How my comment led to a new startup
This one's for fellow indie hackers who don't engage or are hesitant to build in public. Let me tell you a short story.
A while back, Feedboard launched on Product Hunt by Fabio Monzani.
I hardly ever used to engage on Product Hunt. Even if I loved the product, I never used to upvote it. Oddly enough, I had the idea of launching something similar to Feedboard for months prior, so when I saw it, I had to click.
Not only did I click, I also upvoted, registered and commented the following:
"@ monzanifabio all looks good! It would perhaps be more useful if you could implement a daily/weekly recap of updates to your feed? Or perhaps a snapshot of your feeds at the end of the day or week? The interface is really nice and the features are great but I would find myself a lot more likely checking an email like that than loading up the website. Hope this helps!"
He responded, it was all fine. A few days later, I was having a conversation with someone random on Reddit about getting feedback on one of MY projects. Guess what? It was Fabio!
We exchanged Twitters and ended up hopping on a call. After a bit of discussion, even briefly about an acquisition, we realized that it would align well for us to partner up on Feedboard. I won't get into the details of our arrangement but we have been doing some exciting things since then, and we are planning to start a few more projects together in the future!
Moral of the story? Leave that comment.
Do you have any similar stories that led to something bigger than you originally expected?
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Totally relate to what you've gone through! It's true that interacting and leaving that remark can lead to unforeseen opportunities. It's amazing how a product hunt exchange resulted in a collaboration for me too. Incredibly, connections can arise from the most unlikely sources.
Glad you liked the story! What collaboration did it result in for you?
Talk about fate... LOL
Haha, I know right!
Interesting story. :-)
Glad you liked it!
Wow interesting haha, inspired me to make that comment for fellow founders on their startup every time I have feedback for them
Haha, awesome! If it leads to anything, let me know, it'll make my day
What an awesome story. This proves that being active and engaging in the community could leads to new ideas and business.
Thanks Arian.
Glad you enjoyed it!
It’s incredible to hear that there are still places on the internet where these kind of wholesome and productive collaborations can happen!
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
I've been building a vertical product for the past six months, and a small company just launched a competitor out of the blue that does everything I do, and they have a partnership with the top podcast and website in the industry. I could compete with them, but the upside is too small imo. With price pressure, I can't charge more than $5/m and there are only about 10,000 people that need this use case at any one time. Since I can't compete on features, I'd have to compete on price.
But I've been thinking about reaching out to person leading the competitor and showing them what I built. I've heard them on a podcast, and they seem to be a genuine person that built this because it solved a small but significant problem in the industry. If I am not going to compete directly with them, it might be worth it to create a connection. There are other problems I can tackle in the industry, and they would be a valuable person to know.
Oh absolutely, that's a great way to look at it. What industry are you in? Best of luck btw!
Autism services. I built a tool tell help therapists looking to become board-certified managers document and plan the 2000 hours they need to sit for the exam. I'm honestly going back and forth on it. While it could make some money on it's own, I always planned on using it to build a user base that I could then build a job board or recruiting service for. The number one challenge in the industry is staffing. If I track all the students, in a year or two, I should have a sizable database of contacts who are board certified.
That's interesting! Best of luck with everything. Don't dwell too much on long-term plans though, try making the best move in the moment.
Hey Arian! It's interesting how a simple comment can start a partnership. Thanks for sharing and giving value to this task!
Glad you enjoyed it!
The story revolves around the launch of Feedboard on Product Hunt by Fabio Monzani and the transformative impact of a single comment.
The thread's author confesses to hesitating in engaging on Product Hunt despite having ideas for a similar project. However, upon encountering Feedboard, they decided to break their usual pattern and left a constructive comment, suggesting additional features. The comment not only caught Fabio's attention but sparked a conversation that eventually led to a meaningful partnership.
This comment is from chat gpt. And I saw several others here in the forum. I mean - why?
Glad you liked it.
This beautifully shows that being in the creative mood and having this open mindset is like being a dry tinder when everything around can be a spark to start a fire! Great story!
Glad you liked it!
Interesting story!
Thanks!
I love how people of different places with the same interests can connect as easily. Congrats on your achievement!
For sure! Thanks a lot!