Ask HN: Review my new startup: clickthatbutton.com(clickthatbutton.com)

33 pointsby trevorturkvor 18 Jahren67 comments

Ask HN: Review my new startup: clickthatbutton.com

http://clickthatbutton.com/

71 comments

jbertvor 18 Jahren

I realise it's a gag. But...

Have the site sponsored by different people each day, and record the number of clicks on that day. Keep an archive, make it competitive.

e.g. 30th October is Obama day (just an example - not partisan), click to show your support! Sponsor pays some rate per click (or just to hire the site for the day).

As others have mentioned, your button would appear in many places (facebook widget, etc), so that would add some value to the potential sponsors.

Of course, they could put up their own button, but that wouldn't get them into your archives or the kudos of having the one and only 'clickthatbutton.com' buzz.

I don't think I'm being serious. But then, it's not that much crazier than the million-dollar homepage.

bigthboyvor 18 Jahren

All good ideas of directions to take this, imo. Now that's insight. The have a different sponsor every day is something I thought of while I was making my pointless post (see bottom of this page) but neglected to mention.

sachinagvor 18 Jahren

Our logo is a button. I'd sponsor you for a day.

jacobscottvor 18 Jahren

There's a fine line between irony/parody and wasting everyone's time...

DanielBMarkhamvor 18 Jahren

Somewhere there's a real startup who posted here and nobody upvoted or commented about their work.

I'm sure this is pressing their buttons about now.

vectervor 18 Jahren

Thank you for finally emphasizing the fact that not every website is a startup.

brkvor 18 Jahren

Unless I'm missing something, that's not a "startup" it's a webpage with a clickable button.

What's the point? What's the business model? (seriously).

trevorturkvor 18 Jahren

Well, I've always been a fan of the 37signals school of thought around bringing simplicity to web applications. You know - the whole "Getting Real" thing.

The way I see it, this has a better business model than a lot of web startups nowadays. At the very least, we've got a slow "burn rate" seeing as how we've spent about 5 hours on the project. As for generating revenue? I think we've got a while before we have to worry about that. We're more focused on scaling the systems than anything right now.

Over 100k clicks on day one? Here's to a successful launch!

ryanwaggonervor 18 Jahren

This took you five hours? Seriously?

mixmaxvor 18 Jahren

Photoshopping a nice button takes longer than you think...

[deleted]vor 18 Jahren

callmeedvor 18 Jahren

At least your main competitor gets ad revenue:

http://www.instantrimshot.com/

trevorturkvor 18 Jahren

Shit. I'll have to talk to the CEO about this. We should have done more market research.

tlrobinsonvor 18 Jahren

I wouldn't worry, your button is much nicer looking than theirs (it's inverted, wtf?)

andynvor 18 Jahren

Don't forget its sister site:

http://www.sadtrombone.com/

staunchvor 18 Jahren

I already use instantrimshot on a daily basis. Now this one. More than I use Facebook...

brkvor 18 Jahren

37 signals provides products that people pay for and get value from.

Your button adds no value, has no stickyness, and is not something people will pay for.

I think your "product" here is just creative trolling.

trevorturkvor 18 Jahren

Maybe it would help if you thought of it as an art project instead. In any case - and I hope this doesn't come off as trolling - isn't creativity exactly the sort of thing us hackers should be striving for? If you measure success in terms of "mak[ing] something people want" then I'd call this a success, if only a small one. For whatever reason, people sure do seem to enjoy clicking that button!

trappervor 18 Jahren

Creativity? http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enNZ291... google: ajax counter.

[deleted]vor 18 Jahren

kahsengvor 18 Jahren

Sell it to tipjoy :)

rokhayakebevor 18 Jahren

Or to Staples.

_b8r0vor 18 Jahren

Hi,

I'd like to invest in your startup. Would you be willing to implement Social networking features, file sharing (with intelligent auto-removal of copyright infringing material) and live micro-macro-socio-splogging?

Given that you spent 5 hours on this so far, I reckon you'll be able to implement these features in another 10. I'm willing to invest $5 for 40%. Interested?

thomasmallenvor 18 Jahren

Upvote this if you feel like it. What do you think of my new startup? Got the idea at http://clickthatbutton.com/

ph0rquevor 18 Jahren

Hmmm... I think you should definitely go after the enterprise market.

tlrobinsonvor 18 Jahren

I cheated:

    while true; do curl -d submit.x=1 -d submit.y=1 -b clickthatbutton=10521 http://clickthatbutton.com/; echo; done

edit: and apparently you (or my ISP) throttle ;)

lpgauthvor 18 Jahren

We need to get this code threaded...

tlrobinsonvor 18 Jahren

    #!/bin/sh

    n=10
    while [ $n -ge 0 ]; do
    	sh -c "while true; do curl -d submit.x=1 -d submit.y=1 -b clickthatbutton=10521 http://clickthatbutton.com/; echo; done" &
    	n=`expr $n - 1`
    done

Change "n=10" to change the number of concurrent requests. Anyone have a better method?

jcapotevor 18 Jahren

Nice approach, My friend and I were trying to do the same thing. http://juliocapote.com/post/56866975/so-you-want-to-click-th... bookmarklet version: http://ubergibson.com/~alan/bmforge/

trevorturkvor 18 Jahren

Is hackthatbutton.com taken?

jaydubvor 18 Jahren

C/MPI!

tlrobinsonvor 18 Jahren

So, why are you sending the coordinates of each click back to the server?

