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Comment by dclaysmith | Hacker News Reader

I think the point that launching a startup with no "followers" is difficult. I'm in the same boat. I haven't blogged in 10 years, I have 30 or so twitter followers (most of which I'm pretty sure are hookers) and nobody knows who I am. When Notch or Biz Stone says "I'm launching a startup" they immediately have traction--the author knows that the rest of us have to hustle.

I'm finding it difficult but seeing rays of light. My project (http://www.thetaboard.com) is just getting of the ground (still an MVP) and getting visitors is tough. Luckily my product is something HN readers might actually buy so I get more value than most out of HN posts. I've had a couple make the frontpage and had some (free) signups from it.

The author makes some great points and I'm defintely going to try some of their ideas for creating organic search traffic.

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But Notch wasn't "Internet famous" until after Minecraft launched. Minecraft made him Internet famous. In other words, Notch is Internet famous because Minecraft was a hit, Minecraft wasn't a hit because Notch was Internet famous.

Don't worry about how un-famous you are. Put that energy into building something that makes you famous.

Nice thought. How did you do it in your own example?

No, his hard work on Minecraft made him famous--I'll give you that. But when he released his MMO the other day, he probably had 1 million people who at least wanted to check it out. Now the new game will be judged on its own merits but Notch's Internet celebrity gave him instant traction.

This is exactly the kind of "echo chamber" thinking I'm arguing against.

If Notch launched a startup in a space where no-one knows or cares who Notch is, he'd have no advantage from his fame. Of course he shouldn't, that would mean giving up an advantage. But that means you or I can enter that area on a more level playing field.

The world of startups is much larger than the tiny slice of the world that cares about internet fame, and much more varied than your social circle (e.g. HN).

I think the author does make good points, but framing the whole thing as if not being internet famous is a disadvantage shows a very distorted view of startups.

I think this is a little naive. If Notch opened a burrito stand, he'd atleast get some press... 'Billionaire Game Developer Ditches Video Games for Burritos' and a bunch of people would eat a burrito just to see why.

Having no professional network, no twitter followers, no blog audience is starting from zero. The author is saying that launching a startup from this position is more difficult than it would otherwise be.

Of course it can be done or we wouldn't be here. It's just harder. The author was telling how.

This is a service that I've seen before. Not yours of course, but others like it. Why would I use yours as opposed to the others out there? All I see is that your product is "easy". It's probably a great service, but you've got to let people know why you're so great!

> My project (http://www.thetaboard.com)

> Luckily my product is something HN readers might actually buy

You're right, the only problem is we have project management web app fatigue.

AKA, PMWAF. I am a dire sufferer of pimmwaff.

Help me by making certain that on the landing page, I see what's good or different about your product. Explain to me what makes it special.

At least make the demo do this, if not the frontpage copy.

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