People keep asking how I did it. The honest answer: I didn't "do" anything special. I just shipped something weird and somebody on Hacker News happened to see it.
The beginning
One year ago I was 14 and bored. I had built maybe 5 "projects" that died on my hard drive. So I spent a Saturday scraping startup names from Product Hunt, pasting them into a JSON file, and throwing together a single HTML page with terrible CSS.
I posted it on HN with the title: "Free crunchabse alternative"
It hit the front page. 400 upvotes. 600 comments, mostly roasts. A few people actually looked at the directory. Someone asked "how do I add my startup?" I said "I don't know, I just made this in a weekend." That was the first 20 startups listed.
The pivot
Those 20 startups turned into 200. Then 2,000. I kept answering every comment, fixing every bug reported within 24 hours, and shipping the next feature people actually wanted.
Nobody cared that my code was messy. They cared that someone their age was building something they could actually use.
Today
StartupWiki is now an AI-powered research directory with verified startup profiles, funding data, competitive analysis, and team insights.
We just launched our new Launch Platform where startups can submit, verify their badge, and get discovered by the community. And the view count is climbing in a way that still surprises me.
The metric everyone obsesses over is the one that's already happened. The real signal? Strangers emailing me asking how to get listed.
What I've learned at 15
Ship ugly first. My first version had hardcoded data and a broken CSS gradient. It worked. People didn't care that it was ugly — they cared that it existed.
HN is a launchpad, not a home. That first post gave us the initial users. What kept them was the follow-up: answering every request, fixing every bug, shipping based on actual feedback.
You don't need permission. I'm 15. I can't rent a car, vote, or legally sign most ToS. None of that stopped me from building something thousands now use.
Climbing view count is a lagging indicator. The real signal is how many people are asking you to let them in.
We're open to feedback, beta testers for the new launch platform, and startup founders who want to get listed. Drop a comment or DM me.
What's the one thing you wish you'd known when you shipped your first project?
People keep asking how I did it. The honest answer: I didn't "do" anything special. I just shipped something weird and somebody on Hacker News happened to see it.
The beginning
One year ago I was 14 and bored. I had built maybe 5 "projects" that died on my hard drive. So I spent a Saturday scraping startup names from Product Hunt, pasting them into a JSON file, and throwing together a single HTML page with terrible CSS.
I posted it on HN with the title: "I made a tiny startup directory, roast me."
It hit the front page. 400 upvotes. 600 comments, mostly roasts. A few people actually looked at the directory. Someone asked "how do I add my startup?" I said "I don't know, I just made this in a weekend." That was the first 20 startups listed.
The pivot
Those 20 startups turned into 200. Then 2,000. I kept answering every comment, fixing every bug reported within 24 hours, and shipping the next feature people actually wanted.
Nobody cared that my code was messy. They cared that someone their age was building something they could actually use.
Today
StartupWiki is now an AI-powered research directory with verified startup profiles, funding data, competitive analysis, and team insights.
We just launched our new Launch Platform where startups can submit, verify their badge, and get discovered by the community. And the view count is climbing in a way that still surprises me.
The metric everyone obsesses over is the one that's already happened. The real signal? Strangers emailing me asking how to get listed.
What I've learned at 15
Ship ugly first. My first version had hardcoded data and a broken CSS gradient. It worked. People didn't care that it was ugly — they cared that it existed.
HN is a launchpad, not a home. That first post gave us the initial users. What kept them was the follow-up: answering every request, fixing every bug, shipping based on actual feedback.
You don't need permission. I'm 15. I can't rent a car, vote, or legally sign most ToS. None of that stopped me from building something thousands now use.
Climbing view count is a lagging indicator. The real signal is how many people are asking you to let them in.
We're open to feedback, beta testers for the new launch platform, and startup founders who want to get listed. Drop a comment or DM me.
Check it out at startupwiki.tech and check the launch page out at startupwiki.tech/launch
Top comments (0)