Three Years as a One-Man Startup
Hey Man, just my thoughts on this.<p>Looks like a great product. I may use it later this year as I&#x27;m learning Spanish.<p>However, your business model is weak, because people are fickle and don&#x27;t stick with language learning (I should know; I&#x27;ve been learning Spanish for 6 years on and off). Plus, the more you use your product, the less you need it.<p>However, there is a much better target market: businesses. I know a whole bunch of foreign nationals in the UK who have earned money working on rather basic translation tasks for web businesses. I can imagine a tool like this would be hugely useful for those businesses. Sure, I can go use Google translate, but having a polished user experience in-browser looks a lot nicer and more professional if a customer is watching me use it.<p>So, I say this year focus on selling to SMEs. If you get just a few major business contracts, it will dwarf your income from regular users. You&#x27;re looking for companies that work a lot on the web and interact with organisations overseas, possibly speak a little of the relevant foreign language but can&#x27;t afford to pay for bilingual speakers.<p>Random thoughts:<p>- the travel industry - travel agents, companies that organise tours, tourist visitor centres, accommodation agents, etc. Anyone who might want to quickly check a foreign website.
- government, particularly anything interacting abroad or with non-native speakers.
- SME exporters 
- journalists
- researchers<p>Final point - I&#x27;m not so keen on your branding. Learning a language is an exciting, potentially life-changing experience! It can increase your employability and open your eyes to entire new cultures. This is an amazing thing. &quot;Readlang&quot; does not say that to me. <i>However</i>, it&#x27;s a good name for a business interacting with the corporate market I suggested above, so it may not need changing...<p>Good luck, I think what you&#x27;re doing is awesome and you should definitely stick with it!