
Show HN: Open Startup List - randymonday
https://www.openstartuplist.com/
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randymonday
Hi Hackers, founder here,

What's in common with nomadlist, Ghost CMS and baremetrics? They are all Open
Startups! It's an interesting era to live in. An era where we are in the midst
of a virus outbreak, political corruptions and... Open startups! What is an
open startup? Well, there is no strict definition, but it basically means that
the startup operates in full transparency, so all metrics like revenue and
traffic is free for all to view. I came across one problem though, how do I
find these startups? how do I find their "open" metrics pages? And that's why
I built openstartuplist.com Some interesting insights come across when you go
over the data in the list, like: \- nomadlist revenue for Feb was ~30k$, a
slight decrease from Jan but not much considering the effects of the Corona
virus, interesting. \- Ghost have seemed to just cross today the 2M$ mark for
ARR!! that's incredible! \- And a lot more insights out there. I've taken the
last week to curate a list of 12 open startups. But that's just the start, as
I'm eagerly looking to add more to the list. I'm sure there are many more
startups out there that operate in this transparent way. This is a trend in
the making. All feedback is welcome and be safe and healthy :)

~~~
henriquez
You are going to need some more meat on the bone for the “Why” section.
Because “it’s a growing trend.”...? Seriously? So were Beanie Babies. At the
very least you need a link to a separate, full write-up about why any business
owner should care, much less make that plunge.

Don’t get me wrong, I am intrigued and clearly you believe in something, but
you need to do a better job framing this.

~~~
jivings
We wrote an article about this :)

[https://blog.leavemealone.app/what-does-it-mean-to-be-an-
ope...](https://blog.leavemealone.app/what-does-it-mean-to-be-an-open-
startup/)

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jimmySixDOF
I would like this movement more if they focused less on the investor pitch
metrics and had more operational transparency. Opening up to a userbase about
something like your product development cycle & the challenges experienced in
real time would intensify the relationship x10+ for better and for worse. Like
Kickstarter reward updates (are supposed to be). Real time Gantt charts and
dashboards with explanatory blog posts about why this or that did or didn't
happen. Its a big risk if you get off message, SHTF, and you poison your
customer relations. But if you believe in what your doing and don't have
anything to hide then I think making the connection is worth it. To me, that
would be an Open Startup.

~~~
randymonday
I totally agree, and while we are not there yet, you see companies like
baremetrics, ghost and nomadlist which started this movement. But if you take
a closer look at smaller companies like placecard.me you will see more
detailed blog posts covering their progress with almost complete view on how
the founder develops his/her startup as well as metrics such as revenue and
work hours (check
[https://www.coryzue.com/open/](https://www.coryzue.com/open/) ). I hope this
will grow to more startups as it does instills a stamp of trust.

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hanspagel
Nice list! We are tinkering with an idea [1] to provide metrics (revenue,
newsletter subscribers, tracked time …) , graphs for all of that, but also a
little bit of background story too.

Why we think it’s valuable to see all of this:

1\. It’s a huge motivation for others to get something started. 2\. I alway
try to learn from other numbers to see what works and what doesn’t work.
Though most things depend on the type of thing you build, I feel like I
learned a ton from those open pages already. 3\. For indie developers trust is
key. Funny enough some people trust big corporations more than single
developers. That’s one way to build trust. 4\. People want to see indie
developer succeed and that’s a great way to let them follow your journey.

Keep on going, great work!

[1] [https://floatie.app](https://floatie.app)

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abinaya_rl
Lately, there have been good number of startups releasing their revenue. But
once they have grown some level they stopped sharing revenue (Buffer,
Transistor). Maybe because of clones or competitors?

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Pete-Codes
How can I submit?

[https://www.nocsdegree.com/open/](https://www.nocsdegree.com/open/)

~~~
randymonday
Hi Pete, cool startup you got! I will add your startup today :D

Mind sharing links to your HN/IH/PH posts/interviews? Also if you would like,
I would be thrilled to interview you on your view of having an open startup,
let me know what you think :)

Thanks!!

~~~
Pete-Codes
Great :)

Where do you want me to share links to my interviews?

Yeah, happy to do an interview!

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elkos
I was expecting startups developing open-source software or hardware. Sadly
this isn't the case.

~~~
randymonday
Wouldn't you say that sharing these metrics like revenue and traffic to the
world is not considered open sourcing your data? I find it incredible.

~~~
elkos
Interesting, yes.

Incredible, maybe.

Open-source, not really.

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randymonday
3 more open startups were added to the list! :D

