Wouldworks: My non-software startup

[brentmc79]

I wouldn't quite call it a startup yet, but I was inspired by Jeremy McAnally's WickhamHouse startup and when he posted about it a few weeks ago (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1795302) and this led me to start http://wouldworks.com.

I recently started tinkering in my garage, building little things out of wood. My tools were limited to a rotary tool, a jigsaw, and a drill -- extremely basic stuff when it comes to woodworking. Given what I was working with, I was never extremely satisfied with the quality of what I building. Despite that, I decided to show off one of my creations (a laptop stand) to my coworkers, and to my surprise they were all very impressed with what I had built.

Several of them were interested in a stand of their own, and someone suggested that I should sell them online. Well, I really like doing stuff with my hands -- building stuff, fixing things. So I started thinking about it, and after hearing Jeremy talk about his business (we're coworkers) and how well it was doing, I thought why not?

There was one problem, my shitty excuse for a woodshop.

I didn't have the money to go out and but a bunch of nice tools. Hell, I didn't have the money to buy a bunch of cheap tools. I had all these ideas for other tech/gadget-related accessories to build, but no means to do so. I thought, how could I make this happen?

I tried setting up something through kickstarter.com, but unless you're making an indie film or back-to-the-future shoes that tie themselves, they're not interested. I found another site that wasn't so picky (gofundme.com) and set up a donation site there. I just launched it earlier today and I've already gotten a handful of donations.

http://bit.ly/wouldworks

Check it out. If you like what you see, make a donation and I'll send you something cool and hand-made in return. If you don't like what you see, but you think there's something I can do to change that, then let me know.

[luke_s]

As somebody who runs a small non-software related online business, selling products, my first question is - why in the world do you need funding?

Just start a website selling the stands and see how many orders you get! You can obviously build a few with your existing crappy tools. Rather than going through all the trouble and distraction of raising money, when you are not even sure if there is much of a market there - just start selling and find out! You will soon know if this is something worth perusing, and you can use the income generated to buy better tools and scale up the business.

In the unlikely event that you start to become flooded with orders you can either create some kind of waiting list people can add their e-mail addresses to, or just increase your prices until you have a level of demand you can deal with.

To pull some advice from the software related start-up work, If you are not embarrassed by version 1, then you have waited to long to release.

[brentmc79]

Essentially that's what I'm doing. If people make a donation, then I send them a product. I could continue to build them with my existing crappy tools, but with more appropriate tools I can be more efficient and maintain a more consistent, quality end product. It'd be different if I were asking for donations and promising nothing in return. In the end I think it all works out the same.

Just out of curiosity, what's you non-software online business?

[fragmede]

> If people make a donation, then I send them a product.

I've seen that else where, and it really peeves me. Why can't you just say you're selling your product online? What is it about calling it donation? (Other than Paypay being really picky about it.) If it's a donation, then it's a donation. If I give you money, and you give me a product, that's called buying and selling.

[Kliment]

Paypal being picky is a real issue though. This kickstarter-style compensated donation does seem to get around that, but I expect it's a loophole that will soon be closed. Then again, I don't know of any other setup for doing a pay-what-you-like model with Paypal.

[luke_s]

Well, as others have pointed out, there is a difference between 'make a donation and we will send you something' to 'we are selling laptop stands - click here to buy now!'. There is no reason you cant just go straight for the latter.

Thanks for asking about my business. I sell tools for grafting trees via http://www.grafting-tool.com/ . It’s a very small business, that I setup in my free time - the website sits there and takes orders, and every week I spend an hour or so posting tools and answering e-mails.

At the moment I'm actually kind of stuck at a local maximum, of 1 or 2 orders a week. There are a million things I could do to improve the business, but with so few customers it’s hard to know what is actually making a difference. It’s impossible to do things like A/B testing to figure out what is working and what is not. Case in point - I tried cutting my prices in half, and the number of orders actually seemed to drop! However it’s impossible to know if I was just having a bad week, or it actually made a difference.

[Empedocles99]

If you are in the bay area, check out http://www.techshop.ws

They have woodworking tools and machines. The most awesome of which are: 2 CNC Routers, and a lathe

Also: chop saw, table saw, jigsaw, and some other stuff I don't know about.

I use the metal stuff there, it's a wonderful place to make stuff, plenty of people making interesting projects too.

I'm a member there, and don't benefit (other than getting to see other peoples crafts) from recommending this to you :)

[joshu]

Techshop isn't strong for wood. However, there's Sawdust in Santa Clara.

http://www.sawdustshop.com/

[pilom]

Does anyone know anything like techshop in the DC area? I've been looking for a long time and the best I can find is hacdc.org.

