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Ask HN: My engineer brother build DIY stuff but he has 0 community

3 points by seyz ↗ HN
My brother is the most creative engineer I have ever met. Maybe I'm not 100% objective since he is my brother but it blows my mind every time I see him send me a project. The problem is that he absolutely does not realize that these projects are very interesting and he could build a great community around them.

As an example, he sent me a "random" video this afternoon on WhatsApp like he usually does when he has some free time during the weekend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAYiPEyuBkQ

I wonder if you guys agree with me that there is great potential to build a community around these projects? If so, how would you proceed? Note that he has absolutely "zero marketing skills" and I would love to help him realize how crazy it could be!

13 comments

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seyz
Some other projects:

- Haptic Thumbstick for racing games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LXcpFpmw_k&t=76s&ab_channel...

- Homemade MotoGP Simulator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxnQN0ZXmYk&ab_channel=3run0

giantg2
He needs someone for marketing. Anything has the potential to have a community around it. The main factor is the quality of the marketing and showmanship.

Also, look at the number and variety of YouTube influencers. I'm sure anyone can find at least one that they think is stupid that others think is great.

seyz
Sure! But the idea is not to try to find somebody that does marketing. I'm just wondering what could be the "quick wins" to implement to bootstrap his community
giantg2
Just a youtube channel should be sufficient to start. You could pay to promote them if you want. Without focusing on marketing (which it sounds like he doesn't want to do, nor finding anyone to do it), it isn't likely to take off organically. But you never know.
seyz
Thanks for the help!
acid303
He doesn’t say anything in his videos. I think it would be much more engaging if he’d describe his projects in more detail, maybe tell us about some interesting challenges he encountered?
seyz
Make sense, thanks! But his's french and I'm wondering if it's better to start in english with a shitty accent or focusing on the french community. Any opinion about this?
gus_massa
My guess is that the English speaking public is like x10 times bigger. [Hi from Argentina!]

I posted another comment this YouTube channel. He is from Iran: ElectroBoom: https://www.youtube.com/c/Electroboom

An unrelated channel. He cooks, but sometimes he use equations or make systematic experiments to get the best recipe. He is from France: Alex (French Guy Cooking): https://www.youtube.com/c/FrenchGuyCooking

I made recently a video for a conference in English. I speak Spanish, so it was very difficult to make. I split it in 10 parts of 60-120 seconds, saved each one separately 5 times, and then pick the ones that were less horrible. It was far from perfect, but at the end it was good enough.

Perhaps he should add close captions to make it easier to understand.

(Another possibility is to make a French version and an English version, but editing is a lot of work.)

acid303
He can also speak french and add subtitles, nothing wrong with that!
gus_massa
I agree with the other comments. He must try to see other channels and copy some of the tricks and one day find his own style. He must start to talk to the camera.

Some channels to copy^H^H^H^H look:

* ElectroBoom: https://www.youtube.com/c/Electroboom

* Cody's Lab: https://www.youtube.com/user/theCodyReeder

* Applied Science: https://www.youtube.com/c/AppliedScience

* Simone Giertz: https://www.youtube.com/c/simonegiertz

* EEVlog: https://www.youtube.com/c/EevblogDave

Some are more funny, some have more charisma, some make more difficult project, some make weird projects, some like to rant, ... They are very different, but your brother can get a few ideas.

seyz
Thanks for the suggestions! It definitively helps!