Show HN: Bootstrapping an asset store for AR creators and ML engineers
Published in 2020, this chronicle by @dan_zaitsev details the mechanics of building a profitable, self-funded business without venture backing.
Core Principles for Independent Builders:
Charging customers from day one acts as the ultimate filter for building software that solves genuine, high-urgency problems.
Keeping fixed overhead low and leveraging lean infrastructure allows founders to stay alive until market tailwinds kick in.
Small, repetitive improvements in customer retention and conversion rates yield massive returns over multi-year horizons.
Community Debate Themes:
The community focused on B2B customer acquisition channels, cold email vs SEO distribution, and balancing full-time employment with side-project development.
Interesting idea. It seems to me that focusing on a narrow topic is always more effective and professional. Try to create something new for community of augmented and mixed reality with maximum value
I think the asset store for AR/ML creators makes sense. How do you plan to solve the "chicken & eggs" problem?
do you consider payments via cryptocurrencies?
CATEGORY Bootstrapping & MRR →
HISTORICAL ERA Pandemic Bubble (2020–2022)
COMMUNITY SCORE 21 points
TOTAL DISCUSSIONS 8 comments
Hey HN!
My name is Dan Zaitsev, and I'm bootstrapping with my team a global web-community for Augmented and Mixed Reality creators.
We would like to share with you our new feature and get some feedback if acceptable. Also, we have some pending questions where we need your advice.
Recently, we released an asset store / marketplace where creators and companies can list for sale their AR, MR, ML templates, models, source code and tutorials. Currently, this feature is in early beta, and now we present assets related to Spark AR and Lens Studio; more frameworks are coming soon...
Why did we release it?
We found out that some creators use PayPal, Gumroad and Etsy to sell and monetize their assets. However, creators from the CIS region, Georgia, Ukraine, Asia and some other countries are limited in payouts from these services. We partnered with one PG to organize direct payouts through SWIFT and SEPA.
Here some common questions where we need your feedback and advice:
1. What are your thoughts regarding our new asset store / marketplace module? Can we compete with Gumroad, Etsy and other top platforms where currently creators sell their assets?
2. Do you have any ideas on how we can protect our creators' IP (intellectual properties)? Meaning, when some scammer buys assets on our website and then goes to another website and sells them there? This is currently the most common problem of creators who try to sell their templates, patches, etc.
3. The last question is about positioning. Currently, our community and marketplace about Augmented and Mixed Reality domains. But we also have lots of creators who specialize in Machine learning, Training models, Open CV, etc. Should we drop the message Augmented Reality or keep building a niche community?
Please let me know what you think. Thanks!
Best, Dan