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Comment by mathofma | Hacker News Reader

Mat from Mini Materials here - I'd love to answer any questions yall have!

Pressing "Show more" on the front page doesn't work, maybe it's under heavy load due to HN?

When looking at all products, dumpsty [0] sticks out not only because of its price but also because it looks much more involved than the other stuff. How are you making that, and how come you added it?

Have you thought about adding things like concrete slabs for flooring, glass bricks, steel beams, maybe something looking like asphalt?

Did you ever have any problems delivering on time during peak season?

[0] https://www.minimaterials.com/collections/frontpage/products...

Dumpsty is actually handmade by another company, we just thought it was cool so we asked if we could sell it for them. We looked into steel beams but it was too expensive to sell. Cold weather is the bane of cement, so Q4 is the only time where we get close to running out of product. The great thing is that we make everything ourself, so we just make more.

Just noticed the "spin a sale" email for prize link in the footer, how is that working out?

https://www.spinasale.com/

It is working wonders. It 10x'd my email captures.

I can see it working great for captures, but these people have given you their addresses on the chance they might win something, and not necessarily because they want to receive emails from you.

I imagine this results in significant subsequent unsubscribes and getting reported as spam.

Can you share ballpark percentages on the customer type? Railroad hobbyists, wargamers, etc.

50% is people who just want a desk toy. The rest is broken up between fairy garden, dollhouse, RC, train, and construction promotional materials.

I see you sell the mold for the cinder blocks... is your cement recipe a trade secret, or something you'd be willing to share?

Have you experienced copycats, and if so, what do you believe is the number one barrier to them competing against you?

There are a couple of people copying it. The main barrier to entry is that you need to do volume to make money, and to get to that point you need to do everything yourself or you'll be spending too much out of pocket. My partner and I can create products, design, build sites, market and advertise, run warehouses, do our own accounting, etc... We haven't hired outside help for any of it.

Plaster bricks for modelling in a variety of scales have been around for a long time.

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