Show HN: SideProjects.com - 37 Bootstrapped Profitable Projects
Have been working on this for months, hope you guys will like it. Feel free to share your own side project in the comments.
Published in 2012, this chronicle by @sideprojectbook details the mechanics of building a profitable, self-funded business without venture backing.
The community focused on B2B customer acquisition channels, cold email vs SEO distribution, and balancing full-time employment with side-project development.
I don't want to be negative, but $34 for a 124 page book seems a bit steep. What's more, the fact it's 37 interviews over 124 pages means that on average it's only 3.3 pages (including pictures) per 'interview' / example.
If we expect a standard introduction / conclusion to the book, then I expect the average number of pages per example would be even less.
Looking at the sample on his site, it doesn't exactly go that in depth with the questioning.
I think the key attraction to this book and many other 'self help / get rich / be successful' style books, is that people get drawn in by the 'examples' and hope that somewhere in the pages there is the answer that they've been looking for, the golden piece of information that's going to guarantee them success. However, their time may have been better used trying to execute their idea, rather than just trying to read things which reiterate the success of others.
- If this was $12 I would have not been so negative, but for $34 it just seems steep considering the potential lack of real value it will give.
Purchased!
I'm launching my first book next month (http://doubleyourfreelancingrate.com ↗), which, like SideProjects, is based on many, many lot of conversations I've had with the freelancers/consultants who use my SaaS product.
The idea that developers don't pay for things - including infoproducts - is bunk. My book has netted just over $2,000 in prepurchase sales in the last week.
Kudos to the author for putting this together (the list of people you've interviewed is OUTSTANDING)
On Firefox 14, roll over on the project list is very broken. If I hover over a project in the first column, it shows in the second column instead. Same for the second and third column. And third column shows off the project list all together.
Otherwise looks interesting. I'll wait on what others say before committing the $25.
Also, if we purchase the PDF today, are we guaranteed the mobi/epub when its released in the future?
I've been speaking with the author for the last year as he worked on the book and have reviewed it. Lot's of good material and a great read for anyone interested in building revenue generating side projects. I've got a few of my own side projects up my sleeve and this book helped inspire me to get going again. I'd recommend it, especially once the epub/mobi versions come out.
Looks interesting. I think the sample would work better as an image from the actual PDF. Currently, there's three snippets that don't make much sense out of context.
Also, Good Dog (the script font) is barely readable in Webkit Mac. -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; helps, but I think it's better if you change it for something more legible.
Hi Guys,
I'm Laksman (@Laksman on twitter), author of SideProject book. I put together this project over many months with the help of the 37 participants. Launch has been pretty hectic but is going well, so far the feedback has been positive and I'm implemented a lot of changes suggested here. Also, feel free to shoot me an email personally if you have any questions, firstname at gmail.com. Hope you guys enjoy the book.
Laksman