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Show HN: I built a site where 100k strangers each pay $1.99 to upload one photo
Attempting to get 100,000 strangers to each pay $1.99 to upload one photo to a collaborative digital mural. Inspired directly by the Million Dollar Homepage but instead of anonymous pixels its real human photos that grow the mural in real time.
Built in a single evening using AI tools. Stripe went live the same night. Currently on day 3.
The internet experiment angle...does this concept still work in 2026? The Million Dollar Homepage sold out in 2005 with zero social media. This one is trying to do it with 195 Twitter followers and a reply game.
- obayesshelton 6mo agoWhy though... what benefit do I get for that $1.99
- omara123 6mo agoHonestly... not much in the traditional sense. you get a permanent tile in a collaborative mural being built by 100,000 strangers. Your photo lives there forever. The sooner you are the better number you have and more visibility. No utility, no rewards, no promises. It's closer to buying a brick in a community wall than buying a product. Either that means something to you or it doesn't
- omara123 6mo agoupdate: just added a $9.99 tier for photo + permanent external link on your tile. so now there's a tangible benefit for businesses and creators who want a permanent backlink. built it in about 20 minutes after someone else in the comments requested it. that's the honest answer to your question .. $1.99 is for people who want to be part of something. $9.99 is for people who want that plus a permanent link
- obayesshelton 6mo agoThat makes more sense now :D
- omara123 6mo agoglad it clicks! if you ever want a tile.......you know where to find it :)
- omara123 6mo agoHappy to answer any questions about the build or the concept. Built the whole thing in one night using Base44, no code (i have zero coding skills). Stripe integration took about 2 hours. Currently the hardest part is distribution which is why I'm on HN at 9am.
- xzmhxdxh 6mo agoCan you add a feature for external links?
- omara123 6mo agointeresting idea.. so youre saying instead of just a photo you could attach a link to your tile? like clicking your tile takes you somewhere? could work as a way to let people add context to their photo. adding it to the list! want to see if the core concept gets traction first before adding features
- omara123 6mo agoupdate: just added it. $9.99 for photo + permanent external link. tile becomes clickable and opens your URL :)
- beardyw 6mo agoYou reinvented The Million Dollar Homepage! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Million_Dollar_Homepage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Million_Dollar_Homepage Though, sorry to say, not as much fun.
- omara123 6mo ago100% inspired by it lol.. mentioned that in the original post. the difference is pixels vs real human photos, and the mural only exists if 100k strangers actually show up. curious what would make it more fun for you though? genuinely open to it.
- beardyw 6mo ago> mentioned that in the original post Oops, sorry, yes twice! Would have saved me the effort of recalling it. > what would make it more fun for you though? Well the original had wildly varied sizes and garish saturated colours. Not very 2020s. As an aside, you know of course you might get photos you wish you hadn't. The internet back then was just a bit more civilised.
- omara123 6mo agofair point on moderation and yeah i have a review queue before photos go live so nothing gets published thats "R" rated. and agreed the internet is a different place now. on the varied sizes.. interesting idea, hadn't considered making early tiles larger. might actually add that as an incentive for early adopters
- omara123 6mo agofor anyone curious, just checked analytics. onetile.me is seeing its biggest traffic spike since launch. seems like HN readers are at least curious enough to click. appreciate the honest feedback in this thread either way
- omara123 6mo agoDay 4 update.....130 visits, 8 tiles, first $9.99 link tier live
- omara123 6mo agoUpdate: first paying customer came in overnight ! someone from the HN thread actually. They pushed back on the $1.99 value, I built the $9.99 tier based on that feedback, and they bought it a few hours later. That exchange was more valuable than anything else I did yesterday
- omara123 6mo agoAlso launched on Product Hunt today if anyone wants to show some love - https://www.producthunt.com/products/one-tile?utm_source=other&utm_medium=social https://www.producthunt.com/products/one-tile?utm_source=oth...
- ozgurds 6mo agoAs a totally technical person with almost 20 years of experience in the industry; I still cannot understand some of customers' behaviors. Same for the million dollars home page. But people are nondeterministic. Sometimes you cannt directly explain ehy but it still happens. Hope the second million dollars bome page twill be successful as well
- omara123 6mo agoThat nondeterministic point is exactly it. The million dollar homepage shouldn't have worked by any rational measure. That's kind of the whole experiment here.. does it still work in 2026 with no budget and no audience? Finding out in real time.. Also, we've seen way way dumber ideas and things takeoff just for the hell of it
- omara123 6mo agowoke up to 3 tiles sold overnight. same guy bought all three. emailed him to ask why. day 8, 14 tiles, strangers are finding it on their own now
- omara123 6mo agoupdate: 2 more sales since this morning! now at 16 tiles, $73.50 revenue. two different buyers each purchased multiple $9.99 tiles for different businesses in the same session. still figuring out where they're finding it.
- omara123 6mo agoDay 9 update: someone bulk deleted our entire database today via a security vulnerability. Caught them in the audit logs, patched the hole, personally restored every customer's tile by hand. Reddit thread on the incident got 18k views. Still standing. onetile.me