Incubator List
A curated list of 450+ startup incubators and accelerators
Recently I got two acquisition offers in the same week. Moreover, they were the first offers I've received for Incubator List, and I rejected both.
They came as a big surprise to me, as I was on holiday and rarely checking my e-mails.
First one was 2 x ARR, second one was ~1.5 x ARR.
I was not even interested in selling it, as it brings a small but regular income with minimum effort. But every product is saleable for me, that's why I tried to negotiate by asking a bigger number, but it didn't work.
I am happy that I didn't sell it because I have big plans for Incubator List. Maybe I went out of my schedule a bit, due to the inconsistent mood and awkward agenda caused by COVID-19. But I am pretty sure that it will turn into something much bigger.
Offers came through IH & PH, btw. That's why once again I felt grateful to be a member of such a community.
I submitted Incubator List to Betalist a month ago, and today I woke up with a tweet saying it is featured! I will share the stats here for transparency.
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Good for you Bugra, congratz. I had a great experience with Betalist, and started writing a long post of how I made it to be featured for 2-3 days and get tons of traffic and subscribers. I will finish that post soon and share it here.
Anyway, this is my page on BL https://betalist.com/startups/automatio-co, and when i checked 1.5 years ago, Automatio.co was one of the products that had most likes out there. Its say 37 ❤ .
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Hey Stefan, long time no see! Great to hear you are an Indiehacker as well! Looking forward to reading your post.
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My results from versoly.com and another company that got featured on the same day
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/results-of-betalist-7222a89674
Looking forward to seeing yours
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Thanks for sharing your results, Volkan! Will share mine too.
I was also rejected in the first one. Then I changed very little but mentioned that I had launched on PH. And it worked 😳So far it's good, but not great.
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Interesting, I have seen a ton of people rejected.
Yeah it isn't anywhere near as much traffic as PH.
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It seems your list have a bug. Clicking on any of the incubators gives a "not found" error page
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Now I fixed that problem as well (thanks to you!) But I am still wondering your answer.
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Thanks for the feedback Tobi! That's weird because it works for me and my friend.
Do you go to an incubator page from Google or directly from incubatorlist.com?
For Google, there are some dead links, which I will fix now. This may be the reason. But from incubatorlist.com it should work. Thanks again!
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I've updated the whole design of incubatorlist.com as it was eye-bleeding and Craiglist stylish. I hope it is much better now. Please feel free to roast it.
- Multiple filtering is enabled
- All responsive, mobile is much faster
- Pagespeed score is now 97
PS. my copycat product is banned from Product Hunt 🎉 (and it took minimum effort) - Again, thanks for all the support!
I've learned that ignoring is the best solution, but filing a DMCA report is very easy & useful as well in those kinds of situations.
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Hi @bozkan,
Congrats on the update! Really like the minimalist design and layout of your directory! What library are you using for sorting/filtering?
One small comment, I would probably fix the height of the cards to avoid whitespace between rows.
Cheers!
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Thanks a lot, I'm happy that you liked it!
I've used Bootstrap Select & Isotope.js for filtering.Actually, it was fixed before. But the content varies between programs, which caused some rows longer than others, that's why I changed it this way. But you're be right, I can go back to fixed height again.
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Good job !!
just one thing, I don't think loading over 200 items from the beginning is a good idea, I'd better choose pagination or infinite scroll for that.
Good luck
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Thanks a lot!
This is on my mind since day 1, but I couldn't manage to make my filtering work with pagination/infinite scroll. I know, I should find a way to do it, as it will be much bigger problem as I will add ~1k programs very soon.
But I will implement it soon.
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This is awesome
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Thanks a lot!
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Word-by-word, line-by-line, all my website's content is stolen by @daxeelsoni. All 420+ programs, 20+ data points. Please help me about what actions I should take. He even launched it on PH, omg.
--UPDATE-- He desperately started changing some information after I told him he was even using my sponsor links. Initial version is available here if you're interested 👇
My product: incubatorlist.com
My PH launch: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/incubator-list
This is his launch with my stolen content: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/400-startup-accelerators
It is the same word by word, line by line, bit by bit, every single word. I don't know what to do, but all my efforts are stolen in a minute, this is so sad.
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That's a frustrating situation. Beyond the immediate issue of copied content, it also highlights the importance of respecting intellectual property in online communities. Original content takes time and effort to create, and platforms work best when contributors can trust that their work will be respected. I hope the issue is resolved fairly for everyone involved.
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Not a popular opinion time...
The idea doesn't seem all that original and "making a list that was aggregated from the web" isn't really a piece of IP you can defend. You're quite aware of this one competitor because they allegedly directly stole your stuff, but there's probably 100+ other similar sites out there.
