1 is a Shopify-like app, the other is a Twitter scheduler.

However, some of my customers have been filing friendly fraud claims.

I'm just wondering if I should be concerned.

Or does it remain untouched because it's a separate business that's still in good standing?

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39099162

Points: 3

# Comments: 3

Gumroad's higher pricing is a result of its MoR responsibilities (e.g. helping creators with VAT, manually vetting the products that users upload, etc.), but my hypothesis is that there's a market for creators who don't care about the MoR aspect of Gumroad and want to retain more of their margins.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37580582

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

End-users don't care about validating uploads.

But validating uploads is a necessary evil in order to sustain the business.

All user input is evil, but especially so when they have a free-for-all "upload" field.

I think that's a huge legal liability.

Maybe for this business I finally need to set up an LLC.

I heard Gumroad has tons of outsourced workers in India literally manually going through uploads to check for this.

I'm not sure what I have to do, but I hope it won't come down to that.

Even merely listing them on my site is a huge liability.

And I'd be in deep trouble if someone uploaded child porn or something.

I've been thinking about how to combat this, and I've come up with 2 solutions:

1. Let users bring their own API keys (meaning I use Stripe Connect and use the "direct charge" model), so I don't get held liable to refunds, chargebacks, etc. My own Stripe is literally for subscription fees, that's it.

2. I haven't looked into it, but maybe there's an API out there, or even some AI bot, that I can use to screen uploaded material to see if they're illegal or copyrighted?

Is there any other solution that I'm missing?

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35662159

Points: 4

# Comments: 9

How will that affect my relationship with Sendgrid?

Why not do that?

They're funded to the gills.

What's sendemail?

Also I don't know anything about badges.

But I think you've pointed me in the right direction.

Is that how it works?

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35578178

Points: 2

# Comments: 13

Is it cold email, social media outreach, content marketing, PR/publicity, forum signatures, "Powered by" backlinks, affiliate marketing, perhaps some guerrilla marketing tactic?

What has worked best for you that you're still executing the crap out of that blueprint to grow and grow?

I'm curious because I just recently launched my app (https://zlappo.com), and I'm looking for ideas on how to market it.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21219954

Points: 11

# Comments: 2

I'm aiming to build a white-label "Shopify for courses," with only the most basic features (i.e. online course store, members' area, course management back-end, payments processing), and using freemium "Powered by" backlinks to acquire customers (to start). Plus posting on forums and Q&A sites. And targeted at aspiring solopreneurs, not established teachers/instructors/coaches. So these people who still have a day job, not serious full-time course teachers, but want to create a passive income stream or monetize their passion while sharing their knowledge to an audience.

I'll charge $9/mo to start to appeal to this segment (maybe a commission % too), where other solutions start at $39/mo. It probably won't be the most robust solution, but it does allow the aspiring solopreneur to: 1) have their own online course store hosted on their own domain with their personal branding, 2) which is optimized for conversions, and 3) where they don't have to worry about payments, setting up a site, etc. Only on teaching and selling their courses.

Do you think this is a feasible idea?

Is it too crowded and hard to differentiate/niche down?

If you're considering teaching a course, would you be interested in this product?

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20292025

Points: 3

# Comments: 1

It's just that mentally 2 months of runway is insane.

Also they provide a 90-day "action-based" money-back guarantee. Where if I followed their instructions to the letter, and I still didn't see results, they're happy to grant me a refund. Sales rep: "If you got to a point where you're contemplating a refund, we'll give you extra attention and see how we can really get you out of your rut, because the last thing we need is chargebacks on our Stripe and get our account closed."

Their demo is based on how they help/guide early-stage B2B SaaS by testing multiple offers using outbound prospecting, lead magnets, tripwire marketing (specifically, Zoom demos), and then closing on the demo asking for payment upfront, where we would then charge the card manually on Stripe.

Once the product-market fit (they call it "market-message resonance") is nailed down, they'll use paid Facebook ads to generate leads at scale and book my calendar full with demos, where I should close them on the phone. They also teach us how to hire a remote inside sales rep or two to repeat the model at scale.

In short, they help b2b SaaS startups to build out their sales funnel, test it relentlessly, track conversion at each stage, ensure customer success, and then gather case studies to further fine-tune the conversion mechanisms at each stage of the funnel.

It sounded legit to me, and while the alternative is for me to just try to do all the above on my own anyway, I'd much rather have some guidance from someone who knows what he's doing.

I got on a demo with them, I'm convinced by the material/resources/consultation, but it costs $7,800 upfront, or 3 monthly payments of $2,600.

It would immediately/eventually cut down my 6-month runway to 2 months.

But sales rep convinced me that, "If you do everything we tell you to do, nothing less, at the end of 90 days, you'll probably hit $10k MRR."

Is this a bad idea?

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19942920

Points: 3

# Comments: 6

So I went back to the app. Clicked on the END time button. Nothing happened. Weird.

Ohhhh... I had to drag that pie chart on top. Okay fine.

Then it started planning a route for me. Not bad! But how am I supposed to get from point A to point B? Point B to point C? Uber? Subway? Walk?

I like the concept. It needs massive UI/UX improvements though.

But it doesn't feel the same when you're selling YOUR own product. Where every rejection feels like you're a failure, you're failing, and everything you've invested into your company doesn't matter.

I'm still struggling to get my first customer, but just like you and the other comment suggested, I'm definitely working on my SEO, content marketing, inbound marketing.

Do you have any tips besides just optimizing SEO? That feels a bit like a crapshoot based on luck.