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https://next-episode.net https://next-episode.net is a service I run for more than 15 years now. It's a TV / Movies tracking website/community that helps peopl

by santah 6y ago

https://next-episode.net https://next-episode.net is a service I run for more than 15 years now. It's a TV / Movies tracking website/community that helps people organize what they watch and find new shows to watch. I started it for myself (because I couldn't find such tool back in the day) while I was working as a front end developer in an outsourcing company and it slowly grew and became my (only) day job. There is a lot to do in terms of user support and constant maintenance and development (considering also the iOS and Android apps), but I've made the conscious decision to stay a sole developer and not try and hire people to help. For me - I feel this works great even though I realize I may be missing a lot by not trying to scale up by hiring. Hope that makes sense. I'm around if anyone has any questions.

zarfius 6y ago
Awesome to see you here. I've been using the paid app for years and I'm more than happy to support you forever.
- santah 6y ago
  Thanks!
smsm42 6y ago
Love this service! Glad it pays the bills (I have a paid membership). I'd use this opportunity to make a suggestion - how hard would it be to make more detailed map of which season is available on which service? I am especially interested in latest season usually, of course. When you have a show with 15 seasons and you want the latest one, the list shows all the services whether they have new the stuff or just very old stuff. I'll keep using it anyway, because it's great :)
loosetypes 6y ago
Are you able to do this full time to support yourself? Do you feel like you’re competing with the many other app options out there with larger teams? I’m currently building something in a similar space. I’d like to be able to devote myself to it but am worried about viability (both overall and as a solo developer). That is to say, inspired to see your post!
- santah 6y ago
  Yes - this business supports me and my family and I don't have or need another job. I'm lucky to have found something I'm passionate about and that I can be helpful to others with. That said - I haven't had a day without working on it (for at least 30minutes to handle support email) in more than 15 years. Also - I plan all vacations around it (well, those are really vacations for my wife, I try and keep working as much as I can on them) by making sure we always have good internet connection and we're never somewhere where we won't have internet for more than a day. Thankfully, that's fairly easy to accomplish nowdays, but I can't, for example, do a multi day camping or hiking trips. What I'm trying to say it it comes at a price and it's not all great even when it's successful. And yes, of course I feel I'm competing with the other options - some with huge teams and VC money, but at the same time I regularly check them out and I'm confident my product brings enough value to stand its ground - it doesn't have tens of millions of active users monthly - and it doesn't have to. I'll be happy if I can keep the current scale and the level of satisfaction of my users forever. Now, I wish I had some advice for someone with a new product in this space. The truth is I have no idea how viable or hard for someone to start something new may be. If you want - let me know specifically what you're working on and I'll give you some feedback (either in here or through the contact form on Next Episode). (it's fine if you prefer to keep it under wraps too)
  - loosetypes 6y ago
    Thanks so much for your reply - I will definitely reach out via Next Episode to continue the conversation. Any and all feedback would be much appreciated.

by santah 6y ago

zarfius 6y ago

Awesome to see you here. I've been using the paid app for years and I'm more than happy to support you forever.

santah 6y ago
Thanks!

smsm42 6y ago

Love this service! Glad it pays the bills (I have a paid membership). I'd use this opportunity to make a suggestion - how hard would it be to make more detailed map of which season is available on which service? I am especially interested in latest season usually, of course. When you have a show with 15 seasons and you want the latest one, the list shows all the services whether they have new the stuff or just very old stuff. I'll keep using it anyway, because it's great :)

loosetypes 6y ago

Are you able to do this full time to support yourself? Do you feel like you’re competing with the many other app options out there with larger teams? I’m currently building something in a similar space. I’d like to be able to devote myself to it but am worried about viability (both overall and as a solo developer). That is to say, inspired to see your post!

santah 6y ago
Yes - this business supports me and my family and I don't have or need another job. I'm lucky to have found something I'm passionate about and that I can be helpful to others with. That said - I haven't had a day without working on it (for at least 30minutes to handle support email) in more than 15 years. Also - I plan all vacations around it (well, those are really vacations for my wife, I try and keep working as much as I can on them) by making sure we always have good internet connection and we're never somewhere where we won't have internet for more than a day. Thankfully, that's fairly easy to accomplish nowdays, but I can't, for example, do a multi day camping or hiking trips. What I'm trying to say it it comes at a price and it's not all great even when it's successful. And yes, of course I feel I'm competing with the other options - some with huge teams and VC money, but at the same time I regularly check them out and I'm confident my product brings enough value to stand its ground - it doesn't have tens of millions of active users monthly - and it doesn't have to. I'll be happy if I can keep the current scale and the level of satisfaction of my users forever. Now, I wish I had some advice for someone with a new product in this space. The truth is I have no idea how viable or hard for someone to start something new may be. If you want - let me know specifically what you're working on and I'll give you some feedback (either in here or through the contact form on Next Episode). (it's fine if you prefer to keep it under wraps too)
- loosetypes 6y ago
  Thanks so much for your reply - I will definitely reach out via Next Episode to continue the conversation. Any and all feedback would be much appreciated.