@rrhoover - absolutely positively being my "own boss". Everyone fantasizes about not having a boss, but let me tell you - having a boss is so much easier.
I've been working on Penflip full time since I quit my job. I have a background in both software engineering and design, so building it isn't a huge hurdle. But then there's everything else - marketing and user acquisition, customer support, responding to emails and staying active on social networks - that's a lot to juggle.
I love all of that stuff, I really do, but it's tough to decide what to work on at any given moment. I wish I could spend all of my time on EACH one of those things, but I'm only one person, not five. So I'm often second guessing myself - "am I spending too much time answering emails today? Should I spend more time promoting this thing on reddit? What about all those bugs?"
I'm thinking about making a schedule for myself in order to better divide my time. More structure might help.
@madebyloren - I love that. Many perceive entrepreneurship as a career for those seeking to get rich, and for some that's true, but in reality most true entrepreneurs just want freedom. Freedom to do what they love, work autonomously, and have financial freedom.
Being that you're a one man startup, how do you prioritize? Have you tried outsourcing some of the tasks or created processes to streamline your workflow?
P.S. I forgot to mention how much I LOVED your post about quitting (I can relate!). http://madebyloren.com/i-quit-my...
Hey @madebyloren, I've seen a good number of great writing tools as of late. Two that I use often are Draft and Hackpad, and I see how they're targeted for specific use cases but the line between those use cases seem to be getting thinner. Who do you think your user is and what is he/she using Penflip for?
I liked using PenFlip for my public writing when the project was still alive. The concept of living documents with suggestiosn coming in from other users wa really great. Sort of like an open-for-suggestion Google Doc.
Sadly, it is no longer functioning. Maybe it's time for its successor to take over?
Welcome, @madebyloren! I've enjoyed following Penflip since it was shared earlier this year (http://madebyloren.com/github-fo...). I enjoy reading these stories and hearing the thought process behind the creators (that's why I encourage these AMA's).
What has been your biggest challenge building Penflip?
@smalter - yep, the line is certainly thinning as different services with varied starting points seem to be slowly converging (penflip included).
> Who do you think your user is and what is he/she using Penflip for?
There are many use cases, but I'm really shooting to fill the long-format void. Draft and Hackpad are great tools, but both heavily optimized for short form writing - things like single documents, blog posts, etc.
I want a writer to be able to write a book, solicit feedback (via the Penflip community or externally), incorporate that feedback, and then ultimately publish and distribute their work - all through through Penflip. A unified platform for everything.
Hey Product Hunters! Just wanted to share Penflip, a project I've been working on for the past few months.
Penflip is like GitHub for writing - you get version control, collaboration, and social features, but instead of for code, it's optimized for prose. On top of that, there's a distraction-free editor (woohoo markdown!) and one-click publishing.
Happy to answer any questions. AMA!
Report
@madebyloren that's awesome! Thanks a lot for making it happen... I've been fantasizing for a while about having Github power over writing.
A couple of question... do you support Spanish? Can I create an Organization to have a team collaborating in documents? Can I use my own Github Organization to store my stuff?
Hopefully you are going to spend some time soon reading emails, and not fixing bugs or promoting in Reddit, so you can read mine about the use I would give to such a helpful tool you made :)
Penflip
Product Hunt
Keysheet
Songcorder
