10 Startups in 24 Hours, Lessons Learned
Last week I set myself the challenge of launching 10 projects with a total build time of less than 24 hours. This is my mini-reflection on the challenge.
This was the original post:
Why did I do it?
To prove that it can be done. You’re excuses are bullshit. I did it with no coding, on a budget and quickly.
These projects aren’t exactly ‘Startups’ but I used the term for ease of communicating what I was undertaking.
Each project is functional with all the services connected properly for database population, payment services, notifications etc.
This was an exercise in seeing what different types of MVPs can be built and in what areas.
The stats below could be seen as somewhat laughable when you look at conversions, but that wasn’t the point of this challenge. Being able to churn out these projects quickly and able to cut ties with them if they are not worth your time is a skill itself. Becoming too attached to your ideas can prevent you from ever launching.
The tools I used for this challenge:
- Carrd — For building the sites & hosting
- Zapier — To hook up various services (get notifications, auto-populate etc)
- Typeform — For my forms and data collection
- Stripe — For payments
- Airtable — Spreadsheets and databases
- GoDaddy — Domains
The projects that interest me most are;
I also like the content-documentation style sites I made with CryptoReview & StartupLegal Guide.
What I launched
1. AI Artwork — A marketplace for Artwork created by Artificial Intelligence
After listening to Fred Ehrsam & Trent McConaghy talk on this podcast:
I became interested in the thought of Art generated by AI. I’ve not been a big Art fan before but the opportunity in this sounded interesting. So I thought of created a marketplace where you could generate your own AI Artwork using your own images and putting them up for sale.
Nothing special. Bit of a quick-build-win to kick off the challenge really.
- Build Time: ~40 Minutes.
- Zero sales
- 691 Users (25th Sept — 2nd Oct)
- Will I pursue it? Likely not.
2. AR Space — Professional Augmented Reality services for personal and commercial use
I’ve recently become an advisor to Mira Labs and the AR space is a recent interest of mine. Copying the setup of Dronebase, I looked to set the building blocks of AR-specific platform.
- Build Time: ~2hr10 Minutes.
- 4 Developers signed up to offer services
- 708 Users (25th Sept — 2nd Oct)
- Will I pursue it? I’d love to as I think there is a growing need for this kind of platform
3. Make Ship—Directory of proven makers to hire
Real simple. Very basic. People are always looking to hire makers, so I just set out to put an open directory together. This setup can be used for numerous use-cases.
- Build Time: ~40 Minutes.
- 60 Makers signed up (was submitted to Product Hunt)
- 1,608 Users (25th Sept — 2nd Oct)
- Will I pursue it? This runs itself. Of course I could aim to take a more hands-on approach to pairing makers and customers, but likely won’t right now.
4. Accelerator Review — Firsthand reviews of startup accelerators + application feedback
Again, real simple & very basic. I often see founders offer to help give feedback to other founders on their applications so I decided to put this together. Also as a way for anonymous reviews of Accelerators to be submitted.
- Build Time: ~50 Minutes.
- 303 Users (26th Sept — 2nd Oct)
- Zero signups/zero applications/zero reviews
- Will I pursue it? Uhm no. I do think there is a need for something like this but I’ve not built it here. Perhaps it needs another look, or someone else should build something.
5. Madness Money — Send BTC, ETH & LTC to make your way up the leaderboard
This was a silly idea. So silly it may have worked! I remember Highscore.Money and thought it was so ridiculous, but people still paid to get up the leaderboard! So why not do that with Cryptocurrencies?!
- Build Time: ~1hr15 Minutes.
- 375 Users (26th Sept — 2nd Oct)
- 4 People sent Crypto
- Will I pursue it? Doubt it. It was a silly project but in 10+ years it may be the most profitable project I ever do.
6. CryptoReview— Framework and calculator to value cryptoassets
I’m really trying to get more into the Crypto world and I’ve looked into how people are valuing Cryptoassets. So I used 3 frameworks of smart people in the industry, created calculators around it and set an open database of the results.
- Build Time: ~3hr30 Minutes. (oops)
- 948 Users (27th Sept — 2nd Oct)
- 25 Basic Valuations & 9 Advanced Valuations added
- Will I pursue it? I’d like to see where this could go and will continue to maintain it.
This did take me a little longer than usual. I was exploring a new setup of an interactive documentation-type site and it took quite a while. I also ended up down the rabbit hole of content here which has to be understandable :)
7. StartupLegal Guide— The Startup Legal Setup Guide (US focused)
I love Stripe Atlas and have had a UK version in my idea drafts for some time. This was a way for me to put together a basic version in that arena. Using Airtable Universe, I found all the content I needed and copied the setup of CryptoReview for the clickable documentation.
- Build Time: ~1hr30 Minutes
- 137 Users (28th Sept — 2nd Oct)
- Will I pursue it? I am going to put together a UK version when I get some time to compile the content.
8. MakerSchool —The virtual accelerator to help you launch
I had put together an offering for a MVP Workshop in London which I may still pursue, but it isn’t scalable. So I revisited and revamped an initiative I launched previously (Batch), and churned out this.
- Build Time: ~2hr15 Minutes
- 149 Users (28th Sept — 2nd Oct)
- Will I pursue it? This is something I definitely want to offer properly so I’ll try and expand on this idea soon.
9. Global Office Hours — Connect with people all over the World willing to seek/offer advice
Coming to the end of the week and feeling mentally drained, I took to Twitter for suggestions. This was the outcome. Very simple build but the initiative is something I really love. Inspiration comes from OOOhours too for sure.
- Build Time: ~35 Minutes
- 3 signups
- Will I pursue it? This idea deserves proper attention. Not sure I’m ready to commit just yet.
10. Human Blockchain — Help Blockchain companies grow by performing tasks
I’m pretty pumped about this one. Inspired by Mechanical Turk and ScaleAPI, I thought of the huge manual processes that Blockchain companies have to go through. So Human Blockchain allows companies to sign up and have tasks performed by humans, for particular types of tasks.
- Build Time: ~1hr45 Minutes
- 111 Users (29th Sept — 2nd Oct)
- 4 Signups
- Will I pursue it? Yes. I think there is something there and I’ll be including it in my developments for a Community Framework in Crypto.
I’m launching Day Dot — Your on-demand MVP team where we will help you get up and running with your MVP so you can validate your ideas. You’ll be able to customise & pivot if needed with no technical know-how.
