
Solo.im – A single founder peer group - matthiaswh
http://solo.im/
======
soneca
I am a single founder and I was really tempted to apply. But I decided I
won't.

I read all the copy, it is interesting. I went all the way filling the form,
until the last question before the submit button. And there it was, the one
question that made me (i) stop, (ii) wonder if this was for me and (iii)
decide it wasn´t.

(i) What made me stop? The field was asking my Google+ account. They say the
community will run on it, that is optional for now, but I will have to have
one. As I don't have and don't one, I stopped right there to think if it would
be worthy.

(ii) What made me wonder? Why impose such a burden to enter? I start wondering
why they would to put barriers on who gets in, not only about Google+ by now,
but submit an application that will be analyzed? They will have no idea who
are the best people to get in through this questions. The whole thing started
to look like a random selection disguised as an exclusive elite fancy club.

(iii) Why I decided not to apply? Because I came to the conclusion that such a
community should be open to enter, and the mechanisms to decide how one fits
the community or not should be actual contributions on it, not a random, snob
bouncer. So for now, I hope someone improves the concept (that promises a lot
of value to me), but implement it in a more open way.

~~~
DenisM
As a single founder with experience I feel compelled to give you an advice:
the biggest danger you're facing is worrying about the wrong things. When you
get company you can talk abou things you are worried about, and having talked
it out loud you get a better grip on it, and even some feedback. When you're
all by yourself, you might start worrying about something that's not worth the
attention, or even get obsesses with most inconsequential things.

Where I'm going with this is that the choice of login providers is the most
inconsequential thing, and yet you allowed it to get in the way of meeting a
potentially great company.

~~~
soneca
Google+ was just number i). And number i) was just what made me stop to think
about the rest. Number ii) and iii) are the reasons I didn't apply and are
consequences of me having time to think, not directly of number i).

TL;DR: Google+ was _not_ the reason I didn't apply.

------
crazygringo
I love the idea, but there needs to be more information.

Where is this geographically? Are there separate SF and NY groups? Additional
ones? Do they meet in person? How often? Or is this all via webcam and e-mail?
Is this more mentoring or support? More one-on-one or group? What kind of a
time commitment are we talking about? Is the 150-member limit per geographic
area, or global? Why 150, if it's all groups of 4-8 anyways?

I understand what you _are_ , but I don't have the slightest idea what you
_do_.

~~~
gregormck
* Mastermind groups are run on Skype or Google Hangouts

* It's a global group

* We have group owners (volunteers) who start groups and organise them to suit their goals and timezones

* It's mostly a tech / web audience

* It's more support and accountability than mentoring

* Mastermind groups are run bi-weekly (depends on the group owner). We're looking to introduce weekly mastermind groups on specific subjects i.e. PR, SEO, pricing, partnerships, etc.

* We also include a weekly summary / round up of discussions that have taken place in the group that week and on Mondays people post their goals for the week, which other people comment on / offer help / ask questions

~~~
drcode
I think your idea has enormous potential, don't screw it up :-)

To quote General Rumsfeld, a solo founder usually has a lot of "unknown
unknowns" because a single human being is likely to have a lot of skill gaps
that they themselves are not fully aware of.

Many solo founders could probably see an order of magnitude in the success of
their products if a bunch of peers give suggestions like "Dude, this page
needs a link for tweeting your completed images" or "You need a call for
action on this page" or "This font makes your web page look like it was
created in 1998"

The dynamic of a startup is very different when you have 2-3 founders, in that
case it is probably better to work as a team to try and resolve these types of
problems, but for a solo founder a semi-confidential outside opinion could be
valuable.

Asking "real-world friends" about these types of things doesn't really work
most of the time because they may not understand startup tech and because
polite society usually follows the rule "If you have nothing nice to say,
don't say anything at all."

