

Ask HN: An online 'doers' community for bootstrapping developers? - andreyvit

1. I'm a sole bootstrapping startup developer in Novosibirsk, Russia. (LiveReload app, if you heard of it.)<p>2. I want to virtually hang out with other folks busy building a product business on their own.<p>3. The goal would be to cross-boost motivation, share tiny successes, get feedback etc (NOT idle sharing of opinions), and generally to get more of a ‘team feeling’.<p>Anyone knows a place or interested in starting one?<p>UPDATE: I've created https://plus.google.com/events/c40a48hviivngqaj3r6a3k4jhug; please hop in if interested!
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coopdog
I feel like NReduce is the right answer, coincidental that it starts in a few
days..

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vineet
NReduce is definitely cool, but I would love a more lightweight version of it.

(I don't mind videos chats, but I creating videos updates that are accessible
to everyone, would mean me focusing too much on the message as opposed to
driving progress).

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bemmu
I really hope this could work.

However I have a growing suspicion that generally nobody really cares (not as
much as you do, anyway) about you and your stuff, unless perhaps you have
great writing skills and are willing to pre-chew your random learnings into
lessons that might interest and apply to the reader too (patio11) or make it
engaging in other ways (notch).

This is just the lonely path we chose as solo founders. Really true interest
in the raw daily challenges of your project can only be had if those people
are working on it and have a stake in it.

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pdenya
I don't have firsthand experience with this but it's similar to what you're
looking for: <http://www.micropreneur.com/>

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andreyvit
Not sure; I'm looking for peers, and these guys seem to be offering
information and training.

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matt1
The Micropreneur Academy also has an active forum where current members can
ask and answer questions, share their products, update each other on their
successes and lessons learned, etc.

It's a great place to start if you're a developer looking to build a small
software business (I was a member for a few months and highly recommend it).

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SirPalmerston
Andrey,

I'm in the same boat - I'm trying to work on a startup but I need advice and
motivation from peers who I can talk to in an environment which isn't
impersonal.

I have to agree that an IRC channel would be awesome (#startups simply doesn't
work for me).

I've jumped into the "Solo Startup Doers" event you created.

P.S. I do know of your app.

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sbashyal
IRC channel _startups_ currently serves this purpose.

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kanzure
> IRC channel #startups currently serves this purpose.

For those unfamiliar with IRC:

<http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=%23startups>

or pick up an actual IRC client:

<http://irssi.org/>

<https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/chatzilla/>

<http://codeux.com/textual/>

The server is "irc.freenode.net".

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zalew
> For those unfamiliar with IRC

a tech savvy community where there are people not knowing what irc is - I'm
damn old...

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dustyreagan
I created a sub-reddit some time ago for bootstrapeprs. Wasn't sure if there
was enough demand for it though. <http://www.reddit.com/r/bootstrappers/>

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mephju
I know that there is(or was) a place like you described for book authors on
Google hangout. They would just meet in a room and not really have a
conversation but only be present. The goal was to get a motivational boost by
seeing other people working and doing the stuff you should be doing too, which
in that case would be writing. I imagine it could work for some people. So I
say try to find something on Google hangout. And when you have found something
tell me about it :)

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andreyvit
Couldn't find anything so far, although a Google Hangout does sound like
something that might work.

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StavrosK
I was looking for just that a few weeks ago. I joined nReduce in the hopes
that it would be like that, but it's much less personal. I was thinking that
joiners would split up in groups of around 10 companies and help each other
out, and become intimately familiar with each other's progress and
achievements.

I'd be very interested in starting something like this, if you like. We only
need 8 other people, it shouldn't be that hard.

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andreyvit
Created <https://plus.google.com/events/c40a48hviivngqaj3r6a3k4jhug> as the
first attempt, invited you there. Looks like we already have 3 people (me, you
and mephju); could work.

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jnar
Hi Andrey, nice question. I'd honestly go for an IRC channel, i'm not really
sure if anything like this exists, freenode should help in this direction.
Anyway, i just added you on google+. I've spent over a year in Russia so far
(NSK, Tomsk and Magadan) and i loved it :) And i'm also a startup guy. We can
definetely get in touch. PS: I knew LiveReload and loved it!

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luigi
There's also the Bootstrapper Guild:

<http://bootstrapperguild.com/faq/>

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andreyvit
Looks like more of a how-to-start-a-business coaching. I think that's
different; I'm looking for a day-to-day ‘companionship’ rather than coaching.

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TamDenholm
I used to run a small web dev IRC chatroom back in the day and was recently
considering getting it up and running again. If anyone is interested in
hanging out and helping me build the small community again, get in touch,
contact@[MyHNUsername].com

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luigi
There's Sole Flounder, run by Maciej of Pinboard:

[https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!forum/sole-
flo...](https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!forum/sole-flounder)

Not much activity though.

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thaumaturgy
> _Not much activity though._
    
    
        Sole Flounder
        You must be signed in and a member of this group to view and participate in it.
    

Nothing says "I don't want any activity here" quite like a polite "fuck off".

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dchuk
could be behind a login-wall to protect the content that the members are
sharing from all public eyes, pretty common when it comes to business
discussion sites

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davesmylie
Check out - startupguild.net. This is group of developers (initially) from
hacker news doing pretty much what you're after.

In practise it hasn't really worked out for me, but may just be the thing for
you.

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andreyvit
Thanks. Applied, will see if it works for me.

UPDATE: Now I'm in, and I can see why it didn't work out for you. I think the
activity I'm looking for requires splitting up into small groups (about 10
people?); the Startup Guild is too impersonal, even though it's nice to be
able to share Yammer with like-minded people.

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jbigelow76
Andrey, I'm in the same boat as you. Haven't found much that clicked with me
yet but I'd be interested in building something from the ground up. Feel free
to drop a me an email (my username @gmail.com)

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mathrawka
Check out <http://geekli.st/> it is a community for developers and you can
post what you are working on and your accomplishments.

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andreyvit
I think I have signed up there before, but I guess I need something more
interactive and personal.

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mathrawka
Alright, sounds like IRC chat would be best... of course it depends who else
you are chatting with, but I'd give that a try!

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davidw
Not sure he wants it publicized, but it's not getting much traction, so what
the hell:

<http://ufounders.com/>

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andreyvit
I'm sorry if it's a dumb question, but… what's that? The web site looks like a
HN clone, although I'm sure I didn't get it.

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davidw
It's an online 'doers' community for bootstrapping developers, in its early
stages.

