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I really liked freeformatter.com . Used it all the time. To those that build, host, and serve single-function websites, that (yes) can be easily replicated with AI, I salute you. Thank you for your service.

Thanks! That's a great comparison. Excited to hear what you think.

Scratch uses blocks that represent programming methodologies, like a block for loops or a block for sound. Those blocks snap together and you have a sound on a loop.

Code for Real uses blocks of real HTML, CSS, and Javascript. You set IDs and Classes on each block and can assign styling to them. The same way you would build an actual website or app. The challenge that kids run into (and adults) when trying to program is understanding how the blocks fit together, how they fit together, and what attributes apply to each element. The tutorials walk them through step-by-step how to create a working application explaining what each piece means. It can still be a lot for some students, but there are tutorials of varying complexity, so hopefully it will be beneficial for everyone.

Code for Real is a no-cost, ad-free tablet app that teaches kids to code using drag-and-drop blocks. Students can follow step-by-step tutorials to build projects like a virtual pet they can feed, play with, and put to sleep, or they can jump into the sandbox and create anything they imagine using a variety of starter templates.

I built Code for Real for my 9-year-old daughter, who wants to learn to program (mostly for a middle school entrance exam). She had been using Scratch (a free block-based coding app by MIT) for a couple of years, but there is a big gap between Scratch and traditional programming. This app is meant to help her (and others) make that jump while still being fun and approachable.

Download: https://code-for-real.pages.dev/get

Product Hunt: https://www.producthunt.com/products/code-for-real

Right. Sounds more like a registrar problem than a TLD problem. They should change the article title to "Never buy a domain from Radix"

Unfortunate story. It wasn't clear to me that the .online TLD led to Google blacklisting the site. Why did you think that was connected?

Surprised to so many people showering more than once per day. For people that do that, is that due to morning showers coupled with post-activity shower?

I believe Gumroad uses Stripe to process payments, so I'd guess this entire validation process is coming from Stripe. When the CEO paid you via Zelle, he probably just wanted to help you out with the hope that you would continue using Gumroad and have a positive experience with the company. I wouldn't look at any of this as a negative reflection of the company. (I've personally never used Gumroad, so this opinion is only based on your comment and my experience with Stripe)

I'm on year 13 of running businesses of one (I built an audience development platform and an educational/fundraising platform, plus a handful of smaller ones). On the plus side, I'd say that it has been pretty easy to maintain margins and keep cost under control. It's also easy to stay under the radar of larger competitors. On the downside, I think acquisitions would have been easier if I had a team in place and higher revenue, even with lower operating margins. Last year, my revenue fell a bit and I've considered looking for a more traditional job, but it has been harder than I expected because I believe my experience may not fit a traditional job description. Still, if you can swing it, I would very much recommend it, but good to consider the downsides as well.

GM stock up 2.5% since the announcement, so it doesn't look like investors attributed that much of GM's future value to Cruise (or that shutting down the robotaxi development was already assumed)

I spoke with a restaurant owner who explained to me the purpose of the "service fees" that may look like tips, but don't actually go to the waiters. The reason they do that is that some restaurants want to pay their non-wait staff more, without also needing to increase the pay for their wait staff. Since the "service fees" aren't included when calculating the tips, this allows restaurants to direct those extra funds exactly where they need without unnecessarily inflating the overall cost of the meal.

I 100% agree that tips should be abolished and consumers should pay a clear and fixed price for goods and services, but if you accept that that is not an option, then "service fees" actually make sense. That being said, I can understand the ire that they may cause the wait staff, since many consumers may think those "service fees" are tips, and as a result, may not receive anything for their work. No great solutions here

First 5-10 clients was emails to friends of friends.

Next 50-100 was cold emails.

After that, mostly word-of-mouth.

Target audience was publishers (audience development/growth)

I’m building a platform that helps elementary and middle schools raise money. Students answer as many math problems as they can over a week or two and ask friends and family to support them by making a donation to their school. The math problems are dynamite created and generally follow the math curriculum that most schools follow. https://www.forourschool.org

You don't need employees to start a company

I love it! I also built a math focused website. Schools can use it to host Math-A-Thons, which is a type of fundraiser where students answer math problems online and solicit donations to support their school. I made all the math problems available to play for free outside of the platform, as well as guides that help the students answer the problems:

https://www.forourschool.org/math-games https://www.forourschool.org/math-guides

Yay Math!!

Most manufacturers offer 10 year warranties

https://comfortmonster.com/knowledge-center/guide-hvac-warra...

Congrats on sobriety and sharing some of your struggles. I remember when I first had the desire to build a business, I probably spent a month going in circles thinking about all the different problems I was going to need to solve and tools/languages I was going to need to learn. I never really made any progress, so I decided to focus on just the name of the business and then buy the URL. It might have been premature since the business wasn't figured out (I ended up changing it later), but having a name, at least let me mentally move forward with the product and design.

I haven't spent much time thinking about my purpose in life, but I think I would approach it in a similar way. Take small steps (e.g. talk to someone new about what they love in life, rediscover an old hobby) and trust that the steps will build over time into your ultimate goal.