In fact, here's the top link on the Googs for me:
https://thembaisdead.com/list-of-startup-accelerators-and-incubators/
Incidentally, they are touting the same 400+ number are you :thinking:The other site looks leaps and bounds better than yours (more professional, and more like something I would be okay using), so I can understand feeling extremely slighted over the situation, as it seems you're quite passionate about what you've done.
It sucks when this happens, I know from experience a few times over (and yes, even once with a "fellow" IHer). Your best course of action is to beat them with a better product. When you engage with a slander fest it makes you look extremely petty, and your time could always be invested better than that.
As the old saying goes, if you're going to wrestle with pigs, you're going to get dirty. And the pig likes it.
On the bright side, competition tends to be a good thing and most "me too" knock-off types tend to not be very passionate about what they are doing, and are simply looking to cash in quick. Because of this, if you stay your course you very well could come out ahead as their interest will die off as they move onto the next "me too" product.
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I agree with many points you mentioned, but you're missing a point there: incubatorlist isn't just a list of links. Most of these 400+ programs have 15+ data points, deadlines, statistics, which I've collected one-by-one, and they are all up-to-date. I was exploring Mba is Dead a year ago, and half of the programs were dead.
If he just collected the names/links of the programs in incubatorlist.com, I could say that it's fine. But he copied all the data points, categories that I collected with a great effort. incubatorlist is getting 700+ users each day although it is a 3-month-old project. I think it is because of this valuable, detailed, up-to-date data, even the UI is not great.
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If I missed the point, then your copy didn't get the point across.
Your main copy is exactly: "A curated list of 400+ best startup incubators and accelerators". How in the world did you expect me to know about these 15+ data points and stuff if you don't tell me?
If we're talking about points being missed, my primary point here wasn't to critique your product, it was to let you know that wasting time trying to fight this guy is time and focus taken away from your own project.
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I definitely agree with you, as I now realize my copy is old & insufficient. Thanks for exposing it to me, which I was not aware of. Bad description decreases the value of my product.
And I agree with you about where my focus should be on. He costed me 1 day + my nerves, which should never have happened.
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Hey, I see that on PH page there are a lot of comments about it. So I'm pretty sure you can complain to the PH support and they'll just delete the project.
Regarding content. I'm not that SEO / content aware, but I think the original is always ranked higher.
Plus anyway, copying other project is a dead-end. No worries.
Upvoted you both here and on PH (I mean your product page) :)
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I've complained about it to PH, waiting for their review. Thanks a lot for your support Victor, this is really important for me!
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Hey Bugra,
That's indeed painful. To be honest, you shouldn't worry much about it. People do that all the time with all sorts of successful projects.
Instead, focus your efforts on making it even better. Copycats are usually looking to make quick bucks. But they fail miserably as they have no vision of their own and will shut down.
At Promotehour, our model was copied like 4-5 times. Some of them even copied our FAQ as well as how it works, word by word. It bothered initially but now we don't care as it's more about execution.-
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Oh, dear! This is getting murky. Looks like this guy copied Jonapr as well.
We ran a offer on Indiehackers - free access to all the lists. This guy downloaded all the list and created a site: http://mystartuppr.com/index.html-
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Jit, could you please inform about it to PH or IndieHackers? I am very unhappy to share a great community with such people. This is becoming soo annoying.
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Yeah, I will put it on Indiehacker. Not just that, I will take it up with Cyber Crime Police here in India. It's shameful that I have to share citizenship with idiots and thieves like @daxeelsoni
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@rosiesherry please see this, it is getting bigger:(
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OMG, I can't believe it. I am in shock right now.
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Hey Jit,
Thanks a lot for your support, this kind of words relieve me a lot as I've been very unhappy since this morning.
Definitely agree with you, and I am more decisive than ever to make my project much better. I hope I will forget about these kind of bad memories when I make it better.
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Just proves you were doing important work. It sucks. Keep building my friend.
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Thanks a lot my friend, your support is very important for me.
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please rusticate @daxeelsoni immediately from the community. thievery should not be permitted. this is really sad.
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@rosiesherry kindly look into this
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To be honest, it's super shity the situation I hope this never happens to me, but this os the real world and this happens.
In this situation you should focus on doing press to increase awareness and reaching out to people, growing SEO and then, you just can kick him out from the market
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Definitely agree with you Victor, I am now focused more than ever, on improving the product & increasing its visibility. These are just small but annoying obstacles to be ignored. Hope you never have such experiences! Thanks for the support.
