HighJackar v2
by FarmerDee77Following some research over what data might be most useful and interesting to Founders and Side hustlers I rewrote the back-end for Highjackar. Graphs showing subreddit comment volume highlighting hobbies and topics that are increasing in popularity are front and centre.
A key lesson learned from version 1 was the necessity to use a framework for your front end. Version 1 ended up being the product of too many patchwork css files which ended up being rendered as an absolute mess on large and widescreen devices. I chose grommet as my react framework which worked really well with what I was trying to do.
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If I may say HighJackar is REALLY cool. The trends you provide must have been very interesting over the past few months as Covid-19 has impacted the world. Right after the last financial crisis in 2010 I founded a yoga mat company partially because yoga started to trend as people struggled for ways to cope with the crisis. But I didn't have any data like this to validate my qualitative assessment that yoga was trending. Very interesting!
Sae
Co-founder of CRUU, the best darned React development tool ever invented by humanity this week.-
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Thanks for the kind words, there is still a bit to do but we are making progress!
Is there any other data you think would be useful? There is certainly correlation between topics you would expect to see trending and the output of Highjackar's analysis which is encouraging! he slowcooking and legaladvice subreddits have been strong contenders this quarter.
I plan to do a deep dive into various topics as I notice trending subreddits which I will publish in a blog or newsletter. This will help indie hackers understand the trending signal, the opportunity to exploit and any other startups operating in the space. Hopefully that would be the kind of information that would have helped you validate your yoga mat company.
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@farmerdee77 I often worry I am unqualified to offer advice! But since you asked here are my two cents:
Your Question: Is there any other data you think would be useful?
If I was an entrepreneur, I'd want data in probably at least two forms...
A) Inductive Search (If I am using this term correctly): I'd like to see data that is suddenly trending regardless of what it is. So I'd want your app to highlight any terms that let's say suddenly spiked greater than 1 standard deviation above the norm in terms of frequency. As an entrepreneur I could look at trending terms and see if any piqued my fancy for a startup. So start with observed data and then analyze for startup opportunities. In practice this might mean I'd see in March 2020 that slow cooking and college basketball and spring were spiking and I'd concentrate on slow cooking.
B) Deductive Search (If I am using this term correctly). I might have certain hypotheses about what might be a good product to launch and I would want to use your app to see historical trend data on specific terms to see if the term is 'gathering steam' and my hypothesis is valid. So in this case my hypothesis would be "I think Covid-19 is creating an opportunity for an InstantPot type slow cooker competitor" and I'd use your app to see real trend data.
As an aside, several years ago I saw an app which tried to do this for enterprise. There was an app which did sentiment analysis and frequency analysis on social media posts and collected this info in a useful realtime heat map for enterprise. So for example, Whirlpool would use the app to monitor on a real-time basis if anything related to Whirlpool or washing machines was spiking and react quickly to any relevant trends...
Sorry to babble. I just find your app interesting! :)
Good luck!
Sae
Co-founder of CRUU, the best darned React development tool ever invented by humanity this week.-
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I don't think anyone is unqualified to give advice over what would help them out! thanks for taking the time!
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