4 ms·

Ask HN: It might be time to shutter my startup

7 points by astrowilliam 13y ago

My little startup, http://www.spaceindustrynews.com has had a wild ride in the brief time that it's been out there in the public. In the first month of operation I ran a story so big that it crashed my server (it was down for a whole day) and I had to invest in a new host. This new host couldn't handle the incoming traffic so I scaled up to a higher-end VPS plan which still couldn't handle the quick spikes of traffic that came into my site on any given news day. During this time I was struggling to make any money from the site because my hosting bills were so large. Unlike other founders I never planned to get rich from the site, the mission is simple, spread knowledge. I've switched to wpengine (can't say enough good things about those guys!) now and all my hosting troubles are gone, luckily. The cost is decent and they can handle any traffic that I can throw at them. I hit the front page of Reddit for about 10 hours and had over 300,000 uniques in 3 days and the site didn't hiccup one bit. I was amazed. But there is another problem now. Time. You see, I've been running this project out of my pocket, by myself, on my own time after my work day. Sometimes from 5pm when I'm done until 2 in the morning. Researching, ripping code, adding code, doing whatever I think is right to keep this thing alive and growing. It's my baby. So there lies the ultimate problem. I have a wife and friends and enjoy being away from computer after my day job is done. What is more important at the end of the day? A hobby website that I have no intention of turning into a day job any time soon, or real life with friends, family and loved ones? Do I push them aside for a little while longer to keep furthering this dream I have of making the best website about space and the space industry that I can? Or should I call it quits and enjoy my life outside the office?