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If you want to chat to review your growth strategy and try to improve it, you can find me here https://twitter.com/devictoribero
hugs
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Connected, will defintely do! Thanks dude!
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Perhaps show this to @rosiesherry.
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And also we can go to his profile to report him. I understand similar ideas or building a better on but blatantly copying just crosses the line for me.
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I didn't know that Vamsi, thanks a lot for letting me know about it. I hope people already reported him, and hope IH does sth against him.
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Yes, I've contacted her. Thanks!
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He is using my own affiliation links, and he is not aware of it, because he didn't care to steal someone else's efforts! He didn't even change a single word, omg.
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Upvoted yours @bozkan and downvoted that piece of trash @daxeelsoni. We've had a few people straight up copy our source code at Logojoy/Looka and publish it as their own logo maker. It's freaking annoying, but it's a sign you're doing it well.
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@dawson, I am grateful for your support. Today I woke up really bad bc of this sh.t situation but now I feel more encouraged thanks to the great support of people like you.
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Hi @bozkan, I think you can lodge a DMCA Complaint on Google to remove his content with entirety. Check this article on Google
Lodge a DMCA Complaint.
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Hey Tejas! Thanks a lot for sharing it, I've started to lodge the complaint.
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Shame on every one who does this! Keep on @bozkan 💪
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Thanks a lot Ahmad!
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Bugra, coming from a thrid person perpective. Not really sure whats going on but heres what i think - if stealing your startup idea is as easy as stealing a txt list of names/companies etc then it might not be much of an idea. The value if your idea should lie in having A repeatable process to genereate the list and if you already have that then you shouldnt worry you will come up ahead. Also this is good time to look into security and protecting your ip. We live and learn and this whole process is a learning experience. Just my $0.02
Sending best wishes.
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Hey Pranay, thanks for your feedback! incubatorlist.com is a curated list of startup programs with up-to-date handpicked data points. I am building a platform on top of it.
It is not a startup yet, it is a side project. And I always knew that it could be stolen, but not obviously like this. Yes, it is a repeatable process, as my list is updated automatically every day + (some of the data) hand-picked & updated by me. But still, it is sad. I am not saying this project is priceless but it is very valuable for me because it makes a lot of traffic and creates a base for my following projects.
Yes, it is not a SaaS (yet), but imagine you are an author and your writings are stolen by someone else. It is txt at the end, but it doesn't alter the value of the theft, right? It is annoying, very annoying. This is how I feel right now.
But I know, it is not the end of anything. Indeed, it is nothing dangerous for me, but sadly it comes from a community member where I felt connected to.
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I can totally empathize. It takes real hard work to create something and stealing is easy in the short run. However look at the bright side, so many people are now aware of your product. Also YOU were the one that came up with the list so YOU are the most well positioned to succeed. Karma works in wierd ways - I guess what I'm trying to say is all is not lost.
Also, why not reach out to the programs and build a relationship with them. You can be thier funnel and send them traffic. People can steal words but not trust and relationship. DM me on twitter if you wanna talk more. I would love to help in any way possible.-
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Thanks a lot! I will DM you tomorrow, it would be great to talk more!
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Altså, på riktigt ?. Det är inte första gång... @volkandkaya 's saaspages.xyz blev också kopierad av en Indie Hacker...
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(Sorry, I don't know Swedish as a newcomer to Sweden)
I didn't know about it, and I now feel what you felt @volkandkaya (shocked, sad, disappointed all together :( This is so sad..
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Feeling the pain @bozkan stay strong! this dirty efforts are usually short lived!
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Thanks a lot Alberto! I hope so too.
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You can threaten him with a lawsuit if he does not remove it, that will work if he lives in a country where court orders are respected.
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There is a Cyber Police Department in India, and my lawyer friend said the proofs are more than enough to sue, but I will try to warn him personally once more before all these.
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I realize this isn't helpful, but..
I've been known to cross borders to handle this exact kind of problem in very personal ways.
I'm not saying you should get thuggish.. Just saying I have been known to get my pound of flesh from these parasites
Don't let up. Tear his ass down at every turn.
Good luck friend
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No, it is indeed helpful Greg. Maybe the method seems aggressive and maybe I need to focus on my product rather than this worthless guy, but the thing is that: this person is so shameless that he has copied two products completely, didn't even change or add a single word, he shared them on the biggest platforms and he's still trying to defend himself. He deserves what you say I guess, my friend. But that depends on my focus. But many people reached me to help, I hope he accepts his fault.
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That's painful and it's hard to see that the copy cat version was featured by PH but as many people mention already, copy cats won't play in the long run
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I definitely agree with it, Jorge.
