ztay's comments

ztay | 14 years ago | on: Why I Will Never Feel Threatened by Programmers in India

"The thing is: I have yet to see a project done overseas at that sort of hourly rate that has actually gone well."

The argument sounds like something Rush Limbaugh would say, "It's cold where I live, therefore global warming is a lie!".

ztay | 14 years ago | on: Ask HN: Small product, single founder success stories?

I'm the solo founder of PrintFriendly.com

Two years ago I applied to YC, and was turned down in the interview process. They asked, "how is PrintFriendly going to make a billion dollars"? I'm still trying to answer that (or at least a more modest version of the question).

Today PrintFriendly revenue is about $10k/mo, 1.2M visits/mo, and slow but steady growth.

I'm happy with the results, delighted actually. However, I'm not travelling the world, or working from a beach. I work hard everyday and reinveste the capital, to try and build a stable/strong/significant organization.

ztay | 15 years ago | on: Ask HN: Time to pull the plug?

Thanks, glad you like.

My motivations were fairly pure, wanted to build a platform that gave citizens more power. Also thought there could be a way to monetize (ethically) with traction.

Got some press in the early days, and believe the problem is other than exposure. The site just isn't filling a need. Need to come up with something people really want.

ztay | 15 years ago | on: Ask HN: Time to pull the plug?

Yes, currently getting 3K-15k visits/mo. About 20% repeat visits.

Agree that giving people a way to "be heard" has value, just need to get the process right.

ztay | 15 years ago | on: Ask HN: Time to pull the plug?

Polarizing would be a good tactic. Not sure I want to go there though. I've still got some idealism ;)

Steps to gain traction were focused on making the product viral (send to friends, embed vote on site/facebook, etc).

Also partnerships with other organizations, for example, democracyinaction.org had an email your reps widget (powered by govit).

ztay | 15 years ago | on: Ask HN: Time to pull the plug?

I like the idea, but think I'd need more users before I could attract the attention of senators/aides/other.

Congress members have their websites, email list of their supporters, would need to offer something they didn't have.

ztay | 15 years ago | on: The future of Blogs is Video?

haha. "Video is dull as dish water when it's talking heads".

Works better for categories like eSports, Cooking, How To.

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