bonemachine 13y ago
Hire someone?
- astrowilliam 13y ago
  I'm doing this out of my pocket, I have no $$ to hire someone to help me. I've had so many people "volunteer" to write articles and help with the site but when it came down to actually doing the work, no one did.
  - bonemachine 13y ago
    That pretty much answers the question then -- if a business isn't viable enough to hire someone to keep the wheels turning, then it probably just isn't viable. Only other option is to find a way (i.e. roll up your sleeves and do the homework... or hire a consultant temporarily to help you) find a way to get you traffic and/or ad revenue (way) up. It looks like pretty well-designed site, from first appearances, so it seems worth trying at least.
    - astrowilliam 13y ago
      Thank you. I'll see what i can come up with.
angersock 13y ago
Have you considered updating less frequently, or perhaps sending out a newsletter? That way, you can spend perhaps one day a week or every few weeks preparing stories, and then you'll have to time to enjoy life and your hobby again! Don't burn out over this. :) ~ Tech idea: host a simpler, Jekyll version of your site on S3 (http://www.savjee.be/2013/02/howto-host-jekyll-blog-on-amazon-s3/ http://www.savjee.be/2013/02/howto-host-jekyll-blog-on-amazo...). Host the source on a public Github. If you're just doing this for love of the game, you should be maximizing your enjoyment and minimizing your costs--so, open-sourcing your stuff in exchange for free hosting makes sense. Don't pressure yourself too much.
- astrowilliam 13y ago
  I'm in what I call "frozen" mode right now. No news updates for a week to see what I feel like. Then my brain kicks in and clearly states "THERE ARE SO MANY COOL STORIES !!!!". It's a struggle to change it up, but I think it's helping. The never ending chase for traffic :)
- astrowilliam 13y ago
  My current site and the hundreds of posts are currently a Wordpress site. I wonder if there is an easy way to port it over to Jekyll? I'll take a look and see what I can come up with. Thank you !
  - colinloretz 13y ago
    Don't create more work for yourself. If the site is running well on WP-Engine and the cost is bearable, it sounds like time is the limiting factor. You have been doing this because it is something you love, I think it might be time to find a small community of other people who also love the topic area and get them to contributors! A friend of mine runs a news/blog type site (The New Artemis) and she accepts submissions, reviews for gear, etc. She currently does most of the work but has a plan for bringing in new folks who are also obsessed EDC/survivalist fans to create and edit content.
- brianpgordon 13y ago
  You don't even need to pay for S3. http://pages.github.com/ http://pages.github.com/
petervandijck 13y ago
Get a team of volunteers that are passionate like you are.
notastartup 13y ago
how much did it cost for the 300,000 uniques on wpengine?
- astrowilliam 13y ago
  Around $500. I made a profit on ads for that time frame, so it all worked out.
uladzislau 13y ago
Try to minimize your costs and time - switch to Digital Ocean for hosting which is only $5 per month and can probably handle your traffic if paired with caching plugins and nginx. Post a sticky post on your blog asking for volunteers - make it look cool to contribute. Reach out to Reddit relevant subreddits. Also rech out to Space related companies you're covering for sponsorship. P.S. Drop me a line if you'd like.
rajacombinator 13y ago
how successful have your attempts to monetize the site been? (I notice with surprise that there are no space-related ads when I visit the site, just the usual adwords ads I'm shown elsewhere.) Maybe you need to reach out directly to space related advertisers? Is there anything you can sell through the site? This seems like something that could become a decent lifestyle business. Certainly not something that could make you rich, but maybe good enough to replace a day job or pay for some vacations. what exactly is the time you're spending? just researching to find articles? I don't know much about running Wordpress sites but it sounds like there shouldn't be much coding involved at this point. I'm trying to give you any suggestions to keep pursuing this. I was surprised when I visited the site, because I generally consider the space industry to be pretty dead and boring. But I found almost all the stories on your front page engaging. You seem to have good editorial taste. I think you've identified a niche that could continue to get more interesting in coming years. I also note the frequency of new stories is not that high. Are there enough stories to keep people coming back? Are you willing to generate content of your own? (eg. reach out to space industry peeps and interview them on video?)
- astrowilliam 13y ago
  To be honest with you, I haven't reached out to anyone in the industry to buy ad space, but I've had a few advertorials which have been nice and have paid the bills for a few months. Most of my time is spent researching articles and writing at this point. The code is almost feature complete and will only need small updates here and there. I believe in the next 5-10 years the site could really take off because from what I've seen while being in this industry for a short time we are headed, in my opinion, into a new space race. I'd love to do interviews, travel to launches, etc, but time and money doesn't allow that at this time. To be honest, seeing 300,000+visitors in 3 days and over 1 million uniques in the first year have realllllly made me consider dropping everything and doing this full time. But my day job pays very well and I'm very happy there. Thanks for the advice, it's greatly appreciated.
jmathai 13y ago
Time with your friends, family and loved ones are more important. It may not feel so clear right now but in hindsight it will. Unfortunately, in some threads that feels blasphemous on HN. Do you really need to spend 9 hours a day on it? That's a lot of time for something that's just a hobby. Can you but that down to like 1 or 2 hours a day?
- astrowilliam 13y ago
  I agree with you. The 9 hour stretches are few and far between. Most days are around an hour, researching and writing. But the 9 hour days are the ones that kill me.

7 points by astrowilliam 13y ago

bonemachine 13y ago

Hire someone?

astrowilliam 13y ago
I'm doing this out of my pocket, I have no $$ to hire someone to help me. I've had so many people "volunteer" to write articles and help with the site but when it came down to actually doing the work, no one did.
- bonemachine 13y ago
  That pretty much answers the question then -- if a business isn't viable enough to hire someone to keep the wheels turning, then it probably just isn't viable. Only other option is to find a way (i.e. roll up your sleeves and do the homework... or hire a consultant temporarily to help you) find a way to get you traffic and/or ad revenue (way) up. It looks like pretty well-designed site, from first appearances, so it seems worth trying at least.
  - astrowilliam 13y ago
    Thank you. I'll see what i can come up with.

angersock 13y ago

Have you considered updating less frequently, or perhaps sending out a newsletter? That way, you can spend perhaps one day a week or every few weeks preparing stories, and then you'll have to time to enjoy life and your hobby again! Don't burn out over this. :) ~ Tech idea: host a simpler, Jekyll version of your site on S3 (http://www.savjee.be/2013/02/howto-host-jekyll-blog-on-amazon-s3/ http://www.savjee.be/2013/02/howto-host-jekyll-blog-on-amazo...). Host the source on a public Github. If you're just doing this for love of the game, you should be maximizing your enjoyment and minimizing your costs--so, open-sourcing your stuff in exchange for free hosting makes sense. Don't pressure yourself too much.