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Well, he kept your affiliate links, so basically, all the drive he will drive to his own website, you can earn from their visitors. So, could be good for you ;)
About google and seo, that's important to add the tag canonical to show to google you wrote that the first-
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After I mentioned it (I've shared the details on PH) he immediately removed them, which is so funny because he thinks the internet does not have a memory.
I think my SEO was fine (I had added the canonical tags etc. months ago) and I am pretty sure that he's not able to compete with me. But still, very annoying.
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I think r/legaladvice is your friend atm. I know from being on IM/SEO forums that this happens all the time. They typically go after the offending site like this;
DMCA to the hosting company, domain registrar if the theft is severe enough.
Then hit up Google's trust and safety team with the plagiarized content. They might not remove it from search but it will protect you better in the event that his domain is stronger than yours and ranks above your site as a result.
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Definitely, I may need to collect advice from Reddit based on previous experiences as it happens all the time. I am now lodging a DMCA and following the steps you mentioned. Thanks a lot Alex!
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really nice product bro..
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Glad you liked it Ken!
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I own a brand protection and coypright IT service and i can help you in that however it takes efforts to remove them but i already removed several websites from google too as breach of my copyrights so yeah its a nasty thing but copyright owners ALWAYS wins if they can prove ownership and in your case its a very easy thing. To prove who was first. Contact me and i help you.
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Thanks for the help Peter, now contacting you.
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Great work @bozkan ~ never woulda known about your work save for this thread which caught my interest ...
perhaps others have mentioned, but maybe worthwhile to note, this fiasco has perhaps brought more people to your work than might have otherwise dropped on by
peace and power to you my friend!
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Canin, thanks a lot for your support mate! You're right, indeed it got many people's attention. And it encouraged me to make it better than ever. Good luck & power to all of us in our goals!
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Don't worry mate. Your product is awesome and it remains our go to choice. Feel good that you have inspired others to look into this space which is valuable. You should charge for your services soon. Best to you! :)
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Hey Wilson! I am glad I met people like you, really appreciate your sincere words. I have big plans with this project. Best wishes mate!
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The twitter account looks super sketchy, https://twitter.com/StartupAround no engagement on pretty much every tweet
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Definitely. He also created a few fake accounts on PH, made comments with them supporting himself :) and he doesn't even realize that these fake accounts can be identified in a sec:) I am leaving him to his own fake world.
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Hey 👋
Sorry for what you’re going through but honestly I believe if the project can be copied that easily you might want to consider your unique value proposition.
Good luck with everything.
Best H.
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This is bad. I am sorry to see that this happened! I actually saw @csallen's interview at YC podcast yesterday and they were talking about that exact thing. This may feel shitty right now but you are the inventor of it and nobody can copy your genius that went into it. Keep it up!
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Thanks a lot for your support Arne! I feel the same way, this is just another project, but he will not be able to copy what I dream of.
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Your product is awesome, I am sure people from community like indiehackers will support your product over a stolen one. Keep up the good work and keep making it better.
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I was not going to realise this data theft if you hadn't noticed it, my friend. Really appreciate it! I will absolutely keep making it better!👊
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FYI @csallen,
Indie hackers launching clones of other indie hacker projects doesn’t seem to be in the best interest of the community.
You may need to block @daxeelsoni from IH.
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honestly... i empathize with the pain... but, move on.
so much energy and TIME has been (already!!) wasted! let’s get back to building... let the best product (and community) win.
i really do like free markets.
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You first removed Newchip Accelerator and now put it back with their URL, after I mentioned it on PH (You were using my own affiliation link)
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After someone else's comment on PH "...Even category names are copied (such as "No Specific Vertical")..."
👉 You have now changed it as "General Program"
This is so funny. You think Internet does not have a memory, but indeed it has. You keep saying that you haven't stolen it, but everyone except YOU know what it is.
These are my last words to you, because I shouldn't waste my time on such a miserable person.
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You have not aggregated any data, you only used the data that I aggregated with a huge effort, that is a big difference. You keep on lying, and I have never met such a shameless person. Be a man, accept your fault and remove all the data you stole.
Please stop bothering yourself by changing your website, because I have the archive of your website's every page. This will not save you. Apologizing will save you. Accepting your fault will save you.
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😂I definitely agree with you. He is not an obstacle on my path, but gave me a great lesson indeed. I now realize I need to be faster building it, and make it more secure.
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Shiva, I am grateful to you, as I was not gonna realize this thief if you didn't mention me on PH! I am just sorry that it was a big effort and some other indiehacker, a member of my best community, stole it:(
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Finally, I launched incubatorlist.com on Product Hunt! 🎉😻👊
I would like to thank each one of you for your support so far, you've been extremely helpful to me with your feedback and helped me to believe in this tiny side-project!
