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Regarding business model and monetizing, here are some ideas: 1. You could sell tutorials and ebooks on regexes. People who use your tool might want to underst
by asimjalis 14y ago
Regarding business model and monetizing, here are some ideas:
1. You could sell tutorials and ebooks on regexes. People who use your tool might want to understand why their regexes are not working.
2. You could license your debugging code/technology.
3. You could sell a corporate license to use your site. Corps’s regexes won't be shared publicly. Others might be. Corps paranoid about people stealing their regexes might be interested in your product.
4. You could ask for donations to support the site.
5. You could make it social. Have people vote on regexes. Have another complementary site where people contribute test-cases for common regexes like phone numbers, dates, email addresses. You could hold competitions in different categories.
6. You could offer a cloud-based regex parser. I know it sounds a bit absurd, but I want to throw this out there in case it leads to other neat ideas.
7. You could save regexes and have people vote them up. You could have discussion threads around regexes.
- downandout 14y ago4. You could ask for donations to support the site. If you learn nothing else from Wikipedia, learn this: Begging annoys users and isn't particularly successful. He is far more likely to make money selling a premium subscription to corporate users. He can even just say "site is free for personal use, and corporate users must pay $495/year". You would be surprised at how many businesses are paranoid enough about compliance that they will voluntarily pay even if it is unlikely that the site owner would ever find out about their unauthorized corporate use.
- icebraining 14y agoIf you learn nothing else from Wikipedia, learn this: Begging annoys users and isn't particularly successful. As far as I know, Wikipedia fundraising efforts have been very successful. They got $25 million dollars just last year. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia_Foundation_raises_25_million_in_2012_fundraiser http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia...
- qingu 14y agoAccording to Alexa.com, Wikipedia has more traffic than Amazon.com. You said Wikipedia raised $25 million last year. Amazon had over $60 Billion in revenue last year. Obviously Wikipedia is a not-for-profit organization and that's good. Just saying that compared to their user base, they are not making a lot of revenue.
- downandout 14y agoYes, and as the fifth most popular site in the world, that is a pittance. They could be making billions with unobtrusive advertising. Given their traffic, the fact that they only raised $25 million last year means that nearly all of their users ignored their pleas for help. Further, when they do their begging, it is very obtrusive and disruptive to the user experience. Where alternative revenue models are available, begging shouldn't even be a consideration.
- Peaker 14y agoWhat revenue models? Advertising could skew/bias Wikipedia
- billnguyen 14y agowhy would advertising skew the factual information presented in wikipedia? Advertising is based off content, content isn't based off advertising.
- frakkingcylons 14y agoThat's true only if a site strictly uses a contextual advertising system. Most high-traffic sites sell specific ad space and time (AKA an ad campaign) to the highest bidder in order to supplement their normal advertising network. Even if Wikipedia used the most unobtrusive, low-key advertising system possible, people would still react negatively because Wikipedia is known for having no advertising whatsoever.
- 14y ago
- tsergiu 14y agoSome very useful suggestions. Thank you.
- fudged71 13y agoIn your HN profile can you add your website/startup and twitter handle?
- DenisM 14y agoAnother idea - an interviewing tool. If someone comes to me and says he knows regex, I sit him in front of your website and have him complete a test you will have created for that purpose. Your tool would grade the applicant, so as a hiring manager I won't have to know regex to understand if the applicant knows regex. $20-$50 per test sounds reasonable to me.
- kernel_sanders 14y agoThis kind of valuable feedback is why I like HN so much. It's kind of you to take the time to organize and share your thoughts, asimjalis.
- asimjalis 14y agoThanks for saying that.
- DenisM 14y agoTo pile on with business ideas - consider creating a "regex academy" to give out certificates to people who complete your regex course and pass your exam. Your website will draw users, and graduates will flaunt their credentials, drawing more users. This will give people a sense of accomplishment for having invested the time. Also, add some sort of Q&A thing, a-la stack exchange, so regex masters can earn karma by helping others.