Ask HN: I am sick and tired, help me.

7 points by coderforhire 13 years ago | 14 comments

I will be honest, I am sick and tired of building stuff that "I think is cool and no one else does". I just don't "get" how people obtain feedback before building just yet; I have put up landing pages, gathered 50-100 emails for a project, launched, and then crickets.

I know my weaknesses (it's not tech, or launching, its validation and marketing), so I want to try an experiment:

1. Post an idea, with an estimated price to the consumer:

eg; online service that will photoshop a photo for 9.99$ (something I have tried fwiw)

2. Have it be webbased (no iphone/droid apps, currently in-between macs)

3. The first idea that gets 10 people to email me: anthony@coderindustries.com, and say they will pay upon launch, I'll build it.

4. if you want to take an active marketing/bizdev role, and have a proven track 50/50 split.

5. If you want to take an active marketing role, and don't have a proven track record 75/25 split (my way).

6. If you don't want to take an active role 90/10 split (my way).

As the ideas are posted, if something pops up you would pay for, email the idea, and any tweaks you deem needed.

anthony_franco 13 years ago |

There's a huge step between collecting emails and launching - and that's talking to those potential customers. I suggest you read Running Lean by Ash Maurya. It contains actionable steps on how to get feedback from your customers so that when you launch it's something they love.

But, mind you, you'll have to "get out the building", which most people (including me) tend to stray away from.

loceng 13 years ago |

Another thing to maybe realize is people who really know their stuff, who have ideas they know will work and have thought through their idea thoroughly, won't likely be willing to do 51/49 split.

coderforhire 13 years ago | |

Edited; 50/50

loceng 13 years ago | | |

And now you get into the issue that someone might end up with 50% equity and stop working - so then any and all work the other person does benefits the other one. :)

This is why I'm not a big fan of offering large amounts of equity to people that you don't know and haven't worked with before - so you know their value, and how well you get along.

prawn 13 years ago |

Build a digital replacement for annual reports with a print on demand option. Right now, companies pay a lot to have annual reports designed and then printed as lengthy documents or put up as unwieldy and bland PDFs. Build a format/system/engine for accommodating what they should/could be using instead. e.g., why aren't annual reports more like pitch decks?

Sell it to graphic designers and encourage large companies to recommend it to their designers. Charge per instance (based on size) and take a cut from any POD.

Make it less about the obligation of providing it and more about the opportunities it might create for these companies to deliver something more engaging to their shareholders.

loceng 13 years ago |

"Don't re-invent the wheel, make a wheel that's better"

"Do what you know" - e.g. Work on what you know, via life experience.

What problems do you have and would like solutions for?

Is it big enough and would provide enough value that you'd pay if it existed?

I could go on ...

And I do need some RoR work done (along with javascript/CSS) that I was about to hire 1 to 1.5 weeks worth of work for. Maybe we could talk more and figure something out where I can help guide you in a more specific direction?

coderforhire 13 years ago | |

I think that is one of the issues, I don't have too many problems, that I haven't been able to solve via existing solutions, but I may have just not ventured out of my comfort zone enough. Shoot me an email anthony@coderindustries.com, Id love to chat.

loceng 13 years ago | | |

Just sent an email from matt@

QuantumGuy 13 years ago |

Make an email client that doesn't suck and make it open source. Price whatever you decide. Obviously web based. Seriously current email tech is stuck in the 90s. Gmail really hasn't changed since then nor has Yahoo email or AOL. They all look the same and act the same. They are very programable and by that I mean I cannot control them. I want to control my email very precisely and yes gmail filters does sort of provide that but I want to be able to control more.

loceng 13 years ago |

The easiest thing is to do what you know. Find a problem you have, and probably others have that problem too - though then it's a matter of finding if there are any worthwhile solutions already existing for it. Even if there are, maybe you can build a better version?

What are you goals? Long-term recurring revenue? Want to make $50,000 a year? $500,000 a year? Etc..

coderforhire 13 years ago | |

Short term goal, is to learn how to get people to pay me. Long term goal is to quit my job with in the next 1-5 years, and taking in my current salary from my own company.

loceng 13 years ago | | |

You have a long run-way, so that's nice, though markets change - so you have to try to be a bit of a seer ...

a) Join a startup you could learn about / be part of marketing, while being paid to do different work than marketing b) Learn about different business models in the meantime, along with how marketing works. Books on copywriting, marketing (Influence), etc..

orangethirty 13 years ago |

Just email me.