If you would like to show some support & love 👇
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Yeah, #4 Product of the Day on ProductHunt! 👍🙂
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👊Yes, I've made it! I will keep upgrading this product and hope I can inspire others! Thanks for the support!
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Wow... Really nice to see it over there, Upvoted, 404 and counting.. :)
Hope you will be sharing it on relevant fb & linked In startup groups as well.
If you can pass it to any startup related WhatsApp admins or groups, that would be also help you to get more upvotes in PH.
Do pass the message to platforms such as 'YourStory' etc.Hoping to see those next versions as well. Keep inspiring.. :)
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Thanks a lot, man! Now it is 499:)
These are really good feedback. Do you know any such LinkedIn/FB/Whatsapp groups which I can share it? I don't know any, if you know, please share it with me. Really appreciate your support! I will definitely keep building it, cheers!
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Hi
Please drop me your email. I will mail/direct you some I know.
Thanks.
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bugraozkan@live.com, many thanks! (I also joined ~10 startup relevant groups on FB recently and now I am sad as I ignored FB completely so far :( anyway, I'll use it next time...
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me already start to use it!
good product - keep going.
publish a story on hackernoon about reasons of why you building and how you did it-
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Hey Arthur! Thanks a lot, I am happy that you liked and started using it.
Yes, definitely, my next step is writing a blog about it. Thanks for the tips!
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just did, great work keep it up man!
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Thanks a lot man, appreciate it!
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Great resource Bugra! Thanks for putting it together, just threw you an upvote and followed you on PH!
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Thanks a lot, Evan, really appreciate it! I am glad you liked it.
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Congrats Bugra!
The link you provided directs to a maker-invite view - letting people claim they are the makers. See if it is the link you meant to share
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I just tried to download the list, which unfortunately wasn't possible. I am looking for an incubator in Lisbon and came across Build Up Labs. Has anyone here had any experience with them?
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What is the stack to build the list?
Incubator List got 34K+ page views and 9K+ users since March 1! 🎉🥳🎊 (I admit it is slightly more than a month 😂)
This month was much different because most of the traffic came either directly or from Google (%73). I think I started to reap the benefits of my small but really effective SEO efforts - which I ignored all the time so far, either as an entrepreneur or as a full-stack dev.
Today, I am going to add filter to the homepage, add a few new programs before I launch it on Product Hunt tomorrow.
Yes, tomorrow is the big day, so wish me good luck and please support by your upvotes!
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Such a novel concept, all the best buddy.
Good aggregator platforms always gives value and nevertheless to say yours is one.
Just some suggestions I felt like as a user and a startup junkie which you can implement moving forward.
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A little bit of UI-UX would help you in gaining more users and lowering Bounce Rate.
(a) The Home Page
Just keep the home page simple instead of showing all the accelerators over there. It gives a crowded feel. Think like if you can make it as a simple search bar (Google Search) with some drop-downs. (Point - Improved User Experience) and on the listing page list down the accelerators according to different filters and sorting options. (A proven model)
(b) Showing the startups prevailing & exited as in a slider in every incubator/accelerator page would give a user more reasons to stay in a page to look into those startups & its details. It will also give them a reason to come back to 'Incubator List' to see more on other incubators as well.
(2) Posting about the site in as many as startup related facebook groups with the approval of admin or let admin itself do the posting surely do wonders in hiking up the numbers.
(3) Likewise in Insta & Twitter. May be you can use Upviral for increasing the leads if you can do a giveaway or something of that sort to get more people checking out the site.
(4) Definitely increase the number of Accelerators. The county where I am from, India itself has more than 270+ accelerators & incubators which ranks 3rd globally, first being US & China & 4th being Israel.
https://www.vccircle.com/india-now-ranks-third-globally-in-number-of-incubators-accelerators-report/
(5) Do draft a message for a WhatsApp forward and send it to different WhatsApp group members or admins to check out the site to know more on the available ones. Please note that almost all startups would be looking for open & available incubators/accelerators so keeping them in top of your list would help them to check out the site more and to give the site as a referral one to their peers. Don't do the forward unless and until you get the UI-UX part in place.
(6) At the same time acquiring good authority backlinks via guest posts and listings would also be great for your SERPS rise.
Just shared my 2 cents.
Keep us updated with your success. Wishing you all the best in your PH launch. Let it be a good inspiration and motivate all the IHers to give their best.
Peace :)-
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Awesome inputs!
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Hi Achyuthan,
This is the best and most useful feedback I've received so far, and tbh, I agree with all of them. I am grateful for every single word! These are my next to-dos right now.
