Social Remix

Create dozens of social media messages in 60 seconds.

Under 10 Employees
Founders Code
Solo Founder
Content
Growth
Marketing
Productivity
SaaS
Social Media
Writing

When you publish a new blog post, promoting it can be a lot of work. I wanted to create a simple way for bloggers to create dozens of social media messages to promote their articles without spending a lot of time.

September 9, 2021 Create Blog Post Graphics, Instantly.

Development has finished on version 1.1 of Social Remix. Anyone can go take a look at what we've built here. It's very easy to use:

  1. Sign up for a free account
  2. Paste a link to your blog post
  3. Hit 'Enter' or click the 'Create' button

That's it.

The default visual theme will be used to generate 4 social media graphics based on the open graph data from your article. It will pull your:

  • Blog Title
  • Website Name
  • Open Graph Image
  • Favicon

It then inserts these elements in the corresponding places in our visual templates.

You can change the theme (click on the drop-down menu above the image). You can also change any of the info the app gathered. As of now, it only accepts image URLs but we're working on the ability to directly upload.

Once you've made any changes you want, just hit the 'Create' button again, and it will regenerate your images according to your changes.

It's super fast. Super simple. And has lots more customization to come.

The next phase will combine the current beta with the image creator along with a few other upgrades to the app capabilities.

We're projected to finish somewhere around mid-November. 馃檶

July 30, 2021 v1.1 is Ready! (Almost)

You know, this product development stuff is hard. Lots of ups and downs, but ultimately it's 馃挴 worth it.

We just finished the initial MVP of version 1.1. It's a huge upgrade that will allow bloggers to create social media images instantly out of their articles.

And when I say instantly I mean: copy, paste, click.

Just three quick actions and you will have four social media images to share across all social platforms.

It's going to be a huge time-saver. And for those who hate working with graphic design software, it'll be a real headache reducer.

Right now it's minimally functional, and open to beta testers. There are two more features I'd like to build in before public release... but funds are tight as I continue to work on securing my first investor.

Every day, 馃憠 forward.

April 5, 2021 An unexpected evolution...

Sometimes when you start building something, you have an idea of where it will go. And then, like many types of creative work, it starts to take on a life of its own.

Sometimes the product rewrites its own path as you build it.

After releasing the MVP of v1 of Social Remix I had a lot of great feedback from users. They loved the simplicity, and what it helped them accomplish.

But ultimately it was a comment from @8bit that made me realize something that I hadn't seen before.

I had just finished sharing the 30,000 ft. vision for SoVisual.co with him and a few others. It is a big vision, and going to take a lot to get there. Somehow we got on the subject of what Social Remix does and John's first question was,

Why isn't Social Remix a v1 proof of concept for SoVisual.co?

Without seeing the grand vision, it would be really difficult to see the relationship to the two different products. But when John said that, I immediately realized I had overlooked an opportunity.

While I was building out an MVP for SoVisual.co's bright future, big surprise, I was overthinking things and making them more complex than they really needed to be.

I was challenged to rethink what an MVP could look like if Social Remix were the starting point. And it became much clearer as I sat and thought about it.

And this unexpected evolution for Social Remix began.

Version 2 will be a natural leap forward. So natural, I can't believe I hadn't thought about it before.

It's not going to be easy, or cheap... but I think I have a clear plan (or two) to make it happen.

A product I had stalled on thinking, "could I even make this profitable" is now clearly the fastest path to profit.

I've sunk $11k into this so far without getting a dime out. But this next phase will change all of that.

And it's super exciting.

November 25, 2020 Ready for beta testing and feedback

A lot has happened since my last update in July. Not with this project, but It is exciting to say it's finished.

Well, as finished as it needs to be for now.

So now I begin looking for some initial beta testers to help me understand:

  1. Do people think it's helpful?
  2. Do people think it's worth paying for?
  3. How can it be better?

While it's not the huge idea it started as, it is something that I hope can be of use to bloggers like me who want to create social content to promote their blog posts quickly.

July 20, 2020 It's aliiiiiive!

Last week I was able to meet with the development team I hired to view progress.

It's finally alive!

While not finished, what is there already is something I've been waiting to have for over 3 years.

And man, it was exciting to see it working. We've got a lot of work to go, but when you've been wanting to build something for so long, those small victories are exciting.

June 17, 2020 Back in Development

Life happens. Business is crazy unpredictable. And sometimes you just have to put side projects in the metaphorical shed to focus on other things.

But a really great idea will never die.

Development had stalled out on codename Soopz for over 2 years. But it was finally time to start re-thinking, re-engineering, and pouring some resources back into it.

So I found a great development company with fair rates and commissioned them to begin building the rest of Soopz under a new, official name: Social Remix.

March 12, 2018 Ready for Beta Testing!

After coming out of pocket more than anticipated, the initial MVP development was done. My Founding Members could finally login, play with, and give feedback on the product they had paid in advance for 3-months prior.

The only function we had built was the text editor with our scoring algorithm and tips. Not much, but it was something. And it felt good to give people access and let them play with it.

December 20, 2017 Potential Investor / Partner

While I loved the idea of being a solo founder, I knew I was going to need financial help to build everything that I wanted this product to be. So I wasn't entirely closed off to the idea of partners or investors.

It just so happened that a person I highly respected was looking for a SaaS product to invest in, and took interest in what I was doing.

The discussion was very fruitful, and this potential partner had a massive audience that would be perfect for the product. A partnership with him would of guaranteed the funding we needed, as well as a much larger target audience reach (at least 20x) for when it was ready for launch.

Unfortunately, the potential partner passed on the idea.

December 19, 2017 Founding Members

In order to raise the funds needed to develop the MVP, I had to get creative. Since I had a comprehensive mockup of the prototype, I decided to create a video walkthrough of exactly what the end product would do, how it would work, and what it's goal was.

I then send this video to a handful of trusted fans, followers, and friends of my personal brand. Since I had shared a previous version of my idea which was then stolen--won't name names--I was very careful with whom I shared this video.

Those who watched the video were given the opportunity to purchase a "founding member" spot which would give them recognition, and lifetime access to the product once it was built.

The funds raised helped me get a little closer, but inevitably fell short of what was needed. I funded the rest of the MVP development myself.

But, the good news is I now had 10 people who were invested in the future of the product.

November 1, 2017 Purchase of Soopz Intellectual Property

After a few months of negotiating the sale of the product so I could take it solo, we finally came to an agreement. The product was now mine entirely, and I was free to start building it without any ties to the previous company.

This would prove challenging, however, since funds were very short after the purchase. I needed to raise some money to finish phase 1 of development.

About

When you publish a new blog post, promoting it can be a lot of work. I wanted to create a simple way for bloggers to create dozens of social media messages to promote their articles without spending a lot of time.