Thank HN: My part-time project is finally ready for the business
Almost 11 months ago, while working on my day-job I launched this simple Voice Call reminder iPhone application - JustRemindIt (http://JustRemindIt.com) in my spare time. When it was launched, the app had only 1 feature i.e. send a Voice Call reminder to anyone from iPhone. There were no Web application, SMS or recurring reminders, message templates, stored contacts, etc features.
After launching the app, I spent very minimal time in marketing or new feature development. Even with my minimal involvement, it kept doing reasonably well. Nothing like huge downloads/day, but every day I kept getting decent signups (10-30/day). Every month, few users buy Reminder Packages and keep using the app actively. It kept making enough money to cover all service expenses (excluding my time value).
Over the period, apart from just the consumers, there were many small businesses started using the app for appointment reminders. Then they started requesting advanced features. After really long break I finally decided to work on it.
I spent last 2 months of my part-time to upgrade it with many requested features. Most notably, the business model so far was just consumer focused with “pay-as-you-go” pricing, but now I’ve added “recurring subscriptions” pricing focused on small businesses. Within 2 weeks after launching this new version, I already got few paying subscribers and it felt really good! I already had paying customers, but repeat paying customers is super awesome!
I finally received my Green Card, and quit my job last week, and now will be working on JustRemindIt’s future upgrades and sales/marketing activities actively along with my other startup project which also getting ready for real business soon. I’m excited that now I’ll be able to spend my entire time on growing my own businesses. I understand that it’s going to be a challenging ride, but I’m all ready and look forward to it.
Thanks HN for your support, learning and motivation along the way. This wasn’t possible without your inspirational stories.
In the end, all kinds of inputs/feedback on site’s landing page, features, and pricing will be helpful. Also, it will be super valuable if you could give some ideas, shout outs, or referrals for marketing and sales (that’s going to be my main focus now on - SEO, PPC, Content marketing and Cold Calling, etc.)
Fight on! -Aditya