Go Fucking Do It

by pieterhg • 12 years ago

35 60 12 years ago

jabits2• 12 years ago

If I had the points, I would downvote this. Titles like this are rude and meaningless. Will not bother reading.

lexcorvus• 12 years ago

There's a karma threshold for downvoting comments, but stories can't ever be downvoted (though they can be flagged, again subject to a karma threshold, so perhaps that's what you meant).

mootle• 12 years ago

The startup is just a simple webpage that takes your money if you don't make a deadline you set; And the author is a self-procclaimed "entrepretraveler".

ZenPro9• 12 years ago

Quotation marks for startup as if you are trying to express disdain? You might want to actually structure a coherent, credible response otherwise you are simply lowering the quality of posts of HN.

Regardless of your opinion of the idea/execution it qualifies as a startup.

The same "startup" tags could be applied to Quora (I write content for free, you make people log in to view it to profit) or any other number of enterprises.

EDIT TO ADD: Poster has removed the tags around startup without adding in his edit history to show it.

notimetorelax• 12 years ago

It's the project name, but you're right some may be offended by it.

jotm• 12 years ago

It's actually a great idea. May need some refinement, but it has potential for all the self-employed people out there who struggle with meeting deadlines and achieving goals...

Milkyme• 12 years ago

What exactly do you mean by 'refine'?

jabits2• 12 years ago

edit: sorry. Nevermind. In a bad mood. I get a little tired of some of the naming these days. Its like, what are you going to do, Go home and say to your kid, Hey try that just f do it library

oneeyedpigeon2• 12 years ago

It's unclear whether, on gofuckingdoit.com, the penalty fine gets paid to the friend acting as a referee, or the owners of the site.

drewmate• 12 years ago

It seems like it goes to the owners of the site... which gives me an idea for a business. I will be the 'friend' for anyone who signs up for this service, and when they fail, I'll charge them $5 to lie to GFDI. It's bulletproof.

fnbr2• 12 years ago

Agreed. I would sign up if the money went to my friend (with a reasonable cut to the owner), but not if the money goes to the owners.

paulgb• 12 years ago

Well, if you don't want the money to go to the owner, that's all the more incentive to Go Fucking Do It ;)

riggins3• 12 years ago

I hope the developer lets us know how this goes.

I'm kinda dying to know if people actually sign up to send some random website money. As it is, I'm almost wondering if its satire.

morgante3• 12 years ago

I actually like the payment system. Built-in monetization and no worries about how the project could be sustained.

If it went to the friend, it'd create a perverse incentive for your friend to not actively encourage/support you. Sure, most friends won't consciously respond to this incentive, but I think subconsciously they'll care less.

If it went to a charity, I wouldn't really feel bad about losing it. It'd significantly decrease the threshold of pain and thus decrease the incentive.

Since it goes to the "greedy" owner, I feel all the more pressure to get it done.

patcon• 12 years ago

People keep bringing up that they'd like the service more if it gave the funds to a friend or a charity. Reminder: The mission of the site is to make you want to do the thing rather than pay money. Giving to a good cause would be a disincentive, or reason not to "just fucking do it".

Heck, if the site really wants to maximize it's value to users for the stated goal, it should probably donate the majority (or a token amount) to the Church of Scientology.

primitivesuave2• 12 years ago

Awesome app and beautiful interface! I think I'll sign up for it tomorrow...

_xczx• 12 years ago

12 startups in 12 months? That's just strange.

primitivesuave2• 12 years ago

Or one startup that pivots 12 times a year.

zalzane• 12 years ago

I think he's trying to take the same approach that mobile game developers do - generate lots of smaller titles instead of one big one so you have more chances of hitting it big.

watwut• 12 years ago

I think that game a month challenge was primary meant to be for fun, learning and to motivate rapid prototyping. It has nothing to do with generating big hits.

gkya2• 12 years ago

That's actually utterly idiotic; as in “12 songs in 12 months” or “52 paintings in 52 weeks”. One does not routinely come up with good ideas or get inspired.

ZenPro9• 12 years ago

This is so wrong I don't know where to begin. Your comment is also blatantly ignorant of the high output of artistic work that was produced "on spec" during the renaissance and other artistic periods.

52 paintings in a year was not uncommon for painters that are now revered as old masters.

Good ideas and inspiration are, despite your opinion, largely a product of routine.

The routine of capturing thoughts and directions followed by the routine of planning, implementation and possibly review.

The idea of a tortured artist throwing a smattering of paint at a canvas in frustration because his "spark" is gone is largely a figment of the modern imagination.

Art has been made to order on demand for most of history.