astrowilliam 13y ago
I'm in what I call "frozen" mode right now. No news updates for a week to see what I feel like. Then my brain kicks in and clearly states "THERE ARE SO MANY COOL STORIES !!!!". It's a struggle to change it up, but I think it's helping. The never ending chase for traffic :)
astrowilliam 13y ago
My current site and the hundreds of posts are currently a Wordpress site. I wonder if there is an easy way to port it over to Jekyll? I'll take a look and see what I can come up with. Thank you !
- colinloretz 13y ago
  Don't create more work for yourself. If the site is running well on WP-Engine and the cost is bearable, it sounds like time is the limiting factor. You have been doing this because it is something you love, I think it might be time to find a small community of other people who also love the topic area and get them to contributors! A friend of mine runs a news/blog type site (The New Artemis) and she accepts submissions, reviews for gear, etc. She currently does most of the work but has a plan for bringing in new folks who are also obsessed EDC/survivalist fans to create and edit content.
brianpgordon 13y ago
You don't even need to pay for S3. http://pages.github.com/ http://pages.github.com/

petervandijck 13y ago

Get a team of volunteers that are passionate like you are.

notastartup 13y ago

how much did it cost for the 300,000 uniques on wpengine?

astrowilliam 13y ago
Around $500. I made a profit on ads for that time frame, so it all worked out.

uladzislau 13y ago

Try to minimize your costs and time - switch to Digital Ocean for hosting which is only $5 per month and can probably handle your traffic if paired with caching plugins and nginx. Post a sticky post on your blog asking for volunteers - make it look cool to contribute. Reach out to Reddit relevant subreddits. Also rech out to Space related companies you're covering for sponsorship. P.S. Drop me a line if you'd like.

rajacombinator 13y ago

how successful have your attempts to monetize the site been? (I notice with surprise that there are no space-related ads when I visit the site, just the usual adwords ads I'm shown elsewhere.) Maybe you need to reach out directly to space related advertisers? Is there anything you can sell through the site? This seems like something that could become a decent lifestyle business. Certainly not something that could make you rich, but maybe good enough to replace a day job or pay for some vacations. what exactly is the time you're spending? just researching to find articles? I don't know much about running Wordpress sites but it sounds like there shouldn't be much coding involved at this point. I'm trying to give you any suggestions to keep pursuing this. I was surprised when I visited the site, because I generally consider the space industry to be pretty dead and boring. But I found almost all the stories on your front page engaging. You seem to have good editorial taste. I think you've identified a niche that could continue to get more interesting in coming years. I also note the frequency of new stories is not that high. Are there enough stories to keep people coming back? Are you willing to generate content of your own? (eg. reach out to space industry peeps and interview them on video?)

astrowilliam 13y ago
To be honest with you, I haven't reached out to anyone in the industry to buy ad space, but I've had a few advertorials which have been nice and have paid the bills for a few months. Most of my time is spent researching articles and writing at this point. The code is almost feature complete and will only need small updates here and there. I believe in the next 5-10 years the site could really take off because from what I've seen while being in this industry for a short time we are headed, in my opinion, into a new space race. I'd love to do interviews, travel to launches, etc, but time and money doesn't allow that at this time. To be honest, seeing 300,000+visitors in 3 days and over 1 million uniques in the first year have realllllly made me consider dropping everything and doing this full time. But my day job pays very well and I'm very happy there. Thanks for the advice, it's greatly appreciated.

jmathai 13y ago

Time with your friends, family and loved ones are more important. It may not feel so clear right now but in hindsight it will. Unfortunately, in some threads that feels blasphemous on HN. Do you really need to spend 9 hours a day on it? That's a lot of time for something that's just a hobby. Can you but that down to like 1 or 2 hours a day?

astrowilliam 13y ago
I agree with you. The 9 hour stretches are few and far between. Most days are around an hour, researching and writing. But the 9 hour days are the ones that kill me.