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Together with a friend we recently started working on https://hocus.dev https://hocus.dev, a self-hosted alternative to Gitpod and Github Codespaces. It automat

Together with a friend we recently started working on https://hocus.dev https://hocus.dev, a self-hosted alternative to Gitpod and Github Codespaces. It automates the provisioning of cloud development environments on your own infrastructure. YC content has been extremely helpful to us in choosing what to focus on initially (customer outreach), and what outcomes we should expect from our efforts. They also have a video on how to do initial marketing, and what really makes a difference is setting up analytics and paying attention to it. It’s a huge motivation boost to see actual people looking at what you made.

nmfisher 4y ago
I'm just one person, but some feedback - the first sentence in your comment ("a self-hosted alternative to Gitpod and Github Codespaces") was far clearer than the main text on your landing page ("Stop waiting for code to build. Save 4 hours a week.").
- hugodutka 4y ago
  Thanks for taking a look. We’ve found that most people who we show the page to have no idea what Gitpod or Github Codespaces is, so we decided to go with outlining the benefits first. But maybe we should put this line in the subheading.
  - two_handfuls 4y ago
    As someone who has no idea what Gitpod or Github Codespaces is, I found the explanation online plenty clear: it’s a VM on the cloud pre-configured for a variety of common development needs. My one piece of feedback is in the diagram for your system with the two boxes (“choose project”, “start coding”) I felt an urge to press the “choose project” box to see what templates you have. You could leverage that, make the box actually go there if someone presses it. Of course leave the normal call for action that’s at the bottom of the page.
moneywoes 4y ago
> They also have a video on how to do initial marketing Have a link, is it here? https://www.ycombinator.com/library/9h-how-to-get-your-first-ten-customers https://www.ycombinator.com/library/9h-how-to-get-your-first...
- hugodutka 4y ago
  My memory failed me when I wrote the comment. The video where I heard them talk about analytics was about founder mistakes, not about analytics. https://youtube.com/watch?v=D56QeyyQMLI https://youtube.com/watch?v=D56QeyyQMLI

nmfisher 4y ago

I'm just one person, but some feedback - the first sentence in your comment ("a self-hosted alternative to Gitpod and Github Codespaces") was far clearer than the main text on your landing page ("Stop waiting for code to build. Save 4 hours a week.").

hugodutka 4y ago
Thanks for taking a look. We’ve found that most people who we show the page to have no idea what Gitpod or Github Codespaces is, so we decided to go with outlining the benefits first. But maybe we should put this line in the subheading.
- two_handfuls 4y ago
  As someone who has no idea what Gitpod or Github Codespaces is, I found the explanation online plenty clear: it’s a VM on the cloud pre-configured for a variety of common development needs. My one piece of feedback is in the diagram for your system with the two boxes (“choose project”, “start coding”) I felt an urge to press the “choose project” box to see what templates you have. You could leverage that, make the box actually go there if someone presses it. Of course leave the normal call for action that’s at the bottom of the page.

moneywoes 4y ago

> They also have a video on how to do initial marketing Have a link, is it here? https://www.ycombinator.com/library/9h-how-to-get-your-first-ten-customers https://www.ycombinator.com/library/9h-how-to-get-your-first...

hugodutka 4y ago
My memory failed me when I wrote the comment. The video where I heard them talk about analytics was about founder mistakes, not about analytics. https://youtube.com/watch?v=D56QeyyQMLI https://youtube.com/watch?v=D56QeyyQMLI