u/AllinonNVDA

Edit: lots of comments hidden, go to the … in the top right corner and click “read the rules”

I have been building a startup in stealth since November. In February I transitioned to a beta to onboard a few local users being completely honest that I am not marketing yet so do not expect sales. Was able to get 4 users to test the backend and ensure stability.

Fast forward to the past 2 weeks and I am still in beta, but I started reaching out for partner opportunities as my B2B side distribution layer. I am trying to unify a fragmented market, and they are half the equation. There are 4 major software providers in this space. So far I have integrated fully with one (biggest in the space, I use their software for a different business so had api access to test), partnered with another, and the other 2 I am in partner talks with ones CEO and others COO.

It’s all super exciting, and honestly feels crazy how fast it’s happening. The only problem so far has been time. I still have my other business that pays the bills. I have no official technical background, I had to learn a lot and copy a lot of documents to build what I have built so far. Like multi user Oauth, 200+ api calls, and 20+ webhooks just for the first integration.

I feel like I am getting solid validation for what I am trying to build, I just think I’m starting to wear too many hats at the same time. I have someone I want to be a co-founder, but it would be a major risk for them as they have a nice job as a senior application developer. I have looked on YC co-founder match to no success.

I have personal funds and income to continue to bootstrap solo, however I think it could move a lot faster with a more technical co-founder to let me focus on the main aspects.

TL;DR: I’m solo so I’m doing everything, when did you get to the point you can’t do it alone?

Hi I have been working on a project for the past half year and it involved gathering a large data set. For most of this I was copy and pasting api info until recently when I realized I could achieve the same end result I am trying to achieve for the original beta users but a different way. It went from 87 data points to over 70000 in a week.

I noticed when I visited those external sites while my system was actively importing the data during its sync phase their performance is degraded. It’s not a long sync but it’s noticeably slower loading pages, no rate limits and being triggered. The overarching company never really intended for their systems to be used at such capacity (I message there api team pretty much daily) but they are working on solutions.

I am looking to find a way to cache the synced data however in a way that it’s like p2p between users so you can load it from another user on the network instead of my server(small data transfer) and a hybrid server layer for outlier data.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. It’s been great reading others posts so hopefully if you can’t help you might learn something from a response. Thanks!

Hi my name is Wright and I am a solo founder! I work in the short term rental space and kept having the same issue and I reached out to other hosts in the area and they also have the same issue, which is paying 15%+ to Airbnb just to not even own the guest relationship.

We have a direct booking site which I now get about 30% of our monthly bookings from across 30 properties. So I started working on a shared direct booking site but getting hosts to sign up, even free, was like pulling teeth.

So I did it for them and have conglomerated 70k direct booking listings across the globe so far and add more everyday.

My issue is that I am currently only advertising to the few thousands of my past guests andI want to show it to more people. I plan on rolling out Instagram and Facebook ads to targeted travel markets.

Would love any advice as to be as effective and efficient as possible. I have about 5000 emails to send this to as well from the current beta users who shared their guests contacts with me through the integration my site makes with their PMS. Thanks in advance!

TLDR: I made a commission and fee free version of Airbnb and want to market it

I am changing my sites name and url but I have people that still use the old one. How do I add 2 at a time and set one as a redirect?

Hey, been reading posts on this sub ever since I started the path of trying to build a software platform to help the business I manage with absolutely no experience.

It’s been probably the most fun I have ever had learning a new skill. I initially sought out to make a better direct booking site for the short term rentals I manage. I got almost everything done then thought, why not make it multi host, like a free network of short term rentals.

So I spent months building and speaking with hosts. Well now I have a good inventory (40k+ units across 70 countries) to hopefully help cold start and good number of emails from the hosts to send to their past guests as marketing. I’ll be sending out the emails this week.

I’ve even had a host want to put their Airbnb listing on it as it works a little different than most vacation/travel rental sites since I never touch funds or act as the MoR, it’s free. Zillow doesn’t get a cut of rent, why should Airbnb?

I’ve read some crazy stories.
What was your big break in marketing?

I founded a company to disrupt the short term rental market. Skip the markups and fees and book directly with hosts! What do y’all think?

Edit: like a Zillow for short term rentals, when you select dates and click a pin you can see availability and price if available.

Hey if you are a host and want to add your direct booking site to the map just click the “add your listing” and copy your url!

StayThayer.com

Hi everyone,

Solo founder here. I launched my beta in February and applied to YC more recently. Since applying, I’ve continued to see consistent traction and have also started conversations with senior leadership, including C suite, at some of the largest platforms in my space around potential integrations and partnerships.

I’m trying to figure out how to approach updates to my application.

What actually matters most in YC updates? Product usage, growth, or strategic conversations? Is it better to send smaller updates more frequently, or wait until there is a more meaningful milestone? Do partnership discussions at that level carry weight, or is it mostly about measurable traction?

Trying to be thoughtful about when and how I send updates without overdoing it.

Would really appreciate any insight from founders who have gone through the process!

Hi everyone,

For the past few months I have been working on the first true commission free multi-host direct booking platform as OTAs are taking a completely unfair amount of money from your reservations and causing guests to pay more than your direct booking pricing. I launched the beta on Feb 2nd of this year and have grown to 4 hosts and 87 active listings.

The site integrates directly with your PMS (currently Guesty but partnering with competitors) and set up is by far the fastest and easiest vs any of the OTAs currently. You just create an account, switch to hosting, import, copy your API id & key and select the listings you want to import.

If you use GuestyPay: set up is done once import is complete.

If you use stripe: While importing you can create a new tab and go to payments, sync payment ids and then just copy your applicable stripe publishable api keys to receive direct payments from guests (I don’t touch funds as you are the MoR). Once set up is complete you manage everything within the PMS

Messages are bi-directionally sent between your PMS’s unified inbox and my site, including your automated messaging.

Reservations are sent as reserved with the guests tokenized card. When the payment is successful the status is updated to confirmed to avoid automated messages being sent prior to payment. The guests card is saved for future charges or refunds, all handled within the PMS.

Would love to hear your thought! Thanks!!