12 Startups in 12 Months - here comes a new challenger!
First one is shipping in 13 days!
Hi everyone, just thought I'd say hello. I've been an avid reader of this community for over a year now but have only just signed up to join the discussion here and there.
I've been an indie maker since around 2005 and have managed to make a decent living through building lots of stuff, some of which went on to earn passive income, some of which went on to be acquired by other companies.
Most of my work dates back so far that it's not even on the web anymore! The last SaaS app I built was called Beatrix and I did it while trying out the "digital nomad" lifestyle, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
I'm super out of practice when it comes to building and shipping, having just spent the last 2.5 years in a management role at a corporate job. So I thought what better way to get back into the groove of building again than by taking on the 12 startups challenge!
I wrote a little bit about my intentions here:
https://www.yongfook.com/12-startups-in-12-months.html
Cheers and great to meet you all :)
That's awesome! I am also doing my own 12 startups in 12 months challenge and I 'launched' my first project a couple of days ago.
Challenge: https://chriswiso.com/12-startups-in-12-months/
Project 1: https://www.growthstore.io
What do you think?
This is great Chris, am on the same train too..Launching my first startup contentiskey.co by tomorrow
Looks great and I hope you‘re successful. In case you‘re interested to become a partner, feel free to contact me using the „Becomea Partner“ page on Growthstore.
Just looked at your growthstore.io and it looks amazing. Just today I walked and thought about that it would be great to have marketing as a service startup and here it is :) Keep doing, I'm going to spend some more time to evaluate if I can apply it to my next project.
Thank you ^^ Feel free to reach out to me anytime.
@c41w51Great man! Congratulations on the launch of your first startup. GrowthStore looks awesome.
As usual, I always ask questions -
How are you gaining traction on growthstore ?
How are you getting partners on growthstore ?
Are you also providing services on growthstore ?
How much time did it take to launch growthstore ?
Did you create growthstore site on wordpress or did you use some other tool?
Once again! Huge moment. Keep it up. Would love to see the next thing coming from you.
Please excuse the delayed reply.
PPC + Various Email Lists + Content Marketing
Indiehackers + PH
Instagram + Twitter
29 Days
Webflow
Thank you and I am also very excited for what is to come.
Growth Store looks awesome ! @c41w51
Hi Jon and good luck for this challenge! I tough to do something similar myself but in the end I didn't committed to do it, maybe is a good idea reading your reasons...
Also I'm very identified with this quote: "I'm guilty of building many, many things to the 50%-60% complete mark and then stopping."
I found your posts some days before and I like a lot your
idea validationsheet, maybe in the next project I will use it!Happy working & shipping!
Hey what is this cool idea validation sheet you speak of?
Yes, I mean this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yUlKlL8MIxlgSNH0t-aDKPVdrDhFSSb_0pVdk-f0qIE/edit?usp=sharing in the "12-startups-in-12-months" post.
Probably refers to this https://www.yongfook.com/12-startups-in-12-months.html
Always love these :). How are you planning to "make" your startups? Just start building, then release by day 30? Or do a lean startup approach with customer interviews and miscellaneous market validation stuff? My startups have taken a bit of time because I always try to find new people to talk to in new markets :/
I wrote a little bit about my approach in the blog post. Basically it's a process of identifying customer groups I'm familiar with, identifying problems I can solve, coming up with a solution, and then evaluating the solution across a bunch of criteria. I shared the google sheet I use in the blog post.
From that point you have a choice of whether to start finding and interviewing customers or to build a quick MVP and get it out there. Both of these paths lead to validation (or invalidation) of the idea.
Since part of my goal with this is to practice shipping again, I'm just diving straight into building and releasing on Day 30 each month :)
This is great! I remember the last time I saw someone do a 12 startup in 12 months challenge, he ended up doing very well. Would def keep an eye out for your progress.
If anyone can chime in, what would be considered a complete mvp for a startup? minimal functionality, payment gateway, simple landing page? Any tips would be great. I think I may just join along with the fine folks here this time around. :)
Something that solves a problem for someone! That would be my definition of a barebones startup.
Haha, had the pleasure of briefly working with you back at Gengo many moons ago. Been following what you release since then, excited to see what you pump out this time!
Hey Ryan!
Fun, I just launched my marketplace and while marketing it, I will try to launch a few more things - who's up for a 6 in 6 months - I don't know where I'll be in 12 :)
Here's my current launch if you (anyone) would like to help.(https://www.indiehackers.com/forum/launching-211148b3e9)
Super cool to see you here, excited to hear more Jon!
Congrats Jon.
It feels very passé to do a 12 startups in 12 weeks challenge. I totally hope you crush it! It's just from a standpoint of getting people's attention, I bet you'll do better if you can put a twist on it or niche it or do something to make it novel.
Ah, I remember that product named after the former queen of The Netherlands, Jon!
Looking forward to the new stuff and expect, with this kind of transparency, every one of them to be have their monthly running costs listed on Startup Costs too!
that's an awesome site!
Thanks—early stages still. Looking forward to all of the 12 startups running costs to be added!
Good luck, keep us updated on your progress!
Followed you in the past and then you went to Aviva (I think?) so am glad to see you're back! Were a huge inspiration in the past and I hope the same again for the future.
Looking forward to following your progress Jon
Hi Jon, thanks for sharing!
Check this out: https://www.westvesey.com/why-were-building-24-businesses-in-12-months/
Hi Jon, awesome challenge, will try to follow the same footsteps from October. Followed you on Twitter! Good luck!
Awesome! Best of luck to you :)
Awesome and great to see you back! I am personally looking forward for your first product to come out
I'm in a similar position where I've spent my last few years in other companies and finally starting to get back on to the startup wagon.
Excited to see what you are working on and the first product to come out! 🚀
Thanks for the support!
Jon, was following you closely back when you created Beatrix and was an early user.
Nice to see you building again! Look forward to following your 12 startups throughout the next year.
Jon The #1 Digital Nomad Is Back! It has been a LONG time.
The challenge sounds awesome. PLEASE post in your blog as much details as possible to keep your track.
Good luck my friend!
That's awesome! @yongfook I am also doing my own 6 startups in 12 months challenge and I 'launched' my first project yesterday.
The first project is a productized content-as-a-service contentiskey.co whereby you can hire a writer for your business for $250/mo.
Project 1: http://www.contentiskey.co
Jon, if you ever feel stuck for an idea, or you think any of the following projects are a good fit for you and get a high rating on your sheet, get in touch with me! :-)
The following are projects I wanted to make but unable to fully commit to them anymore due to another project taking most of my time.
https://cwinhall.com/projects/