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This is dumb. > While I’m very excited for Gumroad, as someone who was just about to launch their startup, from a business point of view this is pretty bad. Ha

This is dumb. > While I’m very excited for Gumroad, as someone who was just about to launch their startup, from a business point of view this is pretty bad. Had we gone with launched as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) back in November as planned, things would have been much better, but we didn’t. Now I see why everyone in the startup world seems to be saying MVP in every second sentence; possibly because it’s damn well important getting your product out there. This is just not true. Sahil (of Gumroad) is a very skilled person who has proven himself and has a lot of connections, his company (Gumroad) has been around since before November (in fact it's 11 months old now...) and this is such a cop out. He is not going to beat you because he has investment, he's going to beat you if his product is better than yours. You're also competing against kout (http://www.kout.me/ http://www.kout.me/) and I'm sure there are others I don't know about. The fact that Sahil launched Gumroad in a weekend and you've taken over 6 months should show you that he is not just some dumb kid who got lucky, he's someone good at what he does. If anything this is a fucking wonderful thing for you, your idea has been validated and investors think there is money in the product. If you're going to quit, quit, but don't blame the success of Gumroad for it, that's just a cop out. Oh and stop mentioning your age, it's irrelevant. Such a terrible link-bait title...

angersock 15y ago
I was going to feel bad for the person, but then I tried to use their site and wasn't even able to get to an "About" page without needing to give up my email address. I literally have no idea what the author makes other than a simple sentence at the end of their post. To the author: Keep up the good work, kid. Starting a business is rough, and sometimes you strike out right out of the gate--happened to my first company. Get up, dust off, and keep going--and don't waste your time or ours by bringing up your age, because it doesn't matter.
- c16 15y ago
  Thanks for your comment, I brought up age as that was a big part of why I decided to persevere; we're both of similar age, have similar skill sets and he's been hugely successful. Is that not a big enough motivator to get right back up and keep working at it? Sorry about the landing page too, you should be seeing the site but we're holding back the launch just a few more short days.
  - angersock 15y ago
    You're welcome, and no worries. :) Hey, why not launch now? You've already waited this long, and you've got HN's attention. You aren't going to do any harm you can't fix with good customer support in the next few weeks.
    - cecplascott 15y ago
      Awesome suggestion, why wait? Keep your eyes pealed, we might have something out shortly.
- brador 15y ago
  Site isn't even loading for me. Building is easy, shipping is HARD. He's 17, Fresh from the positive reinforcement of an anti-competitive education system and thrust out into the real world. Lesson learned - take notes why you lost, dust off, get back on the horse.
cecplascott 15y ago
We've got massive respect for Sahil, he's a very smart guy. You're completely correct when you say "He is not going to beat you because he has investment, he's going to beat you if his product is better than yours."
haliax 15y ago
The author never said that Sahil is "just some dumb kid who got lucky". He didn't say they're quitting, or blame Gumroad's success for that. Instead, he was honest about why a well funded competitor is a daunting prospect to someone who's prelaunch, and went on to say that that's not a reason to quit. On the whole, a pretty admirable post. Read the damned post before you spew this self-righteous nonsense.
consultutah 15y ago
They are both competing against me: http://jungleblaze.com http://jungleblaze.com And I'm 36 and so much more mature. So there... ;-) By the way, I am EXTREMELY impressed with what gumroad has been able to do. He announced it on HN a few weeks after I had started development of mine. While I do see it as a competitor, I also see companies like Digital River as competitors and love the fact that there are people making it easier for non-techies to sell things on the web.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
billpatrianakos 15y ago
Can't you see the poor the guy is just talking about his frustrations? He sees a guy with a similar idea who just got a little over a million in investment and he's basically saying "damn, that could've been me but I did x, y, and z wrong plus there are a few things going against me that are out my control". Nowhere did he say Sahil isn't skilled. Now, I've spoken to Sahil before and he really is a really impressive person but putting that aside, I don't think building a product in a weekend automatically makes the builder skilled (though in Gumroad's case, yeah, he is skilled). You can launch crap in a day just the same as you can in 10 years. Irrelevant. I think you underestimate the power of investment too. A better product doesn't always mean success. To me that idea is a myth in the same family of the whole American Dream, you can do anything if you work hard idea. A better product is certainly an advantage but perception counts far more than reality and $1M can buy you a really valuable perception. That $1M gives Gumroad credibility and press. Meanwhile, this 17-year-old nobody could be on to something far better but nobody cares... yet. He's not saying he's quitting, just that he feels like quitting. The really awesome thing about this is that while everyone here is piling on this kid he just helped himself out. Maybe he did use a link-baity title but it sure worked. He may get overly critical comments here but I know word will spread to places online where the people won't have the same mindset as we do over here and when this story reaches those places he's going to get a lot of positive attention instead. I like this kid, he's going to do well. And mentioning his age was smart, not irrelevant. If he were 30 this wouldn't even get posted but he's 17 and everyone wants to root for the young underdog and read his 1 in a million success story. This is really really sneakily smart of him. I think he knows exactly what he's doing. Lay off the guy.
fatbat 15y ago
Wow, criticsquid you are overly critical (and confused) from someone's natural reaction. I think you should re-read the blog post again. For me, I am glad that he vented because I would not have heard of Propelly otherwise. :)

