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0 pointsIkmoIkmo10y ago0 comments

I think he did touch on that though. Essentially he's selling bread, and he's got to buy scarce flower at high prices in a convoluted system from a small number of farmers, and be forever at the mercy of the flower selling farmers. Only it's data instead of flower.

Further, the data sometimes is bad and causes inaccuracy issues for customers without him knowing, this causes lots of complaints that he has no control over, something that isn't feasible when charging money to commercial users. Not just that, but the price of data is ever increasing, free data is becoming restricted and he needs to restructure as data suppliers go out of business or restructure their API.

I mean there are obviously solutions, like generate his own data etc. But it really looks like he's got other opportunities to earn a living and this isn't the lowest hanging fruit for him.

What I DO find strange is why he's not selling it. I just can't imagine not at least one of the company's he's buying data from wouldn't buy this at a discounted price if need be. Some money is better than nothing.

0 comments

jgrall10y ago

Creator of Just Landed here. Actually, I have been approached by a number of companies over the years about selling Just Landed, including some household names. The trouble is, almost none of them wanted the app – they just wanted me as an employee. These weren't companies I could get super excited about working for - especially since I love being an entrepreneur and working for myself. Of the few who did want the app or the tech, their quality bar/taste wasn't a good fit, and I worried about how they would treat my users. It was never about the money. Time is my most valuable scarce resource.

mikecarlton10y ago

Thanks for building this, I've been a low-volume user since sometime in 2013. I'll miss it, but completely understand your reasoning.

annnnd10y ago

Hmmm. If it's about users, then why shutter the service they depend on? I am sure you have throught about this a lot and are probably tired of investing more time and energy in this project, but if you have hundreds of thousands of users, you have a huge opportunity on your hands.

How about:

1) start building your own set of data to complement the bought data. Every time there is an inaccuracy, approach the airline company and start using their data directly. Later on, you can even become one of the companies who provide data to others. When there is a problem ("the data companies are not doing their job") there is an opportunity.

2) change the pricing model to charge big users more. They should be your bread and butter, because they get paid to use your app. You are just a small additional cost to them. You can even lower the initial price tag and charge more for enterprise usage... Since you are better than others (see 1.) the enterprise users will be happy to pay more.

3) failing that, sell to an entrepreneur who will continue. I am sure there are many interested persons and your users would be better served if someone picked up where you left off. Hell, I am interested... :)

unclebucknasty10y ago

Ever think about contractualizing the things that concerned you (like user-treatment) and getting a conditional employment contract, which also featured a limited term?

I hear you on the time point. Thing is, it's hard to get to that place where you have an offer on the table. Starting over would have a time cost, so over the long term, you might've been able to buy yourself more time with the time you'd already invested.

Of course, that also depends on the amount of the offer.

morgante10y ago

The app is great and I actually think a business model could be found (though I can totally understand your weariness).

Have you considered selling it to another entrepreneur to carry on instead of shutting down completely?

tw0410y ago

Not to be that guy, but I think you mean flour? Sorry, it threw me off and had to re-read a few times.

IkmoIkmoOP10y ago

Thanks!

nostrademons10y ago

I think that what the other posters are touching on is: why sell bread at all? Why not sell beer? Or ethanol, to gasoline companies? You have a source of flour, and you also have access to customers who are deriving their livelihoods from your product. If the bread market is tapped out and too competitive to make a profit, why not turn around and seek other markets?

In my experience, consumer mobile is pretty much tapped out - it's very difficult to make a living as an independent app developer. But the enterprise market is still booming. Now that the giant consumer applications (WhatsApp, Instagram, Uber, Instacart, etc.) have been found, there's a long tail of smaller niches that'll pay good money for specialized services.

duderific10y ago

But he doesn't have the source of flour -- he gets the flour (data) from unreliable/expensive sources and turns it into bread. The people with the data are the ones who are in the leverage position.

quadrature10y ago

hate to nitpick, but you might appreciate that its called "flour". good analogy !.

aws_ls10y ago

Perhaps, the HN dupe detection algo needs to be slightly improved to check parent comment? :-)

motdiem10y ago

You touch an important point. I'm in the process of winding down an app that relies on scraping a variety of badly formed data - there is commercial interest, but it is really difficult for me to make people pay for something if I can't guarantee the quality of the data- which after struggling for a couple of years chasing obscure data format changes, I was not looking forward too. I'm sure there were other factors, but I completely understand the app creator's decision to shutdown rather than enterprise up with that in mind.

colmvp10y ago

I've worked in a similar situation, providing pricing/inventory information to buyers from vendors, and it's hellish as a middleman with limited clout to ensure vendors remain consistent in transmitting up-to-date pricing and inventory. When one side encounter inconsistencies, middlemen always get the blame despite the other side being responsible for providing the information. Hence why I sympathize with the app developer.

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