EDIT TO ADD: Downvoting without a response? Thanks for proving my point.

swatkat• 12 years ago

More like "12 (weekend/hobby) projects in 12 months".

ruigomes• 12 years ago

I am planning to run a similar challenge, and I have been struggling with correctly naming it, since I won't actually be creating startups (no actual business plan, no nothing).

I think 12 sideprojects in 12 months would be more appropriate, at least to the approach I'm planning to take.

Regarding this project, I follow the creator on Twitter and he announced it yesterday I believe, and today I was thinking about it and ran into the same question "does the money go to the website or to the friend?".

Logistically, I don't think paying the friend would be something easy to do (does Stripe even allow for something like that?). Going 100% to a non-profit would leave no room for profit, so I would personally go with 80/90% to a non-profit of choice and keep the remainder as a fee.

jjin0826932• 12 years ago

What I don't quite understand is: what kind of person would rather pay 25USD to some -- for all intents and purposes -- unknown organization over a good friend whom they know will hold them accountable. Plus it'll be a whole lot harder to lie to a friend; with this, it's as simple as clicking the other button.

dajohnson89• 12 years ago

If the money went to the friend, it would be easier to recruit them. Although in that case, they will have a perverse incentive to hinder your progress. Perhaps it's better to have the money go to a non-profit org of your choice.

jjin0826932• 12 years ago

Ha. In that case I guess it'd be up to the user to choose their friend wisely.

An option to choose where the money goes definitely seems in order.

ZenPro9• 12 years ago

I have seen this a number of times but the money goes to a charitable cause instead.

Oprah Winfrey also pioneered it via television.

Not totally sure why a random stranger would forward you money for procrastinating but that does not mean they won't.

In Europe anyone accepting transactions online is bound by Distance Selling Regulations which means they can demand their money back within 7 days, no questions.

I would factor that little admin nightmare into your business/legal plan.

marc• 12 years ago

The 'Distance Selling Regulations' does not apply for "contracts for services where you agreed to the service starting before the seven working days has expired"[1]

[1] http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/distance-s...

ryanseys• 12 years ago

So a few buttons and a credit card field is all it takes to be a "startup"? I think I'll write myself a startup tomorrow.

Edit: Or today even, you know, in the true nature of the post.

ZenPro9• 12 years ago

What do you think a startup requires?

The idea scales, it is not spec work. According to YCom criteria it is a startup. shrug

danellis• 12 years ago

yawn

Enough with the "shock" titles. You're not impressing anyone. Grow up.

morgante3• 12 years ago

Love it. The idea has been tried before, but I've never seen an incarnation this simple. I like that there's no requirement to create an account (for either me or my friend) and the UI feels perfectly sized for the complexity of the task.

Plus, it works. I'd been meaning to clean my desk for weeks, but after assigning $50 to getting it done today I finally did it.

heurist2• 12 years ago

You could hire someone to clean an entire apartment for $50.

morgante3• 12 years ago

You could hire someone to clean an entire apartment for $50.

Obviously the point is to not lose my $50.

throwawayLSKDNF• 12 years ago

Awesome! I just added some short-term 100-dollar TODOs.

(1) The product needs a basic F.A.Q. (What, exactly, happens to my card information? You don't put a hold on the funds, right? Do you know your shit with respect to securing your servers?)

(2) Take my email. Send me a confirmation. Remind me the day before. And then email me the conclusion.

rartichoke3• 12 years ago

The big problem I see is how do you pick the accountability partner?

It needs to be someone who you would trust with an arbitrary amount of money because as soon as there's an ounce of distrust then the entire idea falls apart.

I'm not going to put up $250 if I think there's even a 0.0000001% chance the accountability partner will improperly log that I didn't do it.

eurleif2• 12 years ago

The money doesn't go to the accountability partner. So if they place any value at all on your friendship, why would they do that? There's nothing to gain.

Also:

I'm not going to put up $250 if I think there's even a 0.0000001% chance the accountability partner will improperly log that I didn't do it.

Really? An expected loss of $0.00000025 bothers you?

rartichoke3• 12 years ago

It doesn't matter where the money goes to in the end, the only thing that matters is the risk taker loses the money.

There's a very big difference between "internet friend I've known for 4 years and I would consider him a decently close friend" and "I'm willing to hold this guy accountable for $1,000".

I think you guys under estimate at how hard it will be to find an accountability partner who is actually worthy. Your family members will have a bias to not let you lose the money. Really close friends (the people you can trust) might too but the questionably close friends aren't quite trustworthy enough to let them decide on your $500, etc..

Go Fucking Do It

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