeah, the nuts and bolts of selling the product is the easy part. There are loads of services out there to sell digital goods including the one that the submitter used and my own service (shameless plug: link in my profile anyone is interested). PayPal is still the cheapest and easiest way to collect the money, even considering fraud. (PayPal almost always sides with the buyer and with digital goods you have little recourse.) It's the marketing that makes all the difference. We have customers that have made $50-60k in less than a week due to awesome marketing. And we have customers that pull in well over $100k/yr due to good marketing and good affiliates. We also have many that will never sell anywhere near that much in the product's lifetime, also due to marketing.
- amirkhella 16y ago
  I am more surprised by how much people are trying to reinvent the wheel every day. I think there are enough tools and APIs out there to build small useful products in less than a week.
  - paulsingh 16y ago
    Agreed, 100% There are tons of APIs now available for email delivery, billing, etc. Great job with this!
- lukev 16y ago
  This has always been my impression. But when I've actually looked for resources on how to get those nuts & bolts set up, for someone who knows nothing about them, it's been non-obvious. You wouldn't by any chance know of some resources related to getting over the initial hump of getting paid for software/services, would you?
  - paulsingh 16y ago
    Actually, I've been trying to write a little bit about this here: http://www.resultsjunkies.com/blog/category/back-office-exposed/ http://www.resultsjunkies.com/blog/category/back-office-expo... HTH!
curyous 16y ago
Please do a step-by-step write up, it would mean a lot to me to help me get started.
dmitri1981 16y ago
Yes, please

Sure. If enough folks want to dig into this much detail, I'd be happy to put together an in-depth write-up.

palish 16y ago

Yes.

websockr 16y ago
Ditto. Please, if you're exposing this much about the process and not trying to keep it a secret or anything, give us the play by play.
- amirkhella 16y ago
  :) No secrets here. I've been keeping a journal of the whole experiment, and can compile it into a couple of posts this weekend.
  - Unseelie 16y ago
    Excited to read that!
  - yosho 16y ago
    definitely would like to read, getting traction is the hardest part of any startup
  - bvi 16y ago
    Great way to generate interest. :) Good job, looking forward to reading your posts.

patio11 16y ago

You'd be surprised how often nuts&bolts issues stop people from starting. I was mildly mystified by "Set up website, collect money, deliver software" prior to starting, too. Turns out it is trivial, but that was not obvious prior to doing it. (Relatedly: taxes, bookkeeping, accounting, and government regulation were all walks in the park. Marketing is hard. Who knew?)

jcoby 16y ago
Yeah, the nuts and bolts of selling the product is the easy part. There are loads of services out there to sell digital goods including the one that the submitter used and my own service (shameless plug: link in my profile anyone is interested). PayPal is still the cheapest and easiest way to collect the money, even considering fraud. (PayPal almost always sides with the buyer and with digital goods you have little recourse.) It's the marketing that makes all the difference. We have customers that have made $50-60k in less than a week due to awesome marketing. And we have customers that pull in well over $100k/yr due to good marketing and good affiliates. We also have many that will never sell anywhere near that much in the product's lifetime, also due to marketing.
amirkhella 16y ago
I am more surprised by how much people are trying to reinvent the wheel every day. I think there are enough tools and APIs out there to build small useful products in less than a week.
- paulsingh 16y ago
  Agreed, 100% There are tons of APIs now available for email delivery, billing, etc. Great job with this!
lukev 16y ago
This has always been my impression. But when I've actually looked for resources on how to get those nuts & bolts set up, for someone who knows nothing about them, it's been non-obvious. You wouldn't by any chance know of some resources related to getting over the initial hump of getting paid for software/services, would you?
- paulsingh 16y ago
  Actually, I've been trying to write a little bit about this here: http://www.resultsjunkies.com/blog/category/back-office-exposed/ http://www.resultsjunkies.com/blog/category/back-office-expo... HTH!

curyous 16y ago

Please do a step-by-step write up, it would mean a lot to me to help me get started.

dmitri1981 16y ago

Yes, please