I've been working on this project for nearly a full year.
1/ Starter Story September Results
💵 Revenue: $1,737.84
📈 Uniques: 20,205 (Sept)
✉️ Email Subscribers: 2,956
#openstartup
Read more 👇
I've been working on this project for nearly a full year.
I won't talk about it too much in this thread, but after that happened everything just blew up. I'm still trying to catch up on everything and keep my head above water.
https://t.co/doMzI1bTca
I QUIT MY JOB! 😁😅
I know it sounds kind of crazy to quit your job over that, but as I was heading into my 1:1 with my manager it just felt like I had to do it. It felt like the right thing to do.
I'M BECOMING A DIGITAL NOMAD 🏖
First stop: Chiang Mai (I think). I'm so fricken excited to do this. It's been my dream for many years.
This is the first time post-college that I haven't had a "real" full time job. I'm excited but also nervous about how I will handle it. Sometimes I feel like a full time job keeps me productive.
Hope this graph shows people that you can struggle hard in the beginning. It's ok if you can't monetize right away. Don't take shortcuts keep pushing!
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dogfg5TVsAMRhz4.jpg)
I don't do anything "for SEO". The only thing we are focused on is putting out good content that people want to read.
Lately I've been seeing ~300 sessions/day from organic search.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DoggAviVAAUY4IB.jpg)
That date has come and gone and I've decided to wait and more slowly release community features. I don't think the site is big enough to launch a full fledged community yet.
I'm excited to build lots of cool features now that I have more time to dedicate to this project. Some ideas:
- Hacker News esque link board
- Job board
- "Launch" your products
- Starter and business pages
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dogg18wUwAExtI9.jpg)
They have a really interesting sponsor model, where they have "logos" on their front page.
I want to move to that with @starter_story
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DoghXPDV4AU1PIx.jpg)
It's also not fun finding a new sponsor every month for a couple hundred dollars.
The ecommerce and CPG industry is an ecosystem of businesses and services. It's important to involve both sides of the coin and bring them together.
Allows me to queue up content so that I can put content on autopilot while I work on other parts of the business.
It's part of the reason I did the 24hr startup. I had content ready to go for about 2 weeks.
Shoutout @WalterDom_ for idea
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dogipy7V4AEzNe9.jpg)
I wrote a script that automatically adds my affiliate tag to all Shopify and Amazon links. Saves a bunch of time!
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DogjZa1UwAEkSpx.jpg)
Every day, it searches all of my articles and finds a quote, then posts it to Twitter. It's a nice way to add a little bit more engagement.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DogjxWJVAAAX0aM.jpg)
First half of the month was horrible.
I was super down, couldn't find motivation and was very unproductive.
More from Pat Walls
THE WINNERS OF THE 24 HOUR STARTUP CHALLENGE
Remember, this money is just fun. If you launched a product (or even attempted a launch) - you did something worth MUCH more than $1,000.
#24hrstartup
The winners 👇
#10
Lattes For Change - Skip a latte and save a life.
https://t.co/M75RAirZzs
@frantzfries built a platform where you can see how skipping your morning latte could do for the world.
A great product for a great cause.
Congrats Chris on winning $250!
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ds8M2MQU0AM2ZOt.jpg)
#9
Instaland - Create amazing landing pages for your followers.
https://t.co/5KkveJTAsy
A team project! @bpmct and @BaileyPumfleet built a tool for social media influencers to create simple "swipe up" landing pages for followers.
Really impressive for 24 hours. Congrats!
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ds8NrPxUwAEmjX8.jpg)
#8
SayHenlo - Chat without distractions
https://t.co/og0B7gmkW6
Built by @DaltonEdwards, it's a platform for combatting conversation overload. This product was also coded exclusively from an iPad 😲
Dalton is a beast. I'm so excited he placed in the top 10.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ds8OY-BU8AAduGT.jpg)
#7
CoderStory - Learn to code from developers across the globe!
https://t.co/86Ay6nF4AY
Built by @jesswallaceuk, the project is focused on highlighting the experience of developers and people learning to code.
I wish this existed when I learned to code! Congrats on $250!!
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ds8PBEJU4AAq0OZ.jpg)
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Like company moats, your personal moat should be a competitive advantage that is not only durable—it should also compound over time.
Characteristics of a personal moat below:
I'm increasingly interested in the idea of "personal moats" in the context of careers.
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) November 22, 2018
Moats should be:
- Hard to learn and hard to do (but perhaps easier for you)
- Skills that are rare and valuable
- Legible
- Compounding over time
- Unique to your own talents & interests https://t.co/bB3k1YcH5b
2/ Like a company moat, you want to build career capital while you sleep.
As Andrew Chen noted:
People talk about \u201cpassive income\u201d a lot but not about \u201cpassive social capital\u201d or \u201cpassive networking\u201d or \u201cpassive knowledge gaining\u201d but that\u2019s what you can architect if you have a thing and it grows over time without intensive constant effort to sustain it
— Andrew Chen (@andrewchen) November 22, 2018
3/ You don’t want to build a competitive advantage that is fleeting or that will get commoditized
Things that might get commoditized over time (some longer than
Things that look like moats but likely aren\u2019t or may fade:
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) November 22, 2018
- Proprietary networks
- Being something other than one of the best at any tournament style-game
- Many "awards"
- Twitter followers or general reach without "respect"
- Anything that depends on information asymmetry https://t.co/abjxesVIh9
4/ Before the arrival of recorded music, what used to be scarce was the actual music itself — required an in-person artist.
After recorded music, the music itself became abundant and what became scarce was curation, distribution, and self space.
5/ Similarly, in careers, what used to be (more) scarce were things like ideas, money, and exclusive relationships.
In the internet economy, what has become scarce are things like specific knowledge, rare & valuable skills, and great reputations.