IAmA founder of Tindie.com, 'etsy for tech', that started as question on /r/Arduino in April, led me to quit my job in Sept, and just closed $500k in funding. AMA

The good ole' Reddit DDOS. I'll check back later

A bear hug that kills you with a smile.

http://files-cdn.formspring.me/photos/20121005/n506f1edfadc78.jpg

And that is why we cant have nice things around here =[

Its ok.. fail and learn.. we now know what to do for next time :)

Sorry about that! It's coming back up now

[deleted]

4 XL's on EC2

On a startup, seems insane to try to setup your own servers when you could setup on an Amazon EC2 for practically nothing. Your M1 Medium not cutting it, take your server image and set it up on a M3 Double Extra Large Instance with 30 GiB of memory and 26 EC2 Compute Units in 10-15 minutes. Better yet, start it on a M3 Double and then scale back as needed. Why am I slaving away at a 9 to 5 and this guy gets 500k to do a startup :(

Good question, we are hiring and are on AWS. Sounds like you're what we need.. emile(at)tindie(dot)com

I wonder how many of us won't. It's kind of poor planning making a big marketing move like this and not notifying your web host that you're expecting a big surge of traffic.

Lol he is the web host. They're probably using Amazon Web Services or some other cloud setup. The OP himself would be responsible for putting in load balancers & ensuring that the site scales with traffic. At the same time, it's a great lesson learned, occasional failure is a good thing :)

Occasional failure is fine and all, but not during the site's biggest potential day of traffic. For every minute that the site is down, dollars are being lost, and this could be a key difference in the success of the company.

With that being said, I hope the site comes back up soon so I can nerd out.

Good points. The two mistakes I made were not planning for this to succeed (at this scale), and not acting on that plan. Lessons were learned so we'll be ready next time. We have some things coming out next month- so round #2 in a few weeks.

Yep AWS, and lesson was definitely learned.

Well you can never tell if an AMA is going to actually take off or not. Also have to figure at least some of the people who post AMAs are fully aware of the possible traffic surge, warn their host, and get crashed ANYWAY. An AMA could attract anywhere from dozens to hundreds of thousands of visitors and there's really no way to predict it in advance. How much money do you spend renting extra server space and beefing up your infrastructure for an AMA that might generate 250 hits and 36 upvotes over 8 hours? There's no need to sneer at how people handle these, it's not exactly simple.

Exactly - this was done on a whim, and well we got caught because of it. Thanks for your support!

That exact thought goes through my head each time a site gets nuked. I'll be a good and bookmark it, maybe Santa will swap me out of the naughty list. Fuck coal.

Thanks Willmus! We are live now, also do not want you to get coal

In hindsight, you are right. I wasn't expecting it to actually get much traffic. But lesson learned - and we won't make this mistake next time.

Looks like 502 of their gateways are bad. Might take a while to replace them all.

Yeah it did, but we are back up!

Glad we could help beta test your servers. :-) I'd love to see the site though - sounds interesting.

Thanks Cello, we are back up!

I've never understood why funded start-ups get so much money -- what do you need it for, and how (roughly) do you plan to use it? Thanks.

First and foremost salaries, health insurance, basic business expenses (servers, designers, travel etc). Having worked at 4 funded startups before this, most have to raise other rounds to hire more people as the business scales and you have to hire more.

EDIT: Some think this was a "sneer" sorry if it came across that way! Realistically this lasts a year at most - 18 months. Seed round should let you fully test the concept and if the business actually can grow to a much larger scale. I'm sorry if that answer sounds like it was anything but a sincere answer.

Don't answer questions. Get on the phone and get your damned site up. You're missing a huge marketing opportunity here.

Oh I'm working the phones like i'm in Glengarry Glen Ross...working on bringing it back up

the leads are weak, man.

The leads are weak? You're weak.

You fuckin child. Who told you you could work with men? You are here......... to HELP US... does that seem clear to you? That's your job... To help us, not to fuck us up... to help those who are going out there to try to earn a living... You fairy! You company man!

