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avni000 | 11 years ago | on: Ask HN: My company is dying, what can I do to save it?

Those are a lot of factors to face but depending on the sports niche and assuming that your product is superior/ well designed, then I might suggest focusing on getting a strong following with that niche and growing from that small position of strength.

For example, say it's biking apparel, I might reach out to bloggers/biking sites and perhaps doing guest features or creating something of value with them (giveaways?).

You should be able to help your SEO by creating content of value around your niche and getting links to it (organic SE rank is likely tanking just because people are getting what they need at those sites first and not bothering with smaller players). Same with your AdWords - you won't be able to compete with the massive marketing budgets of the bigger players so you'll have to be creative about using words further down the tail. Look for other acquisition opportunities by figuring out who your core target is and how you can get them to spend more (perhaps an email newsletter highlighting news/new products/trends in your niche?).

Just a couple of suggestions but hard to say for sure without knowing more specifics of what you're dealing with.

avni000 | 11 years ago | on: What is the simplest way to explain Bitcoin?

This is really helpful - thanks. A follow up question about volatility - is it true that volatility only really exists when trying to convert to currencies like the dollar or pound but doesn't exist if you remain within Bitcoin? Wouldn't that imply that it's like gold where it's good to buy as much as you can when the price in dollars drops but that once you own Bitcoin the price of goods in Bitcoin would remain constant?

avni000 | 11 years ago | on: Keeping track of hypotheses, experiments and goals in startups

I find using a simple excel sheet, with the following columns helps me: Objective (what action trying to drive like "increase traffic to site") Lever (overall bucket like email or SEO or PR) Tactic (specific initiative like "write 5 blog posts re: X" or "get 2-3 quality press coverage articles") Metric (how you'll be measuring success like "2x traffic in 4 weeks" or "increase conversion by 4%) Lead (team member responsible) Learnings (summary of findings)

Though it doesn't cover everything, I find it helpful to review with team on Mondays to make sure everyone is on same page about week's priorities and any recent findings.

The trick I find is in sticking to it, whatever the system is.

avni000 | 11 years ago | on: Ask HN: How do you come up with ideas/topics for your essays/blog posts?

I think it just starts with being curious about the world around you - write about what you see and what interests you. And in the beginning write for yourself. Don't think about audiences and reach and all of that stuff. That will come as you find your voice and what you're passionate about writing. Also, the most valuable posts come from the people that have had the experiences to write about. So just living and having a diverse set of experiences will get you great material to write about. Most of all, don't try to sound like anyone but yourself. People will connect with that.

avni000 | 11 years ago | on: How to quickly but effectively become technically conversant

Ultimately, I would love if I could build a very basic prototype (of a web app) so that I can scrappily build a product to test. I recognize that that is not an easy task and would take a significant investment to get to proficiency, let alone mastery. But as someone that is analytical but not "technical", it can be exceedingly frustrating to have an idea that you want to implement and create but you don't have the know-how to do so. So I'm trying to find a way to teach myself to fish without becoming a master fisherman. And in the process I also hope that I can become a more effective entrepreneur because I will be able to communicate not only intent and design to the engineers, but appreciate the feasibility and development path.

avni000 | 11 years ago | on: How to quickly but effectively become technically conversant

I agree with that - I've blown through a number of codeacademy and code school courses just because I've found it so interesting. But now I feel like I have this floating knowledge of some coding without a foundation of context to set it on. So would love to get recommendations of where to start with the real basics (like data structure etc).

avni000 | 11 years ago | on: Ask HN: 99designs for your startup – What was your experience?

My experience was mixed - I liked that I could control bids and if I didn't like any of the designs that were returned to me in the initial round, it was risk-free because I could get my money back.

The challenge I had was if you need or expect a logo or design that is more than the basics, it can be difficult to communicate the specifics to get those higher quality results.

But in the end, you get what you pay for, and for a more reasonable price point, you're able to get decent, basic design work.

I found better success looking at portfolios on Behance and reaching out to designers whose portfolios I liked. Likely more pricey, but again, all depends on what you're looking for and if it's integral to your product.

avni000 | 11 years ago | on: Show HN: Lottery of Birth

Agree that it should be weighted by current country birth rate so that you're disproportionately likely to be born in Niger or Mali vs. Singapore or Monaco. But really cool concept.
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