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Show HN: A store that generates products from anything you type in search

(anycrap.shop)
1160 points kafked | 1 comments | 13 Sep 25 12:02 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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lucasyvas ◴[13 Sep 25 14:20 UTC] No.45232277[source]▶
You could make money off of this if you are able to pair willing manufacturers to realistic and popular ideas that get generated. It could become a real market place.

Hilarious project.

Edit: I did both Mouthwash Ramen and Time Machine to the Present. I’m now addicted to this, thanks.

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haolez ◴[13 Sep 25 14:22 UTC] No.45232298[source]▶
I know of a company that is huge in laser for physics and started like this in the 80s (through magazine catalogs).

They would list all kinds of lasers. When they got some offers for one of them, they'd sell it and schedule the delivery in 90 days. Then, they started the project from scratch. Crazy stuff and borderline legal :D

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magicalhippo ◴[13 Sep 25 14:32 UTC] No.45232367[source]▶
We do something similar at work. Except usually the dev department doesn't know until handed the project from sales and so the project goals might be entirely unrealistic given the deadline.

What do you mean that feature doesn't exist? Well, I sold it to the customer, they have to go live in two weeks and their workflow depends on this feature.

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DowsingSpoon ◴[13 Sep 25 16:14 UTC] No.45233241[source]▶
While I've fortunately never had this happen to me, I'd be tempted to say something like, "Wow. Well, I sure hope you don't get fired over this. Good luck. We'll scope it out and let you know how much time we'll need."
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1. magicalhippo ◴[13 Sep 25 17:08 UTC] No.45233622[source]▶
Fortunately it doesn't happen too often, and some can be attributed to our somewhat complex feature matrix that differs by regions due to reasons.

On the other hand, in our niche customers usually don't swap software providers often due to integration work needed.

When an opportunity arises, it's usually because the yearly license expires. So we got to either sell it now with a hard deadline in the near future, or wait 5+ years till next time they switch.

So that can lead to sales being a bit optimistic when making the pitch.