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Ask HN: Selling Software, How?

• Tomte 7y ago
  Please stop spamming.
  • gus_massa 7y ago
    Just to clarify: This was posted 4 times in a row. The other versions are now flagged and dead. Let's keep this version alive. Edit: There are more exact repost than usual. Can it be a software glitch?
    • siscia 7y ago
      Indeed, HN kept saying that the submission didn't work. I deleted the others!
• chupa-chups 7y ago
  I visited your site and, to be honest, to me it is unclear why I would should choose your solution over for example PostgreSQL. * "Fast": up to 130.000 TPS (inserts apparently) sounds a lot, but I'm not sure it is, see for example http://akorotkov.github.io/blog/2016/05/09/scalability-towards-millions-tps/ http://akorotkov.github.io/blog/2016/05/09/scalability-towar.... Maybe I'm comparing apples with oranges, but since your statement is not backed up by anything I can verify myself this does not stand out as a feature to me. It also sits in a spot where it is too high for startups to be relevant and too low for potential global players since it seems to be the limit, and as you can see in the link, even PostgreSQL provides a way to scale way beyond that number. Maybe your solution can be clustered, but I see no mention of this. * If I need an in-memory DB, I usually need it for caching or for tests. The first use case is mostly covered by Redis (but I admit being able to use SQL for cache retrieval has some appeal), the second use case (tests) is questionable, since I either use your DB all the way or I'd have a separate DB for tests, which is a not very inviting thing to have to me. * You state that your DB is not only in-memory only but also can?(is always?) be persisted via Redis. How is that working, what are consequences for conflicts, transactionality etc.? I don't find much about this topic, just a reference that it is "[on] par with incumbent databases such as Postgres or MySQL". * Lastly, you should mention that the SQL dialect is SQlite. I'd hate having to learn another SQL dialect and I guess many of my peers would do the same. I'd suggest you switch the focus from "fast in-memory DB" to "Run SQL queries on cached data to allow more leeway to your real SQL database". This sounds appealing to me, provided there are some real-life examples how this can work (e.g. a demo project). If you go this way, I'd also probably also drop (or not focus) "being able to persist cached data" to automating cache-refreshes consistently, since this would probably be needed.
  • siscia 7y ago
    Many thanks for your feedback! It's very valuable! How would you market RediSQL? Who you would talk to? In what kind of venues?
• bachmeier 7y ago
  I visited your site. You're not selling software. You're selling support. Why would someone buy support from you rather than someone with a track record with a popular database? Do you know what people that make those purchase decisions look for? I'm not going to speculate, since I don't make those decisions, but your post makes it sound like you haven't figured out what you're selling or why someone should buy it from you.
  • siscia 7y ago
    That's true. I still need to figure out the best way to monetize the project, PRO version plus support seemed the most straightforward way, but maybe it is not the only one. I was hoping to lure the engineers with a good technology and finally sell to whoever has budget with the hope that the engineers would sell the product inside the organization. But somehow this is not working. Maybe they don't need it? Maybe I have to find a specific niche... Any idea is welcome...
• brudgers 7y ago
  [random advice from the internet] "Get in your car" and go see your users instead of sitting at your desk. Seeing is the best way to really understand context and understanding the context in which your customers operate is important for B2B sales. If you can't afford to visit potential customers then it is likely that either the project is under-capitalized or that the project is not economically viable. Under-capitalization and economic viability don't matter for a hobby project. But they matter greatly for a business venture.
  • siscia 7y ago
    I got the means to visit people in real life, but it seems like an huge waste of effort and resources. I definitely understand the idea of knowing how my clients work and operate in real life, so I keep asking them via email. Unfortunately, every time, they are all quite reticent to share more about their business. I might be asking wrong...