------
davidw
People interested in this kind of thing, but a bit more open, may appreciate
this site: [http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/](http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/)

There are a number of us from HN there - the kind of people really interested
in bootstrapped startups.

~~~
derefr
I'm not sure this is at all the same thing. "One-founder" and "bootstrapped"
are orthogonal. You can be a multi-founder bootstrapped startup, or a one-
founder VC-money startup.

------
minimaxir
"One way to do this is to join a mastermind group that acts like a team of
trusted advisors."

There's keeping a group small to ensure quality, but then there's the more
critical issue of having _quality people_ in that group, which this service
does not ensure. Dunbar's number is not magic.

------
skywhopper
The photo at the top of the page gives me some majorly sweaty palms.

~~~
mdda
I can see my apartment! (view looks like it's from the Empire State Building,
NYC, looking East)

------
beat
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. As a solo founder, I know my
biggest concern with any online community is time/reward ratio. I've cut
myself off from several online communities to buy more time for my work. (I
stick with HN and Quora because the reward level is very high)

------
tsheng
Are you all alone with your company on Valentine's day?

Well have I got the group for you!

~~~
gregormck
Brilliant +100

------
jasonkester
Excellent timing. Over the last few months, I've been finding less and less
things here at HN that have anything to do with building/running/growing a
software business. I scan down the entire homepage and there's just nothing to
click on anymore. It just looks like /r/programming or Slashdot used to look.

Something new will emerge pretty soon to fill the void, and our demographic
will slowly find their way there, sadly leaving this place to all those folks
currently having so much fun arguing about the time-wastish stuff on the front
page.

If this has a chance of being that place, sign me up.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
normally I ignore this "HN is not what it used to be comment". But this time
there is a "something else" to compare to. And we have lost something on the
front page - but Ask is still vibrant.

Now I must go ignore myself

------
gregormck
Good points and you are correct (I'm the creator of solo.im)

The group is full of founders who all have different experiences and knowledge
to pass on. "Quality" can be subject for sure, but I believe founders can help
other founders regardless of where they are in the process of starting /
running a business.

The big thing is contribution. solo.im / mastermind groups is just one thing
of many you can get involved in and get help from when you are a founder.

~~~
wj
I applied about three weeks ago but haven't heard anything as to whether I was
accepted. I'm sure you have a backlog of applications so I'm not sweating it
but would love to hear one way or another soon!

~~~
dclara
Really appreciate your information. Looks like the rest of the web pages are
not ready yet. It depends on how many people sign up. A list of signed up
solos should be posted for people to choose from, I guess.

~~~
gregormck
@wj - shoot me an email gregor at buildtracks.com

@dclara - yep

------
mladenkovacevic
I am always worried that these things are just acting as "idea harvesters" ...
so while these single founders are discussing strategies and tactics.. some
company out there is selecting the best one to build an MVP and pitch to an
investor.

The fear is completely unfounded, but I guess that's how my mind works.

EDIT: Having said all that, I am still waiting for my confirmation email.

~~~
rwillmer
I'm one of the early people on solo.im; all I can say is that it hasn't felt
like that to me. Just a really useful supportive group of people who are out
there doing it, willing to share our experience.

Rachel

P.S. And I don't buy the idea of "idea harvesters" anyway. Ideas are easy; ask
any founder. Execution is the hard bit...

~~~
futurist
Why are there so many of the same kinds of apps if ideas are easy? I think
"idea harvesting" is definitely something to be concerned about.

~~~
wj
Didn't you just answer your question with the question? There are so many of
the same kinds of apps because everybody came up with the same idea.

~~~
whatusername
To be fair -- those "Flappy X" apps on the various app stores were not
"everybody coming up with the same idea". Not that flappy bird was in any way
original -- but there is a lot of copying.

------
kevg
Thanks for making this. I signed up and entered a pretty long answer to "Tell
us more about your business / idea." After I confirmed my email, I reviewed my
answers, and that answer was cut off (looks like at 255 characters). I
recommend adding a maxlength to input boxes that have limits and noting those
limits on the page.

------
chacham15
I reaaaaaaaly like the idea. I have soo many questions I need help with from
really basic things to complicated technical things. The main problem I had
with the site is: "The solo.im currency is contribution. No contribution = no
membership." I'm not in a place where I can contribute. Seriously, I am
probably the last person who should be giving advice. I'm on my first startup
and havent even launched yet! More than that, I work about every day of the
week more hours than I care to admit to. I just dont think that I would have
the time necessary to do justice to the others and not be just a leecher.

