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Ask HN: Can my side project make money?

10 points by nicelios ↗ HN
I've been working on http://www.goblabble.com for the past two weeks. GoBlabble lets you instantly record and share your voice over the phone.

Do you think I can make any money with this? Any ideas for premium features?

12 comments

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anigbrowl
Yes, definitely. Lots of people need a temporary information line for event management - giving out directions to a location is a chore for everything from baby showers to rock concerts, and every person calling in is tying up one of the organizers for the same amount of time.

Bridging computer to internet is still more difficult than it should be, and people don't always have a microphone of any quality hooked up to their PC. I don't even though I own a ton of pro audio gear I'm too lazy to set up Skype. The simplicity proposition here is great.

What you need is to let people do it for free but if it gets (or will get) more than X calls in a given period, they need to pay 5c each or maybe a flat fee per hour they want the service to be up. Be aware that you could find yourself dealing with huge volume spikes if someone gives out this number as part of a commercial promotion, like thousands of calls in an hour.

Suggestions...

  Look into setting up an 800 number
  Check your phone contract so you don't go to bed one night and find yourself owing $43 million when you wake up
  Try some other names, this sounds very like 'Go Daddy' mixed with babytalk. Sorry, I'm a real name snob.
Good concept.
coryl
I'm not sure how all the things your described aren't solved by a simple email or web page listing.

I'm not sure if goblabble can make money, it depends what people use it for.

techbio
More people have phone lines than cell phones. More people have cell phones with them than an internet connection. Etc.

The recording ID is easy to text message. Almost certainly spikey traffic.

anigbrowl
Not everyone uses smartphones, not all events details are announced so far in advance they can be printed up at home. For that matter not all people have printers.. Especially for the under-30 set, people may leave home long before selecting their final destination of the evening.
atomical
This is a cool idea. Love telephony stuff.
techbio
What are your costs? What is the marginal overhead? What is your customer acquisition cost?
ABrandt
Congrats on getting something up and running! Now the hard part...iteration.

Right now you have the feeble skeleton of what could make money. As you try and turn this into a business, don't try to just layer on premium features. For example, arbitrarily adding paid usage limits probably won't work in its current state. Build it into a business. Let your app grow. Stretch it and pull it in all sorts of directions until you have something people want badly enough that they'll pay--aka achieve product/market fit.

With that aside, I think you need to identify a particular use case for this technology. Is it for personal note taking? Relaying secret information to a third-party? Playing a global game of 'telephone'[1]? You can't find paying customers until you know what they'll use it for.

-- [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_game

scottygrom
Interesting idea. Congrats on building it. Think about what problem are you trying to solve? Perhaps users don't even know they have this problem until you make some something routine today 10x or 100x easier or more fun...or your service provides an entirely new way for people to communicate/connect.

Why would you yourself use this? Some use cases that might be relevant:

1) Personal notes. Record voice message on your phone and press a button to store online without the friction of dialing a number. Make it trivial to retrieve, organize and share your voice notes online.

2) Group broadcast. Make it faster and easier than group texting, especially for detailed information. Record something e.g., change of plans, post to a URL with one click and broadcast URL to recipients in your contact list.

The latter use case might be really useful for people who don't like to text...granted not your typical HN reader. Think about who might be well served by voice features with SUPER simple user experience.

Also think about non-consumer use cases too...how could companies better disseminate detailed information to employees for example? Which, if any, of these scenarios make more sense with voice features versus simply posting info online?

Solve a real problem first and make customers happy. Then think about how to charge for the value you offer. Have fun, good luck!

zallarak
I can definitely think of several that are industry specific. In the industry I worked in recently, I know of people who if approached correctly would love this (with some new features..)!

Feel free to email me - email address in profile.

I think it would be easier for me to describe it to you via phone.

iworkforthem
You can prefix/postfix voice recordings with ads from advertisers... much like how they do it in the movies where they show tons of ads before a movie. It could work for you too.