bdominy

I enjoy Twitter Spaces, as you can just listen in or actually participate in a discussion, or try starting one of your own. Most people are very helpful.

YC does offer a free version of their program open to anyone called Startup School (https://www.startupschool.org) that can be a good way to gain validation and judge interest. Applying to YC seems to be best for idea staged founders with impressive resumes and people skills or startups that have already gained some traction. If you are in the "Trough of Sorrow" stage as Paul Graham described it, then I'm not sure where you really turn for help.

Good point. Clearly, I will need an Android client to gain the widest audience. Hopefully more and more people will want a private way to stay connected and I can build it.

I added end-to-end encryption to my contact information sharing app, Neucards, because it is a perfect fit for the technology - sensitive information that is useful when shared with friends and potentially valuable to 3rd parties or open to abuse. It took almost a year to add this feature working on my own, but I sleep better knowing everyone's information is protected.

I just passed 100 downloads of my app after 6 months and I’m thrilled with that pace. In that time I’ve been able to make sure my backend is solid, and talk with people to gain valuable insights. My main metric is excitement. If I’m excited to show people my app and they are excited to try it after we talk, I’m happy.

Meta and Apple can both be sued or fined heavily if they are misrepresenting their use of e2ee. Signal has maybe 100 million users, but WhatsApp and Apple account for over 2 billion. They've done more to improve security in the text messaging space than any other group. Maybe they are doing it because they don't want data leaks any more than you do, or they sense the trend towards respecting user's privacy and want to at least appear to care. In any case, we should encourage this adoption of end-to-end encryption and support it where it makes sense.

End-to-end encryption will make a big difference as people choose applications that offer a great experience while protecting their data from 3rd parties. WhatsApp, Signal, and Apple are all making big pushes in this area and working to inform people about why it is important for their privacy. When I explain e2ee to people and how it is used in my own app for contact info sharing, they immediately get it and want it as a feature.

Software solutions are fine and I have used them before, especially with a team, but as a solo founder, I just like simple Post-Its - to each their own.

I use color coded Post-It notes to track my tasks. Red for high priority tasks, yellow for medium, green for low. Orange and blue for subtasks. Stick them on a whiteboard near your workspace and then move what you want to tackle into a row that acts as your queue. Finished tasks go in a stack you can watch grow.

They care about end-to-end encryption and let me use the app after I denied them access to my contacts. Signal is another possibility, but I don't like they require my phone number to make an account.

This is why I never give permission to apps to access my contacts. I wish Apple would have better protections than just a simple permission ask, when once granted, apps can do whatever they want with all of that data.

Identity theft, scams, robocalls, spam, etc. all get started by harvesting people’s personal information. It’s a commodity hackers trade for big bucks. The question is how to protect yourself? I use end-to-end encryption wherever possible, so WhatsApp for chats and Neucards for contact sharing. It makes collecting my data much tougher.

This is why end-to-end encryption is important.

I have plans to add android and other platforms in the future, but since I’m working on this by myself, I had to stick with iOS. Luckily, the backend and encryption are not platform dependent, so I’m hoping it works out.

Neucards is designed to make sharing your contact information quick and secure.

All of your card and account information, including photos, is end-to-end encrypted, allowing only those who have your card access.

Sharing is as simple as showing someone a QR code from your phone. It even works for people who don’t have the app.

You can see who has you card and when and where you exchanged cards. Everything is kept up to date so you can always stay connected.

It’s available now in the U.S. App Store at

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/neucards/id1599851881

@neucards