Ask HN: Advise me about my "startup" – pdfcv.com

5 points by medwezys 12y ago ↗ HN

pdfcv does one thing and does it well, it helps you create a CV (or a Resume for you folks across the pond). I first built it a few years ago scratching my own itch: creating a nice CV with a word processor is hard, changing the style of it is even harder. So I hacked together an application which imports your LinkedIn profile (optional), allows you to edit it and renders a CV to one of the templates. It literally takes 2 minutes if you have a somewhat complete LinkedIn profile.

A few weeks later I landed a job with a CV built with pdfcv. A few of my friends came back to me with success stories too. After a year or so I noticed a traffic increase from organic search and finally had the guts to start charging for it. I designed the charging scheme to minimise the amount of support I'd have to do: you get a preview of your CV for free and you can upgrade to remove the watermarks if you like it. It seems to work well and generates enough passive income to pay for my lunch.

However I do not know what to do next. The job market seems to be lively nowadays and there are things happening around it, but I don't know how much potential does a CV/Resume builder have. Should I try to actively advertise with google adwords or look to partner up with companies who might need a similar tool? Or should I just forget everything and enjoy my free lunch with almost no extra effort?

Any feedback on the UI or the workflow is very welcome too.

2 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 14.3 ms ] thread

smartwater 12y ago ↗

The screenshot on your homepage is blank. It should be filled in to allow users to imagine their own resume in its place. Showing users the placement of unknown elements certainly won't get them to sign up. You show it off under templates, but most won't get that far.

Spend the next year iterating the product into something with a clear value proposition, and you might have a business. Everything you do from this point on will be of your own doing. Bringing on other people, trying to build partnerships, etc. with a product that isn't completely fleshed out is a waste of time. It's just a creative form of procrastination.

medwezys 12y ago ↗

Thanks for taking the time to review pdfcv. The "empty screenshot" is supposed to be an abstracted text on a resume. I had samples of actual, filled resumes in an older version of the homepage and it looked visually heavy. I'll ask around to see what other people think it is. Also, the current bounce rate is 35-40% which is not too bad.

I have some ideas of how to make the workflow very simple, I hope that then the value proposition will be obvious.