I can't speak for anyone else but I come to HN to be informed and inspired. There's so much potential here that is lost on pointless debates.
Aren't we all in the same boat here, trying to reach a distant goal?
The articles are ok though (but quite a few got posted here as well).
But the discussion is just about non-existent. I've gotten a bit wary of HN split-offs, they tend to be very short-lived.
I don't know what the main reason for that is, possibly it is simply that HN is 'good enough' and that a splinter of it does not carry enough volume for long term sustainability.
The comments will come with time; right now there aren't many contributors, but the site has been around long enough and been updated frequently enough that I believe it will stick around. HN was kind of slow moving when it started, too (although not that slow, to be honest).
So freemium really worked for us in getting through that post-launch desert plain. Aside from the cost of supporting the free users, our out-of-pocket advertising expense has been <$100 since the start of the company to present day.
It matters how much effort you are putting into marketing - SEO, Blogging, Affiliates, SEM, Display ads, PR, Retargeting, A/B Testing (& direct mail, telemarketing if they're the right fit for your product)...
Testing & optimizing these before launch is critical to gaining a steady flow of traffic & customers. If you don't do this & focus only on the "launch post" on TC/Mashable/TNW/RRW then you can easily fall flat after launch, otherwise you definitely have a fighting chance.
Making $15k in revenue from HDTVs might mean you are in trouble. Then you take into consideration costs of direct marketing, telemarketing, display ads, SEM, etc., and you may be in a really tough spot.
However, if you make $15k in the first month for a scalable software product, then you are in a good position to start growing.
I think it's not so much about the launch, but about your first 10 or 100 customers. Regardless of the TC/M!/RRW/HN posts, if you manage to get 100 or even 10 customers, you already have mitigated a lot of the risks that make companies fail: Finding someone that will pay for your product.
I think it was on a steve blank presentation that said something along the lines of:
The reason of why most companies fail, 90% of the time, is not their technology but failure to find paying customers.
Thus, if you launch AND you have paying customers, it means you must be doing something right. Launching alone does not mean anything.
I was talking about low cost goods, like toasters, hand vacs, etc - avg ticket of $75-150
I've run e-commerce ops with $15k+ in revenue from "month one".
Typically, if you're a hands-on person with the right attitude sooner or later you'll figure this part out. Posts like this can help you ease the pain a bit but then what?
You've just launched, you have a few paying customers (but not enough to be profitable), your initial press powder has been shot. Traffic collapses to near non-existent levels and your first customers do not seem to be going out of their way to tell their friends about your product.
That's a much harder problem to solve than just to get to the launch date.
Launching something is like a marriage, the first honeymoon period with a new fledgling company.
If it works out during the 'dating' period you might end up marrying the wrong company, or it may be the right one but it will require skills and expertise that you do not have that go way beyond coding or talking to your existing circle of potential customers.
That's when the real work starts. Getting to launch is the easy bit.