I was working on a NLP(ish) idea for a while and got a descent prototype put together, but haven't had time to take the project past that. The idea was to train a model to classify tone of voice (a kind voice, angry voice, whiny voice, etc).
Writing this out again now. I wonder if we could train a model to predict whether a statement is sarcastic or not..
I am working on a baby book called Computer Engineering for Babies (https://computerengineeringforbabies.com). The biggest question I have is an SEO/branding one. I have about 3 brand names, and I don't know how to structure them or which ones to get rid of, and how to have a cohesive brand. Anyway, I'm looking for someone that can coach me on some SEO/branding stuff..
Looks fun, how can I get a couple without having to wait until December? Seems like that would be an easy way to boost conversion, to have them come in once a month. Guessing you don't have enough volume?
At some point you'll realize that you just don't have the energy to continue with your employment and do a side project. And hopefully your side project will be making enough money that the decision on which to marry isn't too difficult.
I'm in the middle of making this transition right now. Juggling full time employment and a booming side project is exhausting.
Let me guess, your project depends on a 3rd party platform you have no control over? I'm facing similar issues and I intend to alleviate the problem by diversifying the platforms I work with.
I've had all these same feelings. At some point you are going to have to do some level of marketing. Maybe that that is sharing your project on Hacker News, Product Hunt, or Reddit. Or maybe that means dumping $10k into facebook ads. You could have the best product in the world but if nobody knows about it, you won't make a dime.
If you have money, then you might be able to outsource this if it's too overwhelming. I found a great Facebook ads guy by just going to reddit/r/facebookAds and messaging someone who seemed like they knew what they were talking about.
Another trick is to just make something with a virality score greater than 1. Meaning on average, each user brings in at least one more user. Then you really only have to market to one person (on average ;)
I launched a baby book computer engineering for babies. I have posted about it a few times on Hacker News & Reddit, and that was enough several thousand dollars through kickstarter.
The kickstarter campaign probably brought in about 150k with minimal marketing effort, and at around that point, I brought on an ad agency that juiced it up to $250k after that.
I'm continuing to do preorders through my website, but all of the pre orders I get now are mostly driven by facebook ads.
Woah, that'd qualify as minimal to me! I've been seeing CS-related materials popping up a lot targeting elementary-school aged children and older, but never anything targeting babies.
Thanks for sharing your numbers as well, those are pretty impressive figures.
Yeah, I would guess less than 20% of us have side projects, and less than 10% of those that do have side projects are making any money from them. I say this despite being in the lucky group that has a successful side project.
With my side project, initially I was working on it because it was fun and fulfilling. When I started to get bored with it, my wife really encouraged me to keep working on it which motivated me to see it through. I'm still trying to figure out how to balance a healthy lifestyle. Juggling a job, a family, a side project, and 8 hours of sleep at night isn't working very well.