I will definitely keep you and IHers updated about every step of my progress. I wish I can be an inspiration! Best, Bugra!
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Thank you so much for making something like this. I cannot express how much time you have saved me here. Again thank you so much for making an awesome product that people want!! 👏🙌
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Omg, I felt so happy to have such positive feedback! I am glad it's been useful. I am improving the UX as well, so it may save much more time soon!
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i have been tracking you since you started building incubatorlist. congrats for the work.
how did you deal with procrastination and fear?-
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Thanks a lot! Actually, I can't say that I am very good at dealing with procrastination, still suffering a lot from it. But I can at least say these for the fear: Always have people in your life who support you any time & in any condition, and forget others:)
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Amazing to hear this! Would love to learn about the small SEO strategies that worked well. Congrats man
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Thanks a lot, man! I will copy-paste the same thing as other people also asked the same question
I have many tips, and I am writing a blog on it. I will share it with you when it's finished if you want to read. But for now, to summarize:
- present your data on as many pages as possible
- convert all your URLs, either dynamic or static, to example.com/meaningful-urls-like-this
- use keywords, which doesn't make sense for you why they're unpopular.
- analyze meta tags of the websites you love, and try to do what they're doing.
- create a really well-structured JSON-LD data for every page
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Awaiting your blog post. If you get a chance before that, can you elaborate "use keywords, ... Why they're unpopular"?
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Sure, I realized that it wasn't clear enough, sorry. These are generally keywords with low competition but medium volume, but very close to high volume & high competition ones. This may sound weird, but I tested it a lot, and worked well.
For example, "best accelerator" keyword is much more competitive than "top accelerator" but has nearly the same volume. When you google "top accelerator" you also get nearly same results with "best accelerator".
I can't say that this strategy works insane but at least it worked
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Hard work and results! 💪🚀 Of course, good luck.
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Definitely! Thanks a lot 👊
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Nice one, congrats! Got any SEO tips to share?
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Thanks a lot Jamie! I have many tips, and I am writing a blog on it. I will share it with you when it's finished if you want to read. But for now, to summarize:
- present your data on as many pages as possible
- convert all your URLs, either dynamic or static, to example.com/meaningful-urls-like-this
- use keywords, which doesn't make sense for you why they're unpopular.
- analyze meta tags of the websites you love, and try to do what they're doing.
- create a really well-structured JSON-LD data for every page
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Yeah please send me your blog post when you're done, thanks!
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All the best man!
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Thanks a lot!
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Congrats.
Thats good growth. I think you must be change design and espacially colors.
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Yeah, I will redesign most of the parts, thanks for the feedback!
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Congrats on the growth!
Sounds like an awesome idea and very useful. Mind sharing how you made that growth?
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Thanks a lot! I'm glad you liked it.
Initially, backlinks helped me a lot. Then I started focusing on SEO, especially the most important part, in my opinion, is presenting your data on as many sub-pages as possible. This boosts the traffic, therefore, your ranking gets higher. There are other important parts too, like creating well-structured JSON-LD data for each page and targeting important but unpopular keywords. I will write and share a detailed blog about it.
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How did you get backlinks?
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Plus, some startup programs shared Incubator List with their audience + from social media.
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Most of them are my own submissions to over 10 platforms (easy to guess, the most well-known ones are IH, HN, PH)
I will - hopefully - start blogging very soon:)
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very nice congratulations buğra
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Thanks a lot!
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Thanks a lot!
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Yesterday, I received the payments of my first two sponsorships on the same day for incubatorlist.com and I'm very excited to share this milestone with all of you!
Actually, both these sponsors made the sponsorship offer a while ago, but I couldn't concentrate on the product for a while due to the depressive mood caused by Coronavirus and self-isolation (thanks for their patience). But recently, I pulled myself together and now I'm back on track! Now I realize a maker's remedy is always, to make!
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Looks promising. Is the revenue is something you see increasing in the future or does it has a ceiling?
Also, curious to know if updating the information on the website is done manually or is automated?
Maybe allowing users to suggest updates and/or share it with the incubators themselves and see where it takes you?-
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Thanks a lot! I hope it will increase as I will make other types of affiliations as well.
The information is being updated automatically every day.That's a nice point, I should allow users to interact with the data, and encourage them to share too. There will be registration for users and incubators very soon, which will hopefully work for such a purpose. What do you mean "allowing users to share it with incubators", do you mean share buttons or something similar?
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This is great news. Congratulations. May I know, how do you create your pricing strategy/plans for an advertiser?
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Hey Daxeel, thanks a lot!