As a fairy, I know how he feels. The Speech

ABC

Good man and good luck. I suppose I'm just annoyed because I really want to check out what you've done and I really want this to succeed.

It's coming back up now sorry about the down time!

please hurry. my attention span is very short!

Ahhh back up! Did we make it in time?

I think the downtime on your site is the best response to why start-ups need money.

+1

It's called free advertising

*OHHHH You meant the site is ACTUALLY down.... nevermind then.

I'll still go back, not really that big of a deal, sites go down all the time

Free advertising for what? If the site doesn't work now, chances are I won't remember to come back

Tindie is coming back up. hopefully you'll give us a second chance! Sorry about the down time!

Great, now he's gone.

Nope I'm here. Edited my answer to add more context.

Looks like you need to invest a little more in servers

You got that right!

Am I to understand this that the website is down due to reddit traffic?

Because I see no tindie.com

The friendliest ddos.

WE ALL WANT TO HUG YOUR WEBSITE

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvb88x5eZT1r5gvg1o1_500.gif

$500k won't last you very long at all. Staff costs alone will burn through that in a matter of a few months, and there's all manner of setup costs and overheads on top of that.

$500k isn't supposed to last years - realistically one year to 18 months.

The posts from /r/Arduino:

Original Question: Would you support an Arduino marketplace or am I totally off base?

Site launch in June

Quit my job

How did you find funding? I've always been curious about how that process works. Do you just call up random venture capitalist firms, or what?

Good question. My experience may have been a bit atypical, but it was all through meeting people who introduced me to more people until I met my investors. I wouldn't say 'networking' because I wasn't trying to find investors. I was just meeting people, and then it would become - "You should talk to..." I didn't have a formal pitch or slide presentation. It was all through casual conversation.

To hear what my investors thought, they both wrote blog posts on the investment.

http://versiononeventures.com/new-investment-tindie-a-marketplace-for-the-maker-generation/

http://www.crashdev.com/2012/12/pdx-tindie-maker-movement.html

I was just meeting people, and then it would become - "You should talk to..." I didn't have a formal pitch or slide presentation. It was all through casual conversation.

That is exactly what networking is.

I wasn't actively trying to connect with person X & Y. Yes it was casual networking but there wasn't a motive. I think of 'networking' as people hunting for another person with an agenda..but I could be wrong..

Firstly, Congrats! CONTEXT: I currently work in corporate sales from 9am-6pm every day, and then come home and work on my web/media start-up pipe dream from 7pm-3am or so every night. It's tiring, but I'm also excited, because I feel like I am at least moving in the right direction. QUESTION: Was there a time during the process that you led two lives? When did you know that your original job wasn't just supporting some "habit"?

Thanks! I used to do sales at another startup/web company, so I know how you feel very well. The short answer is yes, definitely from June to Sept when sales were doubling month over month. I was also burning the candle at both ends.

The longer answer is that I've been working on startups for 6+ years- sales, support, developer outreach, and most recently engineering. Throughout that time frame I was picking up bits and pieces along the way. Throughout that period, I felt like I was living two lives. Working the day job, tinkering on the side, but really learning. I had ideas throughout that stretch I was working on which ultimately failed or never even got far enough to get off the ground.

The one piece of advice I'd give you or anyone interested in starting a web company, learn to code. I took a year off and taught myself. I'm no where near a great engineer but now we are two years later, I was at the point to be an engineer during the day, and build Tindie in the mornings and nights.

The benefits are vast from having a better understanding of the technology that goes into a website, the thought process around building a feature, and the fact you can build your idea, throw it out there and if people like it, great! If not, you didn't lose $x,000 hiring someone else. Twice before I've paid other people to build my ideas- both failed miserably. Learn from my mistake.

Circling back to your second question, you never know if you'll take off or not. I think if you have the bug, you keep trying. In that way it is a habit. Try, fail, learn and try again. Once you've made a mistake once, hopefully you won't repeat it and therefore you are further along for your next idea.

