Comment Helper for Google Docs Beta
So here's the plan...
In short: bring something useful to a screen near you.
Update September 2022: In mid-July, I put this project on ice to focus on a couple of new and more timely projects: radiobostrom.com, parfitarchive.org, and type3.audio. I still intend to complete the roadmap below, but with everything delayed by roughly 2 months.
June 2022:
First prototype & demand validation
Initial development
Private beta release
First round of user testing
July:
Public beta release
Reflect on first four weeks- [in progress] Marketing push within the effective altruism community
- Start testing ideas for product-led user acquisition.
- Review feedback, decide whether to continue or bail.
- Release improvements based on beta feedback.
August:
- Target: >10 monthly active users; >$300 monthly recurring revenue
- If I make this target, I will commit to maintaining the extension for at least a year.
Autumn 2022:
- Refine copy and make better marketing website.
- General release (out of beta)
- (?) Launch free plan for light users
- Formalise free licenses for people on low income
- Release Firefox version (Get notified).
- Target: >100 monthly active users; of which >30 are employed at effective altruism orgs; >$3000 monthly recurring revenue
- I will commit to maintaining the extension indefinitely.
- From here, gradually reduce monthly price for all users.
Winter 2022:
- Target: 100-1000 monthly active users
See the project sheet for my current list of known issues and feature ideas.
I need your help! Please try the extension, send me your feedback, and share the extension to people who might like it.
Appendix 1. Wildly optimistic Fermi estimates
This project has two main aims:
- Speed up people doing valuable work in the effective altruism community, and beyond.
- Help me buy a house and start a family.
The upfront costs of this project will be $20-40K. By the end of 2022, I hope it'll be saving $10-$100K of people's valuable time every month.
To do this, I need 10-100 users whose time is worth $200 / hour, each saving 4 hours / month.
I hope Comment Helper will also be supporting valuable discussions that wouldn't happen otherwise. It's amazing how much things can change when you make it much easier to do a thing.