I'm sure it would make a nice looking heat map, but is there some other reason?

acrovor 18 Jahren

Sending the coordinates is the standard http behavior in the case of image submit buttons.

tlrobinsonvor 18 Jahren

Doh. That's a pretty good reason.

scottymacvor 18 Jahren

I like the simplicity, but not sure how will monetize it? Maybe offer it as widget for other sites? Or perhaps create a FB app? Certainly lots of potential. And people really like clicking buttons.

Hates_vor 18 Jahren

"Go ahead, click the button... That'll be ten million dollars."

tortillavor 18 Jahren

Needs more cowbell.

DanielBMarkhamvor 18 Jahren

much more

(For those missing the joke, http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1017105/more_cowbell/ )

djmvor 18 Jahren

I assume this is a joke.

Having said that, if you are creative you may well be able to cash in on this considering the attention that your site appears to be getting. I remember, a few years ago, some kid made a page that sold ads to people for $1 per pixel on the page. The page contained nothing other than these ads. The kid was trying to make $1m and he did it - enough people were willing to pay a dollar or few dollars to be a part of his idea even if they didn't really benefit from it.

I'd look at adding advertising to the page - I'd love to watch you make a million from a page with a button on it!

immadvor 18 Jahren

I didn't click the button.

I didn't want to. Too many people had done it already

rksprstvor 18 Jahren

I clicked it and when I found out others have already clicked it I felt cheap and used.

swombatvor 18 Jahren

I clicked it several times. The fact that other people had clicked it too made me feel like I belong to a community, like there are people out there who care about me and my button-clicking.

jeroenvor 18 Jahren

I clicked it, and then I wanted to know how my clicking compared to other people. Unfortunately, there are no stats.

ryan-allenvor 18 Jahren

Sweet, all you need is some venture capital and you're on your way to the big time!

andhappvor 18 Jahren

This is at the same level of madness as "I am rich" iPhone application except that application had a cost model to it unlike this one...

run4yourlivesvor 18 Jahren

Well, your 15 minutes should be up any time now...

thomasmallenvor 18 Jahren

Brilliant.

tlrobinsonvor 18 Jahren

Google Killer.

dmixvor 18 Jahren

Techcrunch, is that you?

tptacekvor 18 Jahren

Not sure about the colors, maybe invest in a designer and a copywriter, and did you know the button was SQL Injectable? You're off to a great start, but I worry about Facebook and Google turning this into a feature instead of a product. Consider the enterprise.

aaroneousvor 18 Jahren

"10087 clicks from you... Thank You"

bigthboyvor 18 Jahren

<grunt> bigthboy not amused... buttons make bigthboy angry! <roar>...

but in all honesty, what is the true point behind this? I am aware of people's addiction to press buttons, but if you can convince someone to pay you in order to press a button then you've got something. Without that, I really just don't think this is anything more than a time-sink for those who are procrastinating, and most certainly not a start-up. =P

aasaravavor 18 Jahren

Anyone else remember "Button, Button" from the Twilight Zone, where a couple is offered $200K if they push a button on a box. The only catch is that if they push it, someone they don't know will die?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button,_Button_(The_Twilight_Zone)

Creepy.

forensicvor 18 Jahren

I like it. I gave it around 180 clicks before I left the page. It was a good experience.

rrivalvor 18 Jahren

This is going straight to the front page of TechCrunch!

m_eimanvor 18 Jahren

Hm, looks familiar. Mine has chat, though. http://click-a-billion.com/

RudeDudevor 18 Jahren

this shit is about as cool as a steaming shit coming out of my ass(whilst shitting from a hovering helicopter) and landing inside an active volcano. If you think this is an actual business model, you sir, are fucking delusional. the jig is up, fraud

sympticvor 18 Jahren

Make an API or an app for Facebook/Myspace or a widget for Wordpress and watch it spread. ;)

mcuvor 18 Jahren

Your button is bad and you should feel bad. Is this really what Hacker News has come to?

tjicvor 18 Jahren

A+++++++++++++++++++++

Would click again.

matt1vor 18 Jahren

Thousands of visitors and it still says "1 clicks" -- doh.

mstefffvor 18 Jahren

why would anyone come back to this..what the hell..i dont get it

darkxanthosvor 18 Jahren

No, you do. That's the problem.

iceyvor 18 Jahren

I don't get it.

[deleted]vor 18 Jahren

railsjedivor 18 Jahren

shoulda entered this into railsrumble!

trevorturkvor 18 Jahren

Rails!? That doesn't scale. This is all Erlang.

stevesmith155vor 18 Jahren

Sorry, but :yawn:

ram1024vor 18 Jahren

i admit it, i'm a clicker...

it was just too much for me. i'm suing you for rehab therapy now to cure my aclicktion.

they say you haven't succeeded as a business until you're sued. congratulations, give me your money now

ideamonkvor 18 Jahren

i clicke 250 without stopping... whats wrong! and checkout the speed at which counter is running... while biggies like facebook and orkut try so hard to engage users into social networking etc... this simple clickthatbutton has done it with amazing simplicity! wow!