Usually only an alternative exists, not exactly what I do. FWIW I steal ideas from other people for my projects.
Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?
191–200 of 301 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?
#192A musician doesn't stop writing a love song just because there are millions of love songs already written.
Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?
#193There is a difference bt. building an app/software and building a business. If you enter a field with existing businesses, you have to treat it like a business, otherwise your app will generate zero revenue. Talking unfortunately from experience.
I feel your pain. I spent a year building a SaaS and then another year trying to find customers. Never made a single sale.
I realize now I approached the whole enterprise bass-ackwards.
Next time: find customers first, then build the thing. If you can't find customers, then at least you haven't wasted time and energy building the thing.
I know this is common wisdom now, but I apparently enjoy learning all of life's little lessons the hard way.
Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?
#194I had, or I guess still have, an idea for Yet Another Web Framework. I've written four versions of it in three languages already. I kept running into a problem: if it was complex enough to realize my full vision, then I wouldn't have time to maintain it, especially if it got any traction at all. Plus, for each single thing I wanted it to do, there were pretty well established things you could use instead.
I enjoyed programming it as a learning experience and to scratch my own itch. But I eventually decided it would actually be harder to maintain the system than to write a dumb little web app for any given project. And that there were probably much more valuable things I could teach myself than My Excentric Web Framework.
On another front, while I have never written any code for it, I keep thinking it would be cool to have GeoCities back but updated for all the cool stupid things you can do in the modern Web. A place for your weird taste in CSS, in public, with no shame and open to all. But I keep wishing somebody else would do it, which is not exactly the thing you asked about but somewhat close.
Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?
#195My $0.02. If you feel like the problem exists, start building. But, if you think the problem is solved, then it makes no sense to proceed with it. For a startup, people use your product because they have a problem to solve. It does not matter how bad your UI/UX is, how drastically bad your flows are, if you are offering a solution no one else is, you will have users. It just needs to work. The more pertinent the prob…
UI/UX does matter if that is the problem you are trying to solve. If users can't use your product because they don't understand it, it isn't solving their problem.
Source: We sign up people because, and these are quotes from sales calls, "You have a good font size, easy to read", "I won't have to train new staff on how to use this correctly".
Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?
#196Mine is mostly a mental problem, I feel like my product will never be good enough compared to others. Even right now, I'm working on a simple website for a specific niche, but there's already another website that does exactly the same thing. I feel like people will just think I copied there idea, or that they might have better content than me. It's always been an issue for me, and because of it, I've never been able…
If it's "exactly the same thing", I personally wouldn't do it. It doesn't have to be something so significantly different, but it has to be a solution to some real pain points that persist on the existing solution. On his book "From 0 to 1", Peter Thiel goes even more extreme. For him, if something isn't 10x better then the alternative solution, he wouldn't do it. Of course, all the above doesn't apply if your goal o…
But isn't Peter Thiel's view on what's a worthwhile return on investment different to most of us (who I expect would be happy just making a decent living)
Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
As an angel investor, I'm curious. If you need seed funding, email me :) My contact info is on zorinaq.com
May I suggest investing in an SSL certificate for your website? I find it really hard to really trust if that's your contact information ;)
Not OP, but I don’t have certificate on my personal web site either, and I don’t think I need one.
> find it really hard to really trust if that's your contact information
Because Google implemented warning in their web browser, and you comply without understanding their reasons?
SSL is most useful for credit cards processing.
SSL makes some sense for e-mails and chat messages, also for authentication.
SSL is useless for static content.
I think Google did that for money, just sold the security story really well. They’re smart people, they can’t possibly be unaware of certificates being useless for majority of the web. Here’s the reasons.
Increases entry barrier, centralizing internet even more. For-profit internet companies have zero issues paying for certificates, it’s part of their business. It raises barrier for ordinary people. Also creates more incentive for placing ads on their web sites to reduce costs. Guess who earns most profits from internet ads?
Also, SSL breaks caching proxies by design. This opens market for technically inferior google AMP. Technically inferior, because proxies are closer to users, 20 years ago most office buildings had a caching proxy like Squid or MS ISA Server.
Also, there’s unintended consequence, users learning to ignore SSL errors and proceed anyway. People processing credit cards usually know what they do, take security seriously and SSL errors there often means what it’s supposed to mean, warns about potential hacks. People implementing SSL just to shut up the google browser don’t need security, they care much less and screw up much more often.
Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?
#198Here's the recommendation I give to students when they ask me this question (it's a common one!): You come up with a brilliant idea, you obsess over it, you Google some info, and on your screen lies your idea, being done by someone else, for the last two years. You’re all too familiar with that sinking feeling in your stomach that follows. You abandon the idea almost immediately after all that excitement and ideation…
Great advice, so I am not going to repeat this because I 100% agree with it. However additionally I would add that if you think that it is the software alone that will make or break the company, then it is obvious that this is your first time doing this and that you have never brought a product to market. There are a ton of examples where one product that was of less quality absolutely annihilated another excellent p…
Marketing always wins.
So many business owners fail to understand this. We have a better product, better support, we're made in America....
None of that matters. How do you present the product? What image does it portray? How is your name viewed?
Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?
#199I know a VCS service and a support tool that could let you steal their lunch. Both are lumbering giants under their current owners and have not innovated for years. If its lean they could beat you on execution. If its riddled with bloat and the good engineers have left, you could win.
Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?
#200I had, or I guess still have, an idea for Yet Another Web Framework. I've written four versions of it in three languages already. I kept running into a problem: if it was complex enough to realize my full vision, then I wouldn't have time to maintain it, especially if it got any traction at all. Plus, for each single thing I wanted it to do, there were pretty well established things you could use instead. I enjoyed p…
> GeoCities back but updated for all the cool stupid things you can do in the modern Web. A place for your weird taste in CSS, in public
Sounds like Neocities