What's your favorite product on the site?

Oh thats a tough one. Here are a couple..

GAMBY - an Arduino shield for gaming on an Arduino

Robot that plays Angry Birds- a robot you can program to play Angry Birds

808 Kick Drum Clone PCB- a PCB for building your own 808 kick drum

AS3935 Lightning Sensor Board- for detecting lightning

How many people run your website on a daily basis?

It was just me up until October. Thats when I brought on 2 contractor friends, and last month the first hire - so max 4, most days 2 or 3 of us are hacking away.

How long do you think it will be before your site is back up? Apparently reddit has once again broke a site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILVfzx5Pe-A

Ah yeah, love me some strongbad.

http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail45.html

My high school chemistry teacher introduced me to strongbad. best class in high school

Back up!

Doesn't it bother you being owned by your investors? People need to remember that when you get funding, it's not free money. Your investors are looking for their (profitable) exit. How do you feel about all that?

[deleted]

+1

[deleted]

Yep bringing it back up now

How are you paying yourself and others who work for you? Quitting a job for something like this seems a bit scary.

Yes, with the funding, we have salaries and are hiring for a Python/django dev! PM me if you are interested!

Great concept idea, congratulations on the funding! Have you done any type of market research/ niche market expansionary issues that you might run into or was this an idea that you just dived right into?

Thanks! and nope, I didn't do any market research. I was interested in learning about hardware hacking, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, etc and I felt like other people were also interested. At a high level, I just figured there are more and more people getting jazzed about making electronics, and that's why I just posted the question. I had no idea, so I asked the community and went from there. I didn't expect it to become a business at all. I just saw it as a learning experience and something to have fun with.

It appears we've crashed the site...

Yes yes you did. Bringing it back up

As a seller on the site, I have to say - tindie is great! Emile also did an interview with my friends The Tymkrs on their podcast Zombie Tech. http://www.zombietech.tv/2012/09/27/zombie-tech-episode-055-emile-petrone/

\o/

Have you looked into using bitcoins as a payment method?

Yes. Because of we process payments and distribute funds to sellers it would be a bit tricky right now. Trying to not add more complexity than we need to right now..

[Confirmed OP is who he says he is.] Marketing my own products seems to be my biggest challenge right now. Do you have any plans for marketing beyond just trying to be awesome and get in the press?

Thanks Dustin! Short answer yes. Longer answer, check back in a few weeks.. :)

Well, this was one way to test your servers.

You got that right!

Are you going to offer "how-to" guides?

What is your price structure going to be like? Are you going to skim off the top from sales or charge the people that post their goods?

It's a good idea. Have any more ideas on what you'd like to see?

5% of each transaction (with a minimum of $1). We only make money when a seller makes money.

Why would anyone need a robot that plays angry birds?

The other thing is you can use it for mobile app testing. Program it to run through a suite of tests..

I have a legitimate idea for a start-up. Do you have a good resource for helping me figure out where to start? The process? How to go about getting funding? Thanks...and congrats!

Cool! Without knowing the idea/audience/your background, ultimately it will depend upon getting it built, out in the wild and iterate as people give you feedback. If you are growing and in a growing market, the investors will find you.

Saw someone asked this above but it wasn't answered. What resources did you use to learn to code? Thanks!

Started with "learn python the hard way" progressed to Google App Engine and Django. Basically learn the basics and start building. You'll learn the gaps as you go.

No question, I just wanted to say that I used the Arduino when (re)learning to program in my introductory level engineering course. I think it's a really neat device, and I'm glad to see that it's being used outside of classrooms to do really innovative things. Great job with tindie, and I wish you the best of luck with the site!

Thanks! Good luck to you too!

Off topic, I think your site is getting hosed. Can't connect.

I fear for the slag that used to be your network switch. lol

On topic:

What type of categories are you offering on there?

Back up! As far as categories, anything from Audio (synths) to plant monitors. Really a wide range

Did you start this AMA knowing that we would have friendly-DDOSed your site?

