northbranch

I've been reading HN for a couple of years now, and got bitten by the same startup bug as so many others. I work as a developer in the financial industry, so I started thinking of web-based services to help consumers invest more wisely. Some of the ideas were likely very good, but I always seemed to burn out after a couple of weeks and move onto the next thing.

Then I read a puff piece the NY Times published about tech executives wearing colorful socks. I had been doing so for years, and the article made me realize there are many others like me. For whatever reason, I started to dream of the perfect retailer for such products: constantly rotating selection, only a few options that are carefully selected, etc. That was a few months ago, and today we launched http://www.northbranchmerchants.com

The road here has been interesting to say the least - I had never worked in retail, and had to learn all the logistics of working with distributors and building relationships with brands. Most importantly, I realized that it's best to work on what keeps you interested - I never gave up on this idea like the others. Unfortunately it seems like the only way to get there is through trial and error. Do others have a similar tale?

PS Any tech feedback on the site is very much appreciated, since I'm new to web development. We're using Shopify as the platform, with Stripe for payment processing. Both products have been great so far.