Things I would do differently... I think my product is too clearly the work of an idealistic technical person, and is slightly dated in the way it just expects people to join in because it will be useful if everyone used it. It's completely different from Circle in every way, not just when it comes to things that can be considered "evil". For example I've purposefully made choices like "it shouldn't need a dedicated mobile app", or "users shouldn't have to register to see content" from a purely functional perspective.

I did always view the idea as quite risky and I probably wouldn't have gone for it as a "pure startup". In this case I felt it was ok to do it as it could bump start my web dev business.

Good luck with your venture. I don't think being in Huddersfield is ultimately the reason why people haven't taken to LampNote. It was just difficult to get any local hype initially, and that certainly slowed me down