------
theonewolf
How does pruning occur? It says it is limited to 150 people.

Presumably over time you'd want new people/refresh the ranks.

How do people get evaluated and eventually (in cases that need it) forcibly
dropped?

~~~
gregormck
Thanks - good question.

In terms of "forcibly dropped" \- the group is run free of charge, so
contribution is key. No contribution = "forcibly dropped". Contribution means
taking part in a mastermind group, discussions or asking / giving help.

On evaluation, I'd like to move to a democratic way of evaluating it where the
group or a group within the group decide. I believe that's what
[http://yec.co/](http://yec.co/) do.

------
omnisci
Love the idea, I'm a single founder as well and tend to talk to my poor GF
about my issues (luckily, she is awesome :) ). Looking forward to see where
this goes.

~~~
waynepierson
I too could have said the exact same thing. My gf is listed on my my business
continuity plan because whether she likes it or not she knows everything about
my business (she is also awesome, luckily). I applied, interested to see what
it's like and how I could help and be helped.

------
decentrality
@gregormck - emailed you about giving you @soloandproud as linked at solo.im

Went to follow it on twitter and saw it wasn't registered. Held it for you &
ready to transfer.

~~~
decentrality
Well, @gregormck, when you blocked @soloandproud on twitter, I got the
message. I deactivated the account, unenrolled from solo.im, and will leave
this attempt to be of service in the bitbucket.

------
ritchiem
Sounds great I was just having a bad 10days. So need a kick in the right
direction that I'm hoping this sort of thing could offer.

------
jankins
I'm not a G+ user but am interested in joining this group. I filled out the
form without realizing that the whole thing is run over G+, so I put in my own
website instead, assuming the only reason you were asking for G+ was to find
out more about each applicant. I think some explanation about why the G+ link
is on the application would be helpful.

~~~
wj
I assumed it was that the masterminds were going to be done over Google
hangouts but I could be wrong.

------
ppymou
Just signed up. I would love if you changed the signup form to use textarea
rather than input though...

------
h1karu
Could this be a fishing expedition to troll in new product ideas ? I've heard
some of the lean startup people are into building fake landing pages to
collect interesting data. These type of well designed single form pages are
getting easier and easier to build..

~~~
wj
It could be but that would be an awfully cynical view. Sometimes it is okay to
give people the benefit of the doubt.

I am interested to hear more about what you have heard about. Doing what
you're suggesting seems like a fool's errand.

------
Mz
I previously tried to start a posterous-based med tech discussion group, right
before posterous announced it was pulling the plug. I am still interested in
talking with others about that type of thing. I am open to suggestions as to
platform, etc.

------
volaski
Thank you for not making a parallax scrolling website. I first thought as soon
as I started scrolling the image will be covered with some text, and then some
other image starts showing up in the background

------
_zen
Great landing page photo, I had it as my desktop a few months ago.

[http://500px.com/photo/43639202](http://500px.com/photo/43639202)

------
mikkel
Great idea - I've signed up. Of course filtering out inactive members is going
to be important in the future.

I love the barebones landing page + signup form as the MVP.

------
woohoo7676
I just signed up - seconding the comments about using text area for longer
answers.

Edit: received the confirmation email, just took a little longer

------
ninjakeyboard
It's a good idea. G+ was a barrier but I filled out my profile and submitted
(even though not required).

------
Ryel
I thought the google+ question was rather unimportant so I used the
opportunity to ask about free snacks?

------
gmq
I signed up but I haven't got anything after the confirmation email. Is there
a waiting list?

------
zavi
So, a meetup.com with selectivity and a better looking website.

------
arikrak
I figure it could be a way to meet a cofounder..

------
shaaaaawn
This webpage is not available error :(

------
OnyeaboAduba
Great concept, I will signup tonight.

------
almosnow
Gregor, get me in ...

Mail is <HN username>@gmail

