I wonder if it would be helpful to let this be a user-configurable option? Tuck a checkbox in settings and let the users decide?
18 karma · joined April 19, 2012
Let's face it, there are many platforms out there already which are ideal for publishing a programming course. There are obviously pros and cons with each.
I'm glad to see Slip has such a straightforward and open revenue model. Some course platforms work on a royalty model where you are paid by minutes of your course videos watched... which can make it difficult to estimate how much you'll earn for all your hard work.
It's also nice to see that you're handling taxes and VAT obligations. Few do that. Udemy springs to mind as a platform that also handles tax, but there are others. I think going forward that more and more platforms will need to help their merchants handle tax, so kudos to you for thinking about it from the start.
Some of the platforms like Scrimba.com, Tuts+ and egghead.io are invite-only. I'm really glad to see you didn't go that route. However, those platforms will tell you they do it to ensure course quality and happier outcomes for students.
Which brings me to my questions...
Q1) Since you've created an open course marketplace, how do you plan to ensure course quality?
Q2) In the spirit of openness and transparency, I'm not seeing any links to terms of use, privacy policy, or policies that apply to instructors (licensing, payouts, dispute resolution, etc). For example here's Udemy's Instructor Terms (https://www.udemy.com/terms/instructor/) which references their promotions policy and various instructor obligations. Are your versions of those documents still in the works? If they already exist, are they only visible after you register (that would be an anti-pattern, but maybe there's a good reason)? Are you planning to make those viewable before someone signs up to the service?
Q3) Programmers aren't always natural course creators and effective teachers. Are you planning in the future to offer educational materials to help guide programmers on best practices for planning, producing, and publishing their course?
Filling the pipeline on the supply-side and the demand-side, simultaneously is nearly impossible, so you'll find yourself oscillating between the two.
So, I'm curious...
Which group are you concentrating on growing first: supply, or demand?
To the points you mentioned above (word counter, privacy, etc)…
I do a similar exercise, but using Draft (https://draftin.com). Draft has a word counter, and is private.
Another option I’ve been exploring for this type of exercise is Notion (notion.so). The nice thing about Notion is it can replace Evernote, Draft, and Trello for me, is private, and works on desktop (native), web, and mobile (native). You can also create a calendar view where you can see your progress building your Seinfeld chain of consecutive days of writing.
Anyway…
Congrats on launching! Now the real work begins. :)
1. "Upvotes don’t give you anything unless they are from the people who are really interested in what you are offering."
Such a great point! Your goal isn't to game the upvote system, it's to get your product in front of interested people. All tactics you choose along the way have to keep this goal in mind, first and foremost.
2. This tip was fantastic: "If journalists don’t reply to your email 3–5 days after you pitch, it doesn’t mean they’re not going to cover you. I recommend sending a follow-up email in the evening of your launch — not the same pitch — with the result. You could even do it the next day so that you don’t bombard the journalist with the same press release over and over."
It sounds simple, but it's often overlooked. Follow up with journalists and media outlets (even if they didn't respond to your initial outreach) soon after your launch to brief them on your launch results.
Again, excellent post. Thanks for sharing it.
JUST KIDDING! :)
Looks great! Good job, this was nice and simple.
Seriously, this was a lot of fun, and the cha-ching sound effect is an excellent touch.
So often, I seek advice without taking time to consider context. The context of why I asked _this_ person, _this_ question. The context of what experiences are shaping their answer. And the context of why I am hesitant to simply go with what my gut is telling me.
Especially appreciate the "Get there safe - get a ride link." Not sure if that's new, but just noticed it.
After posting to HN, is it okay to edit the title and change the tone of the piece a bit at this point? How does that "look"? Is there precedent on HN for such edits? I've seen it done effectively elsewhere.
Personally, I like when the dialog continues, I like to see an article writer evolve his position after taking time to listen to, and fully grok the feedback he's getting. But, is that just me?
The word "Stole" implies something was taken, something was lost, something changed possession. Yet, the services are not identical, Nugget offers much more value for its customers, has an established trajectory and customer base. I don't see what has been "taken" from you, here.
Perhaps change it to:
“One of My Customers Created a Look-alike Business, and Here's Why That Is Awesome”
or
“One of My Customers Duplicated My Business, and Here's Why That Is Awesome”
or
“One of My Customers Copied My Business, and Here's Why That Is Awesome”
But Nugget isn't just offering ideas.
Nugget members are investing in a steady stream of software-solvable business opportunities that at least one person has expressed a desire to pay real money to have solved.
So, it's really about helping someone clear that first hurdle. Choosing an idea.
But not just any idea: a viable one.
Pick an idea that someone has already said they'd pay for, an idea that someone has taken the time to research and present to you in an objective way, showing you the market size, market growth rate, competition landscape, tech challenges, customer personas, and so forth.
The opportunities are sent out with quite a lot of thorough customer research, market research, competitive analysis, and tech insight to give members a fighting chance of deciding whether or not an idea is worth pursuing.
The vast majority of ideas we collect are rejected, but the ones that do get through the gauntlet are highly refined. Refined enough, at least, to let an entrepreneur jump in and start contacting potential customers and other first steps on the business validation journey.
So, by the time the nugget gets emailed out, it's no longer just an idle idea that someone may toss around over beers with friends, it's an outline of a business hypothesis with clear next steps of validation, next steps to attempt to make it a reality.
So just based on what our most successful customers are telling us they're loving, the analysis is the biggest value for them.
Customers keep mentioning that the amount of analysis we're adding to these ideas is really transformative. An idea that seems on the surface to be a non-starter can really start to look viable for the right entrepreneur (there was a nugget in the quilting niche that comes to mind that really surprised everyone).
No, not every idea is right for every entrepreneur. There's a concept of product-founder-fit at work here, where an entrepreneur may have to watch a few weeks of nuggets roll by before spotting one that really seems perfect. But we've seen it happen for a lot of our customers.
The community/discussion board is really a big mastermind session, for lack of a better description. Even as small as it is right now 40 or so days after launch, it's become a place where we support each other, there are accountability threads where people report on their progress as they're actively pursuing nuggets, people brainstorming tactics, challenging one another. We've even seen a couple teams of co-founders form around these ideas. There is even an idea pitch area where entrepreneurs kick around ideas they bring in themselves; not nuggets, but their own ideas.
So, that's a bit about the value of the community.
A third value Nugget offers at the moment for members is a monthly workshop. This will, undoubtedly grow and change as time goes by. The first workshop in July was just a simple question and answer session where we kicked around ideas to help a couple members move forward in their validation of their chosen nuggets.
No, Nugget is probably not the right fit for everyone, but we're really striving to add value, to not just be a site that peddles ideas. We're focusing on helping entrepreneurs dig in, clear the hurdles that happen along the way, and execute their chosen business idea.
Anyway, we're hoping this proves to be of some value to entrepreneurs!
[3] http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-297-h...