We started about a year ago and launched about 3 months ago.
The biggest two problems are:
Time. Neither of us can afford to quit our "jobs at a big company". We're not 20 and have mortgages, school payments, etc. Working part-time is probably 10 times less effective. Ohh... I cannot stress it enough! Part-time can be as bad as 50 times less effective; sometimes weeks can pass with no work being done, depends on how busy we get at our day jobs.
Marketing&Advertising. We cannot afford a solid PR campaign and expensive ads. We got some independent evaluations with ad quotes as high as $500K/year. Google brings a steady (albeit very small) stream of daily new users, but unless we come up with something, it will take forever to reach good numbers. Common advise like "blogging" BS and "sign all your emails with your URL" do not apply and really make no sense - you can't get into 6-figure user numbers this way.
You have a good idea, and with proper marketing and pr, you should see decent growth. Have you considered bringing on another partner, someone who could focus primarily on gaining eyeballs and users?
I understand the fact that you may be busy with your day jobs, but sacrificing equity for a good (hopefully full time) partner to manage what you can't in your current situation seems like it would be a good decision.
I just browsed through Pikluk and am impressed with the idea and execution. Have you guys tried getting media attention? You could email newspaper journalists, parent-type magazine editors to take a look at and review your site. That's free publicity and journalists are always looking for new things to write about!
Ditto - I'm surprised you haven't talked to every elementary school, church group, public library, etc. "Save the children" is the story that writes itself. Pikluk is great and if more people knew about it, they'd eat it up.
Well said! These are two of the biggest strains for us, too. Even if you were to work 6pm-midnight every night, your productivity is sooo much lower!
The best way I've found to be productive is to put long hours in on the weekend, at a coffee shop. Fewer distractions, and once you're in the zone, you can stay in it longer.
Have you tried "relaxing" / marketing on "adult" (not "porn") games like Second Life, or maybe World of Warcraft, or who knows what the cool thing is these days? Lots of people in their 30s and even 40s, just create a character called "Try Pikluk.com Free!" and walk around.
That way you get to "play" while actually marketing, which is work.
Oops, I accidentally upvoted you, which forces me to be annoying and reply with "-1".
Do not do this. It's spam. It's unethical. And on top of that, it won't even fucking work.
Invest your time in creating a product that people will seek out. If you can create such a product, there would be no need to do what you're talking about. If you can't, then even if you do, nobody will care anyway. You'll only drain your karma trying.
What the hell are you blabbering about? First of all I don't need any moral directions from strangers on the net. Second of all, your directions are so confusing I don't even think you know what you're talking about. What is spam? Mentioning this as a way to market is spamming the games? Or do you think I work for Blizzard or Linden Labs and I'm spamming Hacker news because nobody likes lame products like WoW or Second Life?
Only drain your karma trying? WTF are you talking about? If I go to a Halo server as a player called "CheckOutMySite.com" my Karma gets drained? In real life (assuming I believe in that stuff)? In Hacker News? How would PG know what I'm up to on Halo servers?
Seriously try thinking a bit more clearly before you go about lecturing me, thanks in advance.
Time. Neither of us can afford to quit our "jobs at a big company". We're not 20 and have mortgages, school payments, etc. Working part-time is probably 10 times less effective. Ohh... I cannot stress it enough! Part-time can be as bad as 50 times less effective; sometimes weeks can pass with no work being done, depends on how busy we get at our day jobs.
Marketing&Advertising. We cannot afford a solid PR campaign and expensive ads. We got some independent evaluations with ad quotes as high as $500K/year. Google brings a steady (albeit very small) stream of daily new users, but unless we come up with something, it will take forever to reach good numbers. Common advise like "blogging" BS and "sign all your emails with your URL" do not apply and really make no sense - you can't get into 6-figure user numbers this way.
http://pikluk.com