In 2006 I created a site that allowed you to upload, categorize, and play your MP3s. I was solving a problem I had where a recent hard drive failure caused me to lose ALL of my music.
The site actually got big really fast because in 2006 no real competitors existed and SEO was very easy (then).
It failed for a few reasons:
One, before the site I didn't know how to program. I actually taught myself how to program in PHP/MySQL/JS to launch the site. The code was very shitty and so was the design.
Two, I didn't understand just how much bandwidth this would consume. I ran this out of my downtown 1 bed room apartment on a PC built in 1999. Sometimes I'd wake up from parties and see people passed out next to it with beer bottles and weed on top of it. Eventually my Dad donated a DL380 to me, but the bigger problem was I ran this on a business class DSL line. Playback and uploads were terrible. Sometimes I would actually disconnect the server from my modem so I could do online gaming.
Three, I had no idea about how to make money online or find investors. I had no plans other than just build it cause its cool.
In the end it worked out really well. I discontinued the site and continued my career in development.
The site actually got big really fast because in 2006 no real competitors existed and SEO was very easy (then).
It failed for a few reasons:
One, before the site I didn't know how to program. I actually taught myself how to program in PHP/MySQL/JS to launch the site. The code was very shitty and so was the design.
Two, I didn't understand just how much bandwidth this would consume. I ran this out of my downtown 1 bed room apartment on a PC built in 1999. Sometimes I'd wake up from parties and see people passed out next to it with beer bottles and weed on top of it. Eventually my Dad donated a DL380 to me, but the bigger problem was I ran this on a business class DSL line. Playback and uploads were terrible. Sometimes I would actually disconnect the server from my modem so I could do online gaming.
Three, I had no idea about how to make money online or find investors. I had no plans other than just build it cause its cool.
In the end it worked out really well. I discontinued the site and continued my career in development.