I've compared my traffic (+ estimated traffic from https://www.worthofweb.com/website-value/incubatorlist.com) with some competitors, checked how much they are charging for ads, and tried to create a plan based on that.
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Awesome. May i know how much do you charge? And may i know how did you get pricing from the competitors? I am interested because I am running startuparound.com and launching paid ad plans soon. Thanks.
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Sure, I will send an e-mail about these.
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Thanks man. That would be so helpful. Here is my email daxeelsoni44@gmail.com
Looking forward to your email.
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That's great news, congrats @bozkan
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Thanks a lot @WeirdoWizard!
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Congratulations @bozkan, I hope you are feeling better. Did you look for sponsors or did they approach you?
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Thanks a lot @Sifiso! Yes, I am feeling much better but lazier :( Both of these two companies found me from IndieHackers and HackerNews.
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Have you catch Coronavirus?
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Luckily no. Maybe I was not clear, sorry. What I was trying to say is I was a bit worried, depressive and not concentrated on the projects as the agenda was all about the virus.
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Many people complained about the colors of incubatorlist.com so far, but I was on the positive side and didn't want to change it completely. But the previous design was too sharp, having many borders, thick lines and an eye-tiring font, I decided to update the design with minor tweaks. Hope it is better!
- Replaced the colors with a few tones dimmer
- Changed the font with a smoother one from the same family
- Removed eye-tiring borders
- Restricted the color palette to 3 colors instead of 4
- Updated the header and made it standard for all pages
- Removed Disqus - its design is terrible, not adjustable and besides it is killing the page load. Instead, I will build my own comment module.
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Hey burga , if you're open to a new set of color palettes , let me know how to contact you and i'll send you some alternatives. Love the site btw !
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Thanks a lot for the feedback, I am glad you liked it! I replied back to your e-mail.
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Hi,
I too faced a lot of updates and reiterations when finalising the website for Snap Search. It’s a never ending process of achieving something really really good I guess.
That being said, I think there’s lots more you can do/still change to make it look even better. Hit me up, I got some ideas.
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Hi Rajat,
You're definitely right, but it is also like a trap, which I made such mistakes before a lot, spent a lot of time on design rather than the actual product and the users. Yes, it satisfies you, the owner of the product, when you make it look better, but it may not be the same for others.
I would love to get more feedback, please send them over to contact@incubatorlist.com, let's discuss!
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Hi @bozkan
I haven't seen the previous version but this looks a bit too craigslist-ish to me.If you'd like to do some quick UX/UI design tweaks, I recommend this reading:
https://medium.com/refactoring-ui/7-practical-tips-for-cheating-at-design-40c736799886Other than that, I like the idea and will be following your journey of building this product!
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Hi Dawid,
I agree with you, especially the categories section is very Craiglistish:) I am currently replacing it with a sidebar of filters, hopefully it will work & look better.
I follow Refactoring UI, but I wasn't aware of some of these tips. Thanks a lot for sharing it with me, it is very useful as I need tweaks right now rather than a big change due to lack of time:(
I'm glad you liked the idea! Hope all we hustlers achieve it!
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Oh thanks! I am glad that you liked it!
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I created a Twitter account that will automatically post reminders before the deadlines of each program in incubatorlist.com:
https://twitter.com/incubator_list
For example, applications for several MassChallenge programs, including Boston Accelerator, are closing in 3 days. Hurry up to apply!
https://incubatorlist.com/accelerator/masschallenge-boston-accelerator/
PS. This Twitter account will not be limited only to reminders. I will also share the most recent news and articles about startup programs.
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Good idea man. This is long overdue.
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Thanks man! I agree with you.
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I am either pulling them using multiple sources such as Crunchbase or handpicking them from their websites. Currently, it is semi-automized, but I don't want to make it fully automated as it is a curated directory.
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What do you use to make it semi-automized? Are you scaping the data? I have a similar kind of listing service in a completely different field. Check it out on ScholarAhead.com. It's for students in middle and high school :)
I'm trying to figure out how to optimize things as I've been doing everything manually. I feel like I should be using technology to scrape this information.
@bozkan
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Hey!
Yes, I scrape some of the data from multiple sources, but most of them are also collected manually, as I wanted to show every piece of information correctly. But I plan to have more data & more metrics, in that case I need to use scraping more.
I use automation for a couple of simple things like posting before deadlines to Twitter or updating open/closed information based on the deadline.
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Thanks a lot Elliott!
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I've added more than 80 startup programs to incubatorlist.com and 8 other key information about all the programs as requested, including:
- Crunchbase rank
- Number of investments
- Number of exits
- Founded year
- Program type
- Type of funding
- Total funding raised
- Number of alumni startups
By tomorrow, I will be adding a filtering based on key information in addition to 100+ new programs.
