boltRomain Simon on SaaS & tech

Projects & failures

I started creating websites around 1999, when I was in CM2 (5th grade), using just Notepad and a book on HTML. At first, I didn't even know how to put them online. Then, years later I discovered I could host them using Free's service, which offered free website hosting at yourusername.free.fr. This led me to subscribe to multiple pay-as-you-go internet plans just to get more usernames. Thank you, Xavier Niel!

DateNameStatusDescription
2005Hackers ChallengerunningKnorc's Hacker's Challenge was a puzzle, programming, and hacking challenge before CTF challenges existed
2006Car For FreecanceledWhen the Million Dollar Homepage became popular, it inspired me to create a website on the same principle where people would bid on advertising on a car. The whole budget would be spent on buying a car, so advertisers might get space on a Lamborghini if I got enough money. That was my smart way of getting a car for free. The website was cleverly called www.car.for.free.fr (because Free offered free websites ending in free.fr)
2007AerodynamitecanceledAerodynamite was a 3D game that allowed you to pilot a Mirage 2000 with realistic physics
2008Psychomoteur DECADIcanceledThis was my real first attempt at selling software. I built software to train for the "Pilotes Cadet d'Air France"'s selection exam, and more specifically its psychomotor test. Unfortunately, the recruitment was canceled the year after I built the software, so I never sold it even though it was working. There is still a short and buggy demo video on Youtube
2009MiuweecanceledNetflix (kind of). This was my attempt at building a legal movie streaming service. At the time, Deezer and Spotify started to emerge with freemium models, but there were still a lot an illegal streaming websites for movies so I wanted to create a sort of Netflix before Netflix. I wrote a very detailed Business Plan, started experimenting with the tech, contacted an incubator, and started writing a blog about cinema. I then stopped working on it because the tech was too complicated at the time and it would have been a real pain to get access to movie catalogues.
2010How evil are you?closedHow evil are you? was a Facebook app inspired by the Purity test. I thought the app would get viral and attempted to generate revenue from ads but I only got a few thousand users.
2011HighnimalcanceledHighnimal was a pet social network started during my first Startup Weekend
2011Social VouchercanceledSocial Voucher was a Prestashop addon that would give your e-commerce website's customers a discount when they share what they bought with their friends on Facebook. The addon was working but I never sold it.
2012Ebook SeductionclosedThis was a website selling . It generated me some passive revenue with referral links, but the website closed when I forgot to renew the domain name.
2013Formation PhotoshopcanceledI started recording myself giving Photoshop courses because I thought it would generate passive revenue quite easily. I eventually got bored and did not release it, even thought I had the website.
2014-2021DatananasacquiredDatananas is a sales engagement software for salespeople. When I started it, it was a Chrome addon that would scrape prospects on LinkedIn and guess their corporate email address using an algorithm. Datananas has been acquired by Sarbacane in 2020.
2016YoutubeursclosedYoutubeurs.fr was a directory of all french Youtube channels by category, because I wanted a way to easily find new interesting Youtube channels. You could also see subscribers statistics and track the largest Youtube channels.
2021BeanvestrunningBeanvest is a stock portfolio performance tracker for investors
2022YEAR OFF๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ด๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฑ ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท
2023Memorable Password GeneratorrunningFree Chrome extension to generate memorable passwords
2023appwatchclosedChrome extensions / Shopify Applications Database
2023Ocean MapwipScubadiving Guide
2024EmailcreamrunningFind and bookmark the best email marketing campaigns. Launched with Nicolas
2024MeliesrunningAI Filmmaking software
2024Midjourney SrefrunningCurated collection of --sref codes for Midjourney
2024Fรชte des pรจresrunningContent site about father's day
2024AI film toolsrunningDirectory about tools to make films using AI
2024Massage FormationrunningWebsite for a massage school

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Thomas Edison