Hi all, thrilled to be a part of this community. Long time Js coder (repjackson (r2) · GitHub), just found Glide and fully converting.
I’m currently building out my community platform at www.echo.army. The idea is for people to earn credit via posts, transfers, sales, services, and spend it in the marketplace. My dream is for it to become a neighborhood platform similar to Nextdoor but with it’s own currency.
Cool concept. Definitely doable in glide. Biggest hurdle I see is getting people to want to interact on one platform in several different aspects. People tend to get confused
I’m also in the military social space. MilitarySocialNetwork.org The current app is on the old glide apps, and I’m not really supporting it anymore. Working on the rebuild on new apps, primarily for notifications but it also just had to be done with glide switching their focus.
You’re right, that has been a hurdle. ‘It’s too much’ is common feedback. I’m also using Echo as a ‘mega’ app where I can pull from for other projects. And it’s fun to push the limits fitting in everything.
MilitarySocialNetwork looks really cool and I’m sure a desired concept. I’ve been trying to get the tinder experience going in the new apps, it’s a little tricky. I’m happy to help (for free) if you’d like some.
Tinder for friends, doesn’t work either. Ha yes I know that’s my app… but it also isn’t. It works great as bait per se. People understand it and they want friends so they’ll join and try it out. But, conversations fall flat so fast and don’t lead to anything. The new version still has the swipe (well, tap next) for friends aspect for that lead, but I’m focusing more on small groups, discussion prompts, virtual hangouts… various things to make it more sticky so people interact long enough to actually get to know others. The swipe aspect in the first app even was tossed in just because I could… I came to Glide in the first place to create a better user flow for a program I first did with google forms sign ups and fb messenger group chats. Biggest hurdle I have is just the sales aspect. I’m tired of putting myself out there to maintain a personal brand, but that or some other method of getting sponsors is ultimately what’s needed.
I like the idea of using your in-app currency for the marketplace. People on the fb groups are happy to sell things really cheap or just give away, so I don’t think many will mind exchanging items amongst each other for coins. But it only works with a decent sized user base. I think for both of us, creating value to users on the app independent of user base, is critical.
Thanks Andy
I was using Melon Studio, which is now Streamlabs, but Loom seems cool, I’ll check it out. Yeah it’s fun just sharing the whole process and trying to make it interesting/useful for others.
I used to teach software and happy to have a reason to jump back in. I love the Glide world, siked to help it grow.
Wow, really well said. I’ve struggled with scope throughout. I started with just my neighborhood (www.goldrun.community) but then decided to go ‘global’. Sometimes it simplifies the app but like you said creating value beyond the user base is key. That’s why I’m going kitchen sink, for practice but maybe posts->events->marketplace, an info to physical evolution through trust. With gamification to catalyze.
It’s cool you came to Glide hitting limits of gforms and fb. Always best to start with a manual concept. Hear you on the sales thing. I’m bad at it, that’s why I’m thrilled to be a part of this ecosystem. Just want to build apps, and pitching a new one to my neighbors hasn’t clicked. Maybe you just need a marketing person, that helped me to separate my ego, or tap into an existing smaller group within the military ala fb and harvard. Or just build off the swipe feature and keep going, like you’re doing.
The currency part is my favorite. Venmo clone, post tips, premium posts like onlyfans, rewards for content. Then use that to get a pizza delivered at midnight from a neighbor. Or rent their vacuum. But we both have to start small and balance features with simplicity.
Lol I’m cracking up because it seems you’re very similar to me. Other people want simplicity and we’re like oh and this and that and how about we try this too that’ll be great right?!? Very quickly I can overwhelm someone if they start asking about my projects
A marketing person would be great… but not just to post to IG and FB but someone to actually go to people like USAA and do the buttering up. Another mil community entrepreneur I know… I see so many posts about her at this event and that competition and winning this and new partnership there… And I’m thinking that’s fantastic but is there anytime left over to work on the product itself??? Perhaps I need a co-founder who is like that person, and I can focus on the product. After a few times putting myself out there… you said it… ego gets a beating and I need to recover by retreating to my corner and just working on some ideas without asking for judgement.
But yeah… I challenge you to think of an aspect to focus on in your app, that delivers value (I hate that word) to users even if you only have 5-10 people on it. I really think that’s the key for us to get adoption otherwise you might be able to get people to sign up, but they won’t stick around.
Just watched your first one where you were mucking around with the Query column. Cracked me up
(I mean that in a good way). And yeah, it is a game changer - this was one of the most requested features, and we had no idea it was coming. Actually, I don’t think Glide knew it was coming either - I believe that it just emerged out of a weekend jam session that Mark & Jason had about a month ago.
ps. That weird filter that you found at 9:43 was a result of copying the Collection and then changing the source. You can often wind up with dangling bits like that when you copy components, so it’s something to watch out for.
Thanks Darren. I’m having fun recording them and glad it’s somewhat entertaining. The more I hear about Glide and the community the more I like. So cool that you can spin up something this useful that quickly. Well thank you for the feature, it feels like a gear shift up.
10-4 on the filter thing. Glide’s so straightforward that it’s funny how that’s the closest thing I’ve found to a bug (which I get it isn’t)
Again really well said. I’m just using my app as a playground, maybe just to pull from for other more focused apps. Just watched the Arnold documentary and it stuck out when he said half of the movie is to make it and half is marketing it. Yeah it’s real tough to do both, that person you described sounds like an ideal partner. I’ve seen many projects get funding and attention without much dev ability.
Another reason why I’m excited about Glide, it makes everything so much easier so hopefully the marketing can fold in faster too.
I think the neighbor rental concept is my feature focus. It’s also the most challenging to do correctly. I think just by continuing with the military app and in that community you’ll adapt over time, just have to sustain the effort (also telling myself that).
