

We built this to help you launch apps for the November Startup Sprint - ryanwaggoner
http://hn.21times.org/

======
ryanwaggoner
We've been building this project for the last month or so and thought that the
November startup sprint (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1773398>) would
be a great place to test it out. We've lined up great content from some of
HN's best authors, like Tom Preston-Werner (mojombo), Patrick McKenzie
(patio11), and George Grellas (grellas).

You know that thing about how not being embarrassed means you launched too
late? Yeah, well, this isn't perfect and we know it, but we're super excited
to launch it and start iterating. Please check it out and let us know what you
think. We'll be releasing more features in the next few days, but today is
November 1st so we wanted to get it out there.

~~~
jasonlotito
The mailing start tomorrow, Nov 2?

~~~
ryanwaggoner
Yeah, the actual lessons start tomorrow morning and go out weekdays, so you'll
get a total of 21 of them.

~~~
jasonlotito
Thanks! I know, sounds like an obvious question, but far too often, people
doing mailings forget a few things.

1\. Time is relative. "Tomorrow" isn't clear. I don't trust that "tomorrow" is
relative to when I signed up for it (even in this case, where I knew the
launch date of the site).

2\. If someone signs up for a mailing list/newsletter like this, it's best if
you send them the most current newsletter. When I sign up for a newsletter
like this, I want to read what you are writing. So please, send me something
to read.

But yes, thanks for the info. =)

------
follower
I liked seeing the "Not interested in building with us? Tell us why" but then
saw it was an email link rather than a feedback form.

FWIW having to use email for feedback is a disincentive for me (I guess partly
because I have to copy & paste the address into a different browser that I use
for email).

You might want to consider using a feedback form instead.

Oh, and as much as it seems obvious in hindsight, it didn't occur to me to
"click on the image" to see the sample--I just assumed the image was all there
was to see so I was left wondering "how does it work?" even after reading the
FAQ.

~~~
brasmusen
Hey, I'm one of the programmers working on this project. We actually have a
feedback form ready to go, we just ran out of testing time before the launch
today. We'll be pushing that change in the next couple of days.

Thanks for the feedback!

~~~
follower
"Hacker News is my feedback form." :)

------
blntechie
I may not be an exact fit into group of people launching an app by end of
november. But I'm learning Django and Python now and I pledge to build an app
(public or private) before this month.

~~~
sahillavingia
You can do it! I've built and launched two web apps and I just started.
Shameless plugs abound [1] [2]!

[1] - [http://sahillavingia.com/blog/2010/10/26/reworder-a-tale-
of-...](http://sahillavingia.com/blog/2010/10/26/reworder-a-tale-of-learning-
python-and-launching-an-app-in-five-days/)

[2] - [http://sahillavingia.com/blog/2010/10/24/rmmbr-my-1-hour-
app...](http://sahillavingia.com/blog/2010/10/24/rmmbr-my-1-hour-app/)

~~~
blntechie
Thanks. I'm seriously looking for an idea. I should get started in 2-3 days
when my new laptop arrives. Hopefully I'm decided with what I'm building
before that.

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tjsnyder
I really love that HN is working on a NaNoWriMo for software this month. I had
been planning on doing this all last month in conjunction with my room mate
and calling it NaSoWriMo while he worked on his novel.

Personally, I am starting out on two small projects that are being built
quickly and will hopefully have reasonable traffic by the end of the month as
the goal. This is in preparation for larger projects down the road.

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inovica
Nice one Ryan. I've been thinking of a few projects, but I've got one that I
would really like to just get started on and get completed. I'll have a look
at this and hopefully it can give me the incentive (kick!?) to get this done
and get it out there :)

------
bgrins
Thanks, I signed up. I am working on a project for generating CSS sprites in
the browser without any file uploads.

I'm a little confused about what exactly I share with the emails. It says
there will be three links, and I click on one that records my progress. Are
these goals I set up myself? Am I sharing this with anybody who wants to see
it, or is it just something to use to stay motivated as an individual? I am
definitely interested to see how it works.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
The emails just ask you if you're on track for launch at the end of the month.
It's hard to get any more specific than that since everyone is doing something
completely different and will be at different places.

That data will be surfaced to you in every email, so you'll see your streak of
making positive daily progress and hopefully that'll keep you motivated. In
the next week or so, we'll offer you the option of declaring what your project
is and making those progress updates public, so people can help keep each
other motivated. Just working out a few issues with that feature though...

We hope you enjoy it, and email me at ryan at 21times dot org if you have any
questions or problems.

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wildmXranat
So I enrolled for the November push and signed up for the Facebook group, all
be it with a pseudonym, but I seriously fail to see the reason for the few
sites that try to track and motivate me. With all due respect, the task sums
up as a finger exercise and leaves me wanting more.

What is it that we need that a FB group can't do? Yes, that seems amateurish,
but it does the job.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
It might not be for everybody, and maybe you won't find it useful, but give it
a shot and let us know. I've found tracking my progress on habits and goals to
be motivating, and I've also found it helpful to have a friend keep me
accountable. Imagine the Seinfeld Method [1], but social.

1\. [http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-
se...](http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret)

------
bry
Exactly the motivation I needed to get up off my butt and start coding
furiously, instead of planning and guessing for months on end. Thanks!

~~~
ryanwaggoner
This is _exactly_ what we're hoping for; you just made my day :)

Let me know if you have any issues or if there's any way we can help you in
your quest.

------
angelbob
There's also a bunch of us that are building November Apps that are using Alex
Muir's kickuptheass.com. It's also for daily reminders and group status
sharing. Hard to say yet if this is a complementary service or in competition.
In the mean time, I plan to use both :-)

------
fourfour
Great idea. I look forward to pushing hard for the next month with you guys.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
Super excited to be on board! Please, please let us know of anything that we
can do to help you succeed!

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samratjp
Is there a twitter account associated with it?

~~~
stevederico
you can follow us at @21timesorg

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djblue2009
nice, just signed up. Looking forward to it.

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lusis
Gotta love that bluecoat blocks it as "adult content". That looks good on the
monthly report.

~~~
brasmusen
We don't want any kids building awesome apps. :)

~~~
lusis
It's just the hammer approach to security as opposed to the scalpel approach.

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adaml_623
"You'll start receiving your daily lessons tomorrow?"

That's a bit condescending to my ears? Might want to work on that tone. You
don't want to imply that you're giving something to people that they should be
grateful for.

I guess you'd better work on the actual application as well.

What technology and framework are you using?

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bmelton
I'm pondering the idea of launching for the Sprint (this MIGHT be the first
I've heard of it) -- but after I saw the list of 'speakers', I signed up just
to receive the emails, if nothing else.

I have to say though, this IS a good idea, and is encouraging.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
Awesome! I hope you get some good utility out of it. Just to be 100% clear and
avoid disappointment, this isn't original / exclusive content written just for
us; we're not quite there yet :). However, I've been a voracious HN reader for
two years and I missed at least half of these articles, and the other half
were good reminders.

~~~
bmelton
Are you going to catalog / rate the apps that get submitted, ala Rails Rumble?
That would be exciting, I think.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
Absolutely...we have a bunch of fun stuff coming in this vein in the next week
or two.

