Aaron, Sounds like you've done really well if that's your first entrepreneurial effort. If continuing to work with POAH energizes you, I reckon it's worth building on. I think your instincts are really good: "my business is too niche at the moment for ad revenue.......... therefore: think about premium service".
Have a look at the 5 points at the top of this post by Mike Cannon- Brookes. And develop your own version of this logic. (If you haven't already. You're at least 50% of the way there, I reckon). Then...........you'll have your own business model. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=55179566899#/note.php?note_id=42201812090 You've got a deep understanding of your market, and your market has responded. You probably take those dynamics for granted. But trust me, you shouldn't. I've worked for Fortune 200 co's (like DEC) that had far less insight than you have before they launched (some of) their products onto the market. Premium services is a good way to go. Maybe there's a place for a subscription service somewhere........ instead of, or as well as premium services. Obviously, as you grow, if you're selling stuff, you'll want to keep customers really happy. So you'll need to think about how you service them. For Atlassian, "service is sales". And I reckon this is a great philosophy. Look after people and the good word will spread. And you can keep your marketing budget at next-to-zero. It's tempting to look around at what you DON'T have (ie revenue) and think: I'd better do something else. Especially if you're a bit bored with it now. Which is why I asked you if you're still energized by Path to a Hero. But it's also important to look around at what you DO have. And think about ways you could build on that.........as you've already started to do. Good luck! Andrew. On Dec 18, 10:10 pm, Shaon Diwakar <sh...@shaon.net> wrote: > Dude... awesome! > > Because: > > 1. Python/Django is awesome++ > 2. Hacker News is the bible. > 3. I was in the same boat - worked for a high flying Big 4 audit firm > where everyone was great, but there was no fundamental investment in > keeping the team technically challenged and continuously learning. > 4. Moved to a smaller firm to be technically challenged and learn > something new - but found that it wasn't going to be what I'd hoped. > Small == great flexibility, but... you do all the work and its tough > to motivate yourself to code when you get home at 11pm all the time. > 5. Frustrated that my potential was not fully used because people kept > telling me that I was too young to take on 'real' responsibilities > (what ever those are). > > So... > > ... I quit full time work; to work on my own start up and see how far > it goes. If it fails, then... pfft. oh well. The worst off I could be > is that I get more coding experience. > > You don't want to be a wannapreneur!!! If you think of something > awesome and you are an elite coder - just code away and release to the > wild - I'm sure everyone on this list will tell you to "Just do it!" * > > Or in Paul Graham speak "Make something people want". > > Peace, > sHz > > P.S. Checked out the site, its NICE! Especially liked the feedback > feature :-) > > * Trademark of the Nike Corporation. > > On 18/12/2008, at 9:01 PM, Aaron Vernon wrote: > > > > > Hey all, > > > My name is Aaron and I am from Melbourne :) > > > I found this mailing list and the podcast last night and I am really > > excited about getting involved. > > Hopefully I will be able to make it to the next Melbourne meet up. > > > I am currently working for a startup called Austhink Software. > > Soon however I am going to be breaking away and doing some contracting > > work and hopefully start up something of my own. > > > I am mainly interested and skilled in web 2.0 technologies. I am a big > > Django and Flex advocate but I also enjoy working with C#, functional > > languages and doing user interface and graphic design. I even worked > > as a game developer for a while at Red Tribe and Team Bondi. > > > I am sick of business people exploiting skilled developers and > > creative people and being under appreciated because I am young. I read > > Hacker News religiously to try to calm myself down :P > > > I am the creator of Path of a Hero (http://www.pathofahero.com) a > > World of Warcraft based site that allows you to keep a visual blog of > > your character and track your rivalries with other players. I built it > > using Flex and Django and did all the graphic design myself. It took > > me 1.5 months (of after hours work) to take it from concept to > > release. It now has over 6000 users and has an average 250 hits per > > day. This site has been my first hint of success and is spurring me on > > to do more. > > > I have a question for all you experienced entrepreneurs out there: > > > So Path of a Hero has some users and traffic however I am not making > > any money out of it and I don't think I can easily get the traffic to > > a level that will provide significant advertising revenue. > > > I am wondering whether I should invest more time in this project to > > add the features that people are asking for and possibly provide a > > premium type account? It kind of does not feel like there is a strong > > business model available and I am thinking of just moving to a new > > project where I have actually concentrated on a business model from > > the start. Any thoughts? > > > If anyone needs some Django or Flex expertise for some rapid > > development I would love to have a chat btw. > > > Cheers > > > Aaron --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Silicon Beach Australia" group. To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
