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11 Comments

Started something new!

Hi Indie Hackers!

Like many of you, I've read the super interesting post from @csallen on how he implemented dynamic social share thumbnails for IndieHackers months ago. A few weeks ago I actually wanted a similar solution for my own project SocialTracker, and thought "why not built it as a separate product so other people can benefit from it well?"

And so I did! Meet ThumbGenie, my latest product on the mission to make website share links beautiful. Currently, I'm building the MVP version which will allow website owners to set up dynamic thumbnails for all their pages in a matter of minutes. For this, I'm working on a simple but effective API, no-code integrations, and stunning default templates to pick from.

The product is still in an early phase, but I'm super excited to share some first glances here. I'm already using it in production on SocialTracker and will look into giving early access to others soon. So if you're interested, do get in touch!

Let me know what you think, and stay tuned for more updates.

  1. 2

    Really great! The pricing model I am curious how you determined those numbers. Have you done analysis on the margin there and what kind of pricing model would make your product more competitive?

    Great design!

    1. 1

      The pricing model was honestly difficult to figure out, and the plans listed currently might still change depending on the feedback I receive from early testers.

      For now I've based myself on the following points:

      • Feedback on Twitter: People wanting to use it for blogs definitely see the value of the product but the pricing is an important factor here. Webshops, on the other hand, have more budget as driving more visitors to their shop directly influences their revenue.
      • Using it for my own product: SocialTracker. With more than 100K monthly visitors I have about 700 unique shared pages/mo which would require me to get the Pro plan ($19). Seems reasonable to me.
      • Iterating on the idea from a client's perspective: I started off with a pricing model based on the number of thumbnails generated instead of the number of shared pages. That seems logical at first, but what if a malicious user requests your page thumbnail 1000 times? I wouldn't be happy with a large bill because of that, as a customer.
      • Infrastructure cost: What it costs me to host the API, image generation, image storage, network costs, ...

      And thanks!

      1. 1

        That’s good, as long as you have figured out your infrastructure costs I think you’re in the clear. Sounds promising! Will definitely follow your project

  2. 1

    Congrats on starting...! All the very best.

  3. 1

    Interested in trying it out.

  4. 1

    I’m really interested in trying this for users sharing notes on app.getrocketnote.com! I’ll have to let you know what I think. 🙂

    1. 1

      Hi Dustin, that seems like a perfect use-case for dynamic thumbnails!

      I'll send you an email with more information :)

    1. 1

      Thanks Hassan, much appreciated!

  5. 1

    I'd like to give it a shot, I will be needing some social media sharing capabilities coming up!

    1. 1

      Great! I'll send you an email with some more information.

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