Would this problem be solved if there were bins in front of supermarkets where people could drop off their extra bags and other people could grab them if they needed them? I get that the stores may not like it because they sell the bags, but if they were onboard, would there be any reason why it wouldn't work?

Not at my CVS. They have one checkout clerk, and if there are more than 3 people standing in line, it can take 10+ minutes to checkout. With self-checkout, I'm in and out in 30 seconds. Presumably, they'd add more checkout clerks if they remove the self-checkout, but I wouldn't count on it

Article was probably written by AI

"Watch A ‘Murder Hornet’ Destroy An Entire Honeybee Hive" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gAVlh-7WZM&ab_channel=VICEN...

I don't think the driving force of this change is either aesthetics or gov't policy. I think Musk is trying to maximizing Twitter's time on site and if you remove the headlines (and add 5 second delays on link redirects), it decreases the click-through rate on the links. Musk knows that if he outlaws all non-paid links, it would result in an uproar from media companies and users, so he is making the experience as bad as possible so people choose to stop linking out on their own.

I'd be surprised if that happens in any meaningful scale. Twitter just doesn't justify that type of investment anymore.

Since other people are mentioning the red flags working with business critical 1-person businesses, I thought I would share a small story. When I was first starting out, I connected with Huffington Post who were very excited about using PubExchange since they were manually managing most of their traffic partnerships. For many sites, traffic partnerships can be a large source of referrals, but HuffPo took it to another level. They partnered with everybody and would link out from their homepage, so they could send a very significant amount of traffic. After a few meetings (I don't think infosec got involved), they decided to integrate PubExchange throughout all their verticals. We met in person, so they were fully aware that it was just me, but they were/are a very nimble company so they were ok moving forward. Unfortunately, because they were implementing it so quickly and using it in different ways than had been used before, the first night they implemented it, it broke, and unfortunately, it also broke all links (internal and external) across HuffPo. They took down the code, and called me that night. I fixed the issues right then (I think it took me 10 minutes) and the next day they added everything back. Never had any issues again and worked with them for many years after that.

I'm now in year 10 of being a solopreneur. My main business is https://www.pubexchange.com, an platform that helps publishers exchange traffic with other sites, as well as buy/sell traffic. My answers below are related to that, but I've also launched https://forourschool.org, a free fundraising platform for schools, as well as a few other small sites.

1. It is just me - is that a red flag?

It has never been an issue for me, but I also had that concern in the beginning. I try to be VERY responsive to emails and quickly address any issues that come up, so that usually helps address their concerns if they have any. I sometimes refer to the business as "we" (e.g. "we are rolling out new functionality"), so it may not be obvious at first that it is a one-person company, but I never deny it, and most publishers I work with and have spoken with know that it is just me.

I've worked with major publishers like Huffington Post, Aol, CNN, Time/Meredith, Yahoo, etc. Some have required approval by their information security team, which can take a very long time. There are always small issues that crop up, but being a one-person team has never stopped me from getting approved.

2. How do I set appropriate milestones for me to reach? Do I think about reaching 100 customers before reaching 5 recurring customers for example?

I never really had defined milestones. I was happy to leave that behind when I left my corporate jobs. In the early years, I had so much excitement for the business and its potential that any time another publisher said that they were interested in using the platform, it gave me more motivation to spend time on it and grow it. I guess if no one said they were interested in using it, I would have questioned continuing, but it never came up.

For reference, it took about 3 months for the first publisher to dip their toe in the platform and 6 months for a full integration (god bless them for trying it!). If you are interested, the first sites to sign up were Upworthy, Refinery29, POPSUGAR, Fashionista, and Remodelista (3 of them still use it!).

3. I'm in a small town in PNW. Does that matter if this will be an online thing anyway? Why or when do people move to big cities like Seattle/SF/NYC/Austin etc.

I'm in NYC, but I avoid in-person meetings as much as I can. They take too much time and don't provide much incremental value. I also have not had an in-person meeting since the pandemic started. So no, I don't think it matters.

4. What are some ways to do marketing? Should I even think about that before I have a few customers who are using my product consistently?

I have never spent any money on marketing. I send cold emails pretty often (which is mostly ineffective), but other than that, my business grows through word-of-mouth (it works like a social network, so there is a benefit to publishers to tell their friends, so that they can easily work with them). I also partner with some networks that work with many sites (such as ad yield management companies) who then sends their clients to me.

5. I've been inspired by the Startup School videos. Honestly though I'm not sure about fundraising and all these things, it seems very intimidating to me. What's the difference between those things and starting a company and slowly building it up?

I've never fundraised so can't help here. Unless you absolutely can not survive without outside fundraising, it would be stupid to even consider it as a 1-person company. Way too much of a distraction. That being said, if your plan to quickly build out your team, then sure, go for it.

Here are the math games and word problems that you can try out with your kids: https://www.forourschool.org/math-games

I think the biggest benefactors of these laws (outside of the hotel industry) are real estate agents. The value of real estate agents has dwindled for years, but if they can help connect homeowners with short term renters, they can provide a lot of value and potentially skirt these laws.