Planning for hypergrowth

Re:Planning for hypergrowth by nanott on Monday May 28, 2007 @08:53AM (#25043)

So, how does one plan for massive growth during first few days/weeks? Consider possible scenario of launching and within first 3 days millions of users are visting the site daily. Maybe this is an obvious (or nonsensical) guestion - thought I'd ask anyway.

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Re:Planning for hypergrowth by falsestprophet on Monday May 28, 2007 @12:44PM (#25068)

I would host with nearlyfreespeech.net. They are a pay as you go hosting service. So if you use them, you don't have to pay for a month of high traffic hosting for isolated peaks (like being dugg for instance).

On the off chance you become consistently epically successful you should be prepared to move to dedicated hosting and to split the application between servers if necessary. This will take extra development time especially if you don't really know what you are doing. But, I think it is a worthwhile skill set for an ambitious young web entrepreneur to learn.

I think it would be optimal to immediately try to monetize traffic to determine whether you really need to pursue outside funding. I estimate that you can recklessly fund the adventure on even a lower limit credit card (or just get an Amex charge card if you're feeling particularly reckless).

As everyone says it is a good problem to have. But, as a matter of full disclosure, I should note that I don't really know much about this. I am an as yet unsuccessful entrepreneur. Good luck.

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Re:Planning for hypergrowth by especkman on Monday May 28, 2007 @02:37PM (#25074)

Well, lets start with comparables:

1) Which sites have seen their traffic grow to millions of visitors daily within a few days of launch. I can't think of any, but you must have a few in mind.

2) What did they do or fail to do to handle that growth?

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Re:Planning for hypergrowth by r38y on Monday May 28, 2007 @11:36AM (#25058)

I would say plan for some traffic you can afford, but know of someone that can help you out if you really get into trouble. It's along the lines of "worry about that problem when you have it, because that problem is a great one to have".

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Re:Planning for hypergrowth by danielha on Monday May 28, 2007 @11:43AM (#25059)

It's a great situation to be in, but it's not a great problem to have. Worry about this before you launch because turning away potential users isn't a goal.

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