[Bryantc]

Do you still have a link to a picture of the stand? I don't seem to be able to find it in the comments.

Your post made me register for a HN account after lurking for a long time because I too run a non-software online business. I manufacture my own products, do our own web development etc.

You don't need to be distracted with raising funds and the what-nots like Luke has pointed out. When I first started out, I made a few samples and took a few pictures of them. I coded up my own website, loaded the products in and launched. All this was done with around $700.

With the amount you have raised up now, you should quickly start putting your products online (your own site, or perhaps even marketplaces like Etsy). Focus on getting customers and then keeping them.

My business is still young and I am nowhere near what some HN'ers have accomplished, but if you ever need a little help, feel free to contact me.

[momotomo]

The lack of scale is probably cooling people's interest in investing in this - realistically it's not going to escalate into something that produces returns by a factor of N. It doesn't mean it's a bad idea - but this is basically hobby / small business / home business territory.

Meanwhile, if you have good ideas, have you considered working on the design side, getting together with a few people and moving towards small scale mass production for your gear?

edit: sorry, mass production as in finding a manufacturer somewhere who can make bulk quantities of your furniture, wood or otherwise.

[brentmc79]

Well, to be honest its not really investing since you'll get a product in return, but yeah I see what you're saying.

For right now its just me doing the design and fabrication. I'd like to keep it that way as long as possible. I think the fact that they're not mass produced is what people really like about it.

If it does somehow get to be more than I can handle, then I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. ;)

[momotomo]

Can relate, I work in the arts so theres always a 1:1 cap on the production / profit aspect of it (excluding soft copies like prints and digital editions). Though, given, that's completely discounting the return of the enjoyment of the craft itself.

You could very well do both, produce and sell the originals, shell out a second business that mass produces the more popular designs, etc.

[SHOwnsYou]

The stands look awesome, but I had some thoughts.

I don't have a lot of use for a (really cool looking) laptop stand. But there are other things that I do have a use for. Mostly chairs, tables (maybe a coffee table with a great design or concept), trunks, boxes, etc.

Those things in a dark finish are really what appeal to me.

I guess what I'm saying is that while the stands look awesome, don't forget the classics that have just as much, if not more, of a market, but also keep doing what you like to do. This is obviously heavily slanted towards what I like to see in woodwork, rather than what I'm sure you really like to make.

I don't know what your intentions are (just doing this for enjoyment or one day hoping to leaving your job for your craft), but there is always a market for quality woodwork and I think your stuff is phenomenal.

[brentmc79]

Thanks for the compliment!

At this point, I'm mostly interested in smaller items since they're easier to ship to people. Initially I'm just planning to steadily increase the quality and detail of what I build.

[NginUS]

Here's what comes to mind when I look at what you're doing.

I have a monitor problem where one is too short, and because of how my desk is I'd have to raise both of them different heights for them to fit right. If I had a couple books the right size, it would solve the problem- but that would look ghetto- and I don't have books the right size anyway.

What if customers could send you a photo of something that could be solved by custom woodwork that they don't have the means to do themselves, so you could exchange measurements & sell a solution like that?

[brentmc79]

Send me some photos to give me an idea of what you're talking about. brent at wouldworks dot com

[noglorp]

Have you checked around your community for a shop you can use/rent time in?

[brentmc79]

I thought about looking into something like that, but I have two young children and it can be a bit of a challenge to get out of the house sometimes. Being able to just step into my garage makes it much easier.

[spacecadet]

Sweet, keep it up! I build furniture in my free time, my house(an a few others) is filled with my creations. I also find it therapeutic after long periods of staring at a screen.

[SabrinaDent]

You need to open an Etsy shop ASAP. You are providing the perfect answer to the very timely question "What do I get my boyfriend/husband/dad for Christmas?"

[brentmc79]

http://wouldworks.com

[duck]

Hope this works for you, but have you looked at the price of good tools? $1500 isn't going to get you much more than a nice 14" bandsaw and decent table saw.

[brentmc79]

No doubt. But if I can make a decent product with shitty tools, then I can make an even better product with mediocre tools. If I start turning a real profit, then I'll invest in real quality equipment.

[aaronblohowiak]

A few really good tools will last you a lifetime. Don't waste time, money or potentially your safety with inferior tools. And stay far, far away from dull tools, too.

[retroryan]

clickable non-bit.ly link - http://funds.gofundme.com/z5b0

[gcheong]

Any pictures of the iPad stand?

[brentmc79]

Not yet, but only because I don't yet have the necessary tools to finish it. But if the donations keep coming in like they have been, then I'll have what I need very soon! I'll post some pics as soon as its done. You can count on that.