fbliss's comments

Hey guys, what kind of product can I bring to the platform? Any limitations?

UPDATE: We've decided to run a discount on the Business Builder, $50 off, the next 12 copies and to see if this helps. https://gumroad.com/l/gfXK/fzzlpie Apologies if I'm breaking a rule by responding with this - I hope not, let me know if so... but I do want everyone to know that we are trying to take your advice! :)

Thanks so much! We really appreciate the insight!!

Awesome, awesome feedback. Thank you so much! You guys are awesome. :)

That's a really flattering comment! Dan told me he is blushing, hahaha... We're taking your feedback and we're going to do whatever we can to make things better in the messaging. We'll get some clear communication about this being a one-time payment up there ASAP.

Thank you for commenting! We worked extremely hard to get it shipped despite some massive life obstacles. It represents a huge triumph of willpower and overcoming self-doubt just to be at this point.

We will continue adding support for other 3rd-party services (InfusionSoft is nearly complete) and plan to offer those later on, as single purchases, and we have talked about ideas in the realm of consulting (ie priority support, sales and marketing help, etc), but at this point, we're just hoping for some response. :)

Thanks for responding! Our target audience is folks who don't have the technical know-how to get their Gumroad product overlays into their Wordpress themes, and they need a quick, convenient solution to stitch together Gumroad, their Wordpress website, and their email service (Mailchimp, GetResponse, Aweber, and soon others like InfusionSoft). It handles everything in a single motion. Thank you again for the well wishes!!

Thank you for being honest. Can you elaborate on why you came to that conclusion? It would be very helpful to us!

Hi All, this is Fred, the developer who built Gumpress. I'm happy to answer questions about the plugin. It's been a long road for me and Dan, my friend and partner on this project, and we're hoping that we can help a few people, starting with this. I'll be honest, I'm a little nervous about how this will be received. I've never done a "Show HN" before and this is also my first plugin I've made for the general public... :) Thank you for your time.

I know this story, I think most of us suffer from this feeling.

First off, we shouldn't just sit down and start typing into a blank page. We all do it, but remind yourself just the same that doing some high-level conceptualization is very helpful.

Maybe you are getting overwhelmed thinking about all that you need to do, and it's discouraging you out of being in your "zone"? That happens to me. Remind yourself to only focus on the next five minutes.

I'm self taught. I have and had a lot of broken knowledge, misunderstood concepts, etc. I was able to overcome most and self-teach by first trying to find a patch of code that did something similar to what I needed or wanted, and then I copied it and re-purposed it. I truly can't think of a better teaching method than to find and tweak analogous code snippets.

I also think you are in a corporate culture that kinda... sucks. It doesn't seem very collaborative. Get out of there as soon as you can, and I mean don't wait till you think you are ready, I mean do it as soon as sanely possible.

Helpful advice on this listing: Designers are not Developers, and vice-versa. Split out the requirements into two positions.

+1 this. SMBs all the way. It's a good balance between too small and too large. I always saw it as better to be standing on 100 legs rather than 5. Less instability when you lose one.

Thanks Peter! You're right, I really have nothing to lose to risk a few hours making a landing page.

Thanks!

Thanks Matt! That's very detailed advice, I greatly appreciate it!

That's true, but don't forget, in the context of the product that I'm working on right now - it was built at the request of a client, and their system integrator saw the results and was seriously impressed, enough to suggest we try to resell it and offered to help through referrals, though I'd much rather have him on board in a more formal capacity to reach out to other integrators he knows (he's got a good-paying gig and has no reason to move on quite yet from it)

Not yet. I have a name picked out, but I haven't had the ability to hire the creative talent to start working on a decent identity for it, and that's not where my time is best spent right now. The plan is to sell another and then put aside some of that for the branding and website.

The first working version was just wrapped and went live in the past couple of weeks, to clarify the timeline - we've just begun, but this is something I could turn around and sell, I just need to start spreading the word.

Also, congrats on winning BattleHack Austin. ;)

You hit the nail on the head here, I can't afford to (nor do I want to) reach end users - that's why the system integrators are key, and I know they want a good solid solution to offer.

Thanks for putting a unique angle on your point, that helps reinforce my feeling on who I should be talking to. Its the same way I sell system architecture and development services - through designers who need it. Keeps me from dealing with end users who have no idea what I'm doing back there. (during the sales process at least) ;D

I see, thanks for clarifying. My direct sales activities haven't ramped up yet for this product. I've been working with my client who has told me endless stories of the vendors who charge ridiculous money for really poor results. I'm frustrated in general with companies who do great not because of quality products, but because of sales & marketing.

That got an audible laugh, thanks :D