angersock 15y ago

I was going to feel bad for the person, but then I tried to use their site and wasn't even able to get to an "About" page without needing to give up my email address. I literally have no idea what the author makes other than a simple sentence at the end of their post. To the author: Keep up the good work, kid. Starting a business is rough, and sometimes you strike out right out of the gate--happened to my first company. Get up, dust off, and keep going--and don't waste your time or ours by bringing up your age, because it doesn't matter.

c16 15y ago
Thanks for your comment, I brought up age as that was a big part of why I decided to persevere; we're both of similar age, have similar skill sets and he's been hugely successful. Is that not a big enough motivator to get right back up and keep working at it? Sorry about the landing page too, you should be seeing the site but we're holding back the launch just a few more short days.
- angersock 15y ago
  You're welcome, and no worries. :) Hey, why not launch now? You've already waited this long, and you've got HN's attention. You aren't going to do any harm you can't fix with good customer support in the next few weeks.
  - cecplascott 15y ago
    Awesome suggestion, why wait? Keep your eyes pealed, we might have something out shortly.
brador 15y ago
Site isn't even loading for me. Building is easy, shipping is HARD. He's 17, Fresh from the positive reinforcement of an anti-competitive education system and thrust out into the real world. Lesson learned - take notes why you lost, dust off, get back on the horse.

cecplascott 15y ago

We've got massive respect for Sahil, he's a very smart guy. You're completely correct when you say "He is not going to beat you because he has investment, he's going to beat you if his product is better than yours."

haliax 15y ago

The author never said that Sahil is "just some dumb kid who got lucky". He didn't say they're quitting, or blame Gumroad's success for that. Instead, he was honest about why a well funded competitor is a daunting prospect to someone who's prelaunch, and went on to say that that's not a reason to quit. On the whole, a pretty admirable post. Read the damned post before you spew this self-righteous nonsense.

consultutah 15y ago

They are both competing against me: http://jungleblaze.com http://jungleblaze.com And I'm 36 and so much more mature. So there... ;-) By the way, I am EXTREMELY impressed with what gumroad has been able to do. He announced it on HN a few weeks after I had started development of mine. While I do see it as a competitor, I also see companies like Digital River as competitors and love the fact that there are people making it easier for non-techies to sell things on the web.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

billpatrianakos 15y ago

Can't you see the poor the guy is just talking about his frustrations? He sees a guy with a similar idea who just got a little over a million in investment and he's basically saying "damn, that could've been me but I did x, y, and z wrong plus there are a few things going against me that are out my control". Nowhere did he say Sahil isn't skilled. Now, I've spoken to Sahil before and he really is a really impressive person but putting that aside, I don't think building a product in a weekend automatically makes the builder skilled (though in Gumroad's case, yeah, he is skilled). You can launch crap in a day just the same as you can in 10 years. Irrelevant. I think you underestimate the power of investment too. A better product doesn't always mean success. To me that idea is a myth in the same family of the whole American Dream, you can do anything if you work hard idea. A better product is certainly an advantage but perception counts far more than reality and $1M can buy you a really valuable perception. That $1M gives Gumroad credibility and press. Meanwhile, this 17-year-old nobody could be on to something far better but nobody cares... yet. He's not saying he's quitting, just that he feels like quitting. The really awesome thing about this is that while everyone here is piling on this kid he just helped himself out. Maybe he did use a link-baity title but it sure worked. He may get overly critical comments here but I know word will spread to places online where the people won't have the same mindset as we do over here and when this story reaches those places he's going to get a lot of positive attention instead. I like this kid, he's going to do well. And mentioning his age was smart, not irrelevant. If he were 30 this wouldn't even get posted but he's 17 and everyone wants to root for the young underdog and read his 1 in a million success story. This is really really sneakily smart of him. I think he knows exactly what he's doing. Lay off the guy.

fatbat 15y ago

Wow, criticsquid you are overly critical (and confused) from someone's natural reaction. I think you should re-read the blog post again. For me, I am glad that he vented because I would not have heard of Propelly otherwise. :)