IndieDevClub

When the new equity crowdfunding rules go into effect, I was thinking a more interesting model could involve equity. Every person in a "startup cooperative" could own a piece of everyone else's startup. It might help minimize the risk with doing a startup if you own a small piece of a number of other companies.

I don't think it has to be open-source... you just need to release things.

And what's a great motivator for releasing things when working alone? It's having other people expect you to make progress on your projects. That's why I made a club that meets weekly to screenshare what we're working on.

It's the benefits of YCombinator weekly dinners, without the benefit of awesome speakers, great advice, or mentorship. But I'm there! If you want to get feedback on your projects and give feedback on other people's projects, then you should join my club.

When I went to tech meetups I met a couple mentors that had office hours... the first thing they started talking about was how much money they helped startups raise. They acted as if that validates any advice they gave. And their advice didn't seem that good.

In reality I got more helpful advice from my peers. That's why I recently started a club for developers. The idea is to meet weekly online and talk to each other about the progress of our projects and startups. If any developers feel like they have no network at all (like me), then you should join my club. The link is in my profile.

This is why I don't like posting my product ideas publicly for anyone who searches keywords. If I give away all the details of my implementation, I could be helping someone else who is doing "competitor research." If I don't give the details, then my idea sounds incomplete or just like everyone else's idea in that space. No matter how many articles I read on HN that ideas are worthless, I still feel reluctant posting my best ideas on a site like that.

But I have a solution. It's called Indie Developer Club (see my profile for link). All the meetings are small with less than 10 people. You can show off a pre-release demo or talk about the specifics of your project, but you aren't posting it for the world to see. So you get some feedback but you don't have to worry about a competitor Googling you.

You've described the Managers at my part-time job exactly.

I spend 4 hours shoveling snow in near sub-zero temperatures and oops I missed a spot by the side of the dumpster... who cares? Do customers go by the dumpster? No. Is it affecting the garbage being picked up? No. Then why the hell do they have to write a 10 sentence angry note to me for the next time I work? They are so unbelievably insane.

But I am more resolved than ever. I will stay at that job until I make the equivalent amount of money selling software. When I finally quit there it will probably be one of the best days of my life.

I remember that website. In college my friend and I called it the Pet Rock of the internet. Still can't believe that idea made $1 million.

btw - I'm making a club for people to discuss/show their side projects and startups with other devs, check my profile for the link.

The website looks great but if you have to print and ship bags yourself it's not very passive.

That's why selling software is great. The cost of delivering a software product is $0.

Yeah I think I double-posted while in anti-procrastination mode.

I don't want to spam, but I want some people to join my club.

To get a low-wage job I had to lie on my resume. Retail stores won't hire you if you put down you have a CS degree and a few years programming experience. They want long-term desperate people. I was desperate but it looked too much like I would bail first chance I get.

Why would I want a shitty job? Well I needed money and I never break the 1st and 2nd rule of my club: http://www.indiedeveloperclub.com

I'd expect 100%.

Why involve the boss? Why not just release it on your own? If your boss has good leads to send you, you can have him sign up to your affiliate program.

This sounds like a bad idea.

If it's big in North America and Europe one of those competitors will be entering Korea soon. If they don't enter Korea there's a reason for it that involves the specifics of that market. But you wouldn't know those specifics anyway because you know nothing of Korea.

Unless you trust your cofounder like a brother, I wouldn't go for it.

As Paul Graham says Startup = Growth. If you think your project has a large enough market and can acquire users exponentially then it could be a startup.

On the other hand if you need to do a lot of work to acquire more users or it's in a small niche, then it can't scale and wouldn't be a startup. What's interesting is you can turn a side project into a startup. You just have to figure out how to scale. That's why Paul Graham says to do things that don't scale. The hard part is making something people want. If you figure that out, there might be some way to scale it.

This week I'm trying to put together a club where people can discuss their side projects and early-stage startups. It's called Indie Developer Club. If anyone is interested see my profile for the link.

I'm way too broke for a co-working space. The plan is to initially use Google Hangouts because the cost is $0 and there's no time wasted travelling to a physical location.

If more than 10 people join there will need to be more than one regularly scheduled Google Hangout, so it makes sense to break them up by geography. I just have to make a system that let's people add their own Google hangouts to the system and let other members RSVP for them.

I think what most developers need is mentors, direction and a community... that's why we'd do almost anything to get into an accelerator. We think "if 50% stake for $100k is the best offer I can get, I should take it because I want to go where things happen."

There should really be an alternative. Something where we could just help each other out. That's why I'm making a club... it's called Indie Developer Club. I just had the idea this weekend so the website isn't operational yet, but anyone can send me an email if they like the idea and want to join.

I thought this post was going to ask... why are any of you looking for jobs? Isn't HN for entrepreneurs and founders? Is everyone else too scared to live in poverty until their ideas succeed?

That's what I think when I see "Who's Hiring" thread, but maybe I think differently.