@danjac a minimal site/service for creating and sharing graphic designs (flyers, posters etc), oriented to small businesses - pain-free alternative to Canva, ideally integrating Krita for power users https://mastodon.scot/@ultrazool/111812527332335868
@ultrazool probably even minimal web app in this space would be a ton of work for a single dev (and would really need to be built with artists' input, I wouldn't even know where to start). I wonder if the right way is to start with Krita and make it easier to push/share your work to some online store for viewing. No idea though.
@danjac these words "some online store" are doing a lot of work here!
that's the part that needs building (or adapting). a Dropbox-like store but specialised to do only one media type task (e.g, store .kra files and convert them) but also a marketplace-like store - an image search for free clipart and templates with the future possibility for artists to either upload paid image components or take commissions
agreed that UI dev would be a LOT of work, task is friendly documentation, support
@fishidwardrobe I think "take the money and run" is one way to end up being sued unless you are clever about it (see Adam Neumann).
But in general, VC funding requires the right connections and an idea that has to promise astronomical growth. I'm thinking about something doable by one person with skills on their own.
@danjac Well I admit I wasn't being entirely serious. (Although that does seem to be the way a lot of software projects make money.)
Your question is the big one, isn't it? Looking at what succeeds (some of it pretty silly), I'd say monetary success is more about marketing and luck than a good idea.
For example, Remember The Milk is/was a trivial web app that got very popular.
I also seem to remember an odd little webapp where you could just say what you were doing right now…
Take for example Facebook: it took off because you had a critical mass of online students at the time Zuckerberg was at Harvard. Had he attended a few years earlier it wouldn't have taken off in the same way.
RTM worked when the web (or phone apps) were kind of a novelty so trivial sites/apps could get overnight traction. Now they would be lost in the noise.
@danjac I honestly think it won't be long before all the easier B2B stuff is done, too.
I'm talking out of my arse here, but I wonder if we are reaching a period where the web is either highly monetised big walled gardens or stuff for fun that makes no money.
Look at FOSS. It's mostly coded by folks who work for big business now. The success of Mastodon et al is a massive outlier. Or, it proves me wrong in this. Wait and see, I suppose.
@fishidwardrobe well, I know for example the Django developers are mostly not at Big Tech. Ditto Laravel or Rails people. Some Big Tech OSS projects sure, like Kubernetes or React.
B2B is kind of difficult to generalize because you are talking about gnarly business logic that even multiple companies in same sector all do things their own way. Sure a lot of secondary functions is being outsourced to "cloud" e.g. HR or project management stuff.
@fishidwardrobe I suspect that gnarly logic might be locked up in custom Excel setups that they want to make into an online app because right now only one person in the office understands it
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