Nope, had I known we'd have planned a bit more :)

Congratulations! Is $500k going to be enough?

Where did you come up with the name?

Thanks! Not forever.. should last 12 -18 months. Tindie came from 'indie tech' - tech indie..tindie

@tindie just tweeted: "Still working on bringing the site back up. Will answer every question on Reddit once this is fixed."

Yep still answering..

Tindie is what some people call me when they're drunk and being overly friendly.

You sound like a legend.

note to self: walk over to his house (almost across the street) and bang on the door, tell him to get his servers up. :D

really?! in NW?

Sorry if you've answered this already or don't want to for privacy reasons, but what's your background? What college (if any), degree, or job did you have before working in startups? I ask as a college student interested in working with startups after graduation.

Political Science degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

• Account Executive at Yelp
• All around sales at Redbeacon
• (took year off to learn to code)
• Developer Advocate at SimpleGeo
• Engineer at Urban Airship

While I understand its nice for privacy and security why does the entire site redirect to https? Wouldn't it be less load on the servers to only use it when needed.

Yes, you are right

Why can't I get on your website from my phone?

Good question, the site was down for a bit, but should be running fine now

Are you hiring for any positions? I'm currently living in NYC, but I'm in desperate need of a job. It would be awesome to work with a tech startup.

I am - do you know python/django?

Is there any obligation to spend the funding on certain stuff? Or can you more or less do whatever you want with it?

Nope I can spend it on whatever I want. It's money in the company bank account.

Link to the original question on /r/Arduino?

http://www.reddit.com/r/arduino/comments/rxyjb/would_you_support_an_arduino_marketplace_or_am_i/

What other types of startups did you work for? Would you recomend working for a start up for young/new entrepreneurs?

• Account Executive at Yelp (IPO)
• All around sales at Redbeacon (Acquired by Home Depot)
• (took year off to learn to code)
• Developer Advocate at SimpleGeo (Acquired by Urban Airship)
• Engineer at Urban Airship

If you want to learn how to build a startup, pack up your things and move to Silicon Valley. Make it work. In the long run, it will pay off.

What are your biggest challenges with supporting your platform? How do you envision your company in 5 years?

Answering in order:

Your first question is the toughest. I translate that to growth. How do you grow a website? You don't know until you've done it...I'm in the middle of doing it.

I have ideas but you never know. I take it one week at a time. Literally checking data multiple times a day, and looking at trends on a weekly level.

I would love to check out your service but the facebook requirement is keeping me back. Please let us all know if you decide to drop that (required) authentication method.

Hmm we actually don't have a facebook requirement- or any integration with the FB api..

Did you have previous start-up knowledge before going into Tindie and in this case how did you work out ownership/equity with your investors?

Also as a long punt question - do you have any experience or advice about how you divide up a company and give shares/control if there are a number of people working for free until it has a value?

Yes I did -

• Account Executive at Yelp
• All around sales at Redbeacon
• (took year off to learn to code)
• Developer Advocate at SimpleGeo
• Engineer at Urban Airship

Equity depends on how you structure the funding. You'll want to look up startup funding on quora or some info site that can tell you more about the overall landscape.

I don't. Since I started Tindie by myself, that was easy. Once you have other employees you can find breakdowns on equity by position & what stage the company is at also on Quora. Do some digging on there. You'll be blown away with the info you find (its a gold mind).

Looked through all the posts and couldn't find it, but what exactly is Tindie? Of course the site is down so I can't look at it myself and find out.

On another note, AMAs always bother me when they don't explicitly state what they do or who they are. I rarely recognize big names, but I will usually recognize a role they played or something they did/wrote. I've probably missed out on a lot of awesome AMAs. :(

Good question - we are a marketplace for maker products that are tech related (the flip side to Etsy). Homemade chips, boards, robots, tech gear, etc.

And I don't have a big name - something about this AMA struck a cord and I'm just trying to keep up!