    • JohnFen 7y ago
      > I might be asking wrong... Asking people how they work in real life is not usually that productive. People often don't really know how they work -- they just work -- and will tell you what they think that they do rather than what they really do. If you have identified a target market (and if you haven't, then that's what you should do first), then the best thing to do is find a way to watch your target market work in their native environment. This is ideal, but can be hard to swing. For instance, if your target is narrow enough, you could land a short-term contract gig with a company that fits it, then you'll learn first-hand how things really work and what the pain points are. A bonus to doing that is that it adheres to another principle I believe in -- to the greatest degree possible, each of your activities should generate income in at least two different ways. In this case, you'd get a paycheck as well as free market research. There are other methods, too. For instance, take members of your target market out to lunch and talk shop. Don't try to sell them on anything at all -- in fact, don't talk about your product. Instead, get them talking about their daily work routine. They may not open up at first, but they'll probably start telling you valuable things on the second or third lunch, or after a cocktail.
• pryelluw 7y ago
  Go read the book "Way of the Wolf" by Jordan Belfort. Thats all you need to get started. Read it twice. Also, disregard any opinion that gives feedback on your site or product. Talk to real customers (after reading the book).
  • siscia 7y ago
    Many thanks! I definitely will!
  • bachmeier 7y ago
    > Talk to real customers (after reading the book). That's good advice if you already have customers. OP seems to have the problem of not having customers.
    • pryelluw 7y ago
      That is the only advice if you have customers or not. Talk to the market. Find out if they will buy. That is why OP needs some basic sales skills (clearly lacks them). Sales is the solution to the problem of not having customers.
• JohnFen 7y ago
  > I want to avoid to just work in the tech without any marketing... But I don't know what kind of marketing I should do. It sounds to me like you need to find a partner who is into doing that sort of thing. That's what I did. As a bonus, someone who is into this sort of thing likely will be able to give you solid information about how to change your product in order to appeal to a broader audience. Don't forget the first law of business: be totally honest with yourself about what you can't (or don't want to) do well, and fix that gap by finding people who are good at and enjoy those things.
  • siscia 7y ago
    Very wise words, thanks! The point is that I am an "heavy engineer" myself, the kind that go and build databases or filesystems. With this project I wanted to expand my horizons and learn the business as well. I could work for FAANG if I just wanted to do engineering, but I want something different. I force myself to don't refactor the code base or add features. I don't want to build stuff (even if I really enjoy it) I want to sell it. Maybe I should look for a mentor on this space, but I have no idea how to find one... Any volunteers?
    • JohnFen 7y ago
      > Maybe I should look for a mentor on this space, but I have no idea how to find one... I don't know where you are, but in the US it's worth looking into the SCORE program (Service Corps of Retired Entrepreneurs). This program is specifically intended to provide experienced business mentorship to entrepreneurs. Here's their website: https://www.score.org https://www.score.org In my earlier days, I found SCORE to be incredibly valuable.
      • siscia 7y ago
        Europe, unfortunately... But thanks for the link, maybe I can find something similar :)
        • JohnFen 7y ago
• verdverm 7y ago
  I'd join YC Startup School, or at least watch the previous sessions videos. Lots of good stuff in there. How big is the problem? Is it in your potential customers' top 3 pains? Or is this just a nice to have feature for Redis? > I really believe that there is a market for this, I needed it years ago when developing my own app and people are using it in production (or at least are keeping instance up). What evidence do you have that a market exists? Do you know how much your users are using the product?
• zerr 7y ago
  Relevant question: how to start a custom software development company? i.e. scale the work to several [hired] devs - ensure the constant flow of new projects/clients, etc... Does setting up a nice website help a lot? Will it bring new costumers?
• erikbrodch 7y ago
  Hi, 1. Not a developer so please forgive any tech mistakes; 2. I looked on ahrefs on some of the keywords you mentioned and some more (e.g. "how to query redis with sql") - there are some searches but very limited (I would say up to 300-400/month in the US total). That's not a lot, but I don't know if it's the beginning of a trend or the end of it (devs can say that). 3. Regardless, I understand you do have users (when I say a user I mean retained users). If so, you need to talk to them, understand exactly what problem you are solving them. You can incentivize them with gift-cards or just sweet-talk your way to have a phone call with them; That's the most important thing. 4. Once you are on the call, do everything to understand what problem are you solving them + what they want you to add to the product. 5. That's the process. I did it with a social app in which I texted any user who did a meaningful action. It wasn't fun, but that's the way to do that. Get them to talk to you. Hope that helps.