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I found the fact that the category filters switched from cards to a list a bit jarring. I really like the card view because it presents a snapshot of each incubator. I would expect the category filter to show the same view with just the required incubators present.
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I definitely agree, and many people also said they found it annoying. I will update the filtering very very soon (and will inform you :) Thanks for the feedback!
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Dope did you build in bubble? how do you intend to monetize this?
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Cheers man! I built it using Hugo.
I am planning to monetize it through affiliations and protomed ads.
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Nice! So what have you learn or personal opinion, as you were adding/researching those incubators?
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Thanks! One of the things I've learned: most of these programs are dying in a few years, they are mostly short-lived and their websites etc. are not updated. But their number is increasing rapidly, which shows entrepreneurship is a hot topic, more than ever.
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Hi Bozkan, thanks for the reply. That's definitely an interesting insight. Perhaps there are plenty of interest in replicating success stories like YC, but not many of these programs have delivered the fruits like YC had. Apart from the programs itself, I think the unique location that attracts talent, investors ecosystem, and the geo-political stability also plays a vital role for the success of these startup programs. They will keep trying and hopefully someday they will find a way to generate enough success outcomes that will keep them going.
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Hi Darren! I agree, there are many factors affecting their success. But it is also an important indicator, which shows the ecosystem of entrepreneurs is growing more than ever, which is definitely a good thing.
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Great job!
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Thanks a lot!
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Dope Project man
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Thanks man!
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30 Comments
Good going @bozkan! Isn't 2x ARR ridiculously low anyway? 🤷♂️
Thanks! I agree. Imho, it should be between 3x-6x. One may consider selling it in need of cash or because of low potential, unstable revenue etc. But otherwise, it is low.
That's super positive @bozkan - if you're receiving acquisition offers, people are clearly impressed with what you do. Use that as motivation to make Incubator List even better!
Thanks a lot @pips! In a monotonous period of my life, those offers definitely woke me up and now I'm feeling better than ever about the upcoming features.
Congrats! This is really the best type of feedback you can get. I’ve had a lot of small businesses but only a few ever received unsolicited offers. And two in the same week...when it rains, it pours!
Thanks a lot @Casey_Botticello! When I got the second offer, I suspected for a moment that he may be the same person testing me:)
The same person also said he was only interested in simple projects like a curated list to maintain it easily, not a SaaS or a web app. Maybe that was my luck.
I know you will have many more offers, it's all matter of time ✌
Thanks for sharing @bozkan, and pretty interesting project ! Would you mind answering a couple more questions please ?
How did the prospects get in touch with you and what were their plans for the product, if any?
How does Incubator List make money?
I'm not familiar with the curated list industry and I've always wondered how it works.
Glad you liked it @boristane!
Awesome thank you! makes sense!
@bozkan just saw this now! Congrats, just a sign you're onto something. Great decision I think, that surface under your MRR graph is going to be a way larger number!
Thanks a lot man! The offered numbers are very small deals but important indicators for me as you said.
Congrats @bozkan - May I ask you how is your revenue model? I have an idea for a different niche, but I'm struggling to figure out how to monetize. Keep doing the good work!
Thanks Rick! My revenue model is quite simple: sponsorship & affiliate links. I am considering to add other models soon after I add some new features.
Congrats @bozkan keep going and grow the business to new heights.
Cheers man, thanks a lot!
You should be so proud of yourself and it’s such a confidence boost. By the way I was wondering what did you mean with PH ?
Thanks a lot! Definitely it's been a great motivation for me.
Sorry for the unclear abbreviation, it is Product Hunt 👉 https://www.producthunt.com/posts/incubator-list
That's awesome, how did they reach out to you? What was the negotiation process like?
Looking forward to hearing from you, Incubator list is a really great.
Thanks man, glad you like it.
They reached out by email, then we made a video call. They asked me what I asked for, then made an offer. Both sides wanted to consider about it, then we negotiated by email.
Mind if I ask what your ARR is currently?
Sure, it is currently ~$7K.
Keep doing king!
I really appreciate it! @Cirphrank! 👊
That’s amazing! You’re definitely doing something right keep at it and look forward to the new features coming up.
Also, how did you build Incubator List? Is it with a No-Code tool?
Thanks a lot!
It is not no-code. I used a static site generator called Hugo 👉 https://gohugo.io
Love Hugo!
👍
Ahh cool! Good to know, will check it out. Thanks :)
impressive!
Thanks! Hope I don't regret not selling it:)
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