Ask HN: How do you generally build a product? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How do you generally build a product?

#61

Post by bm1362 » Thu, May 06, 2021, 3:43 PM UTC

terminalserver wrote: post #37

Think of a product name. Buy the domain name. Launch a cloud linux server, install web server, database, application server. Configure it all up to talk to each other. Build the user creation and auth system. Implement email system for user emails. Start building the hardest bits of the application first, try to get a minimal end to end implementation of the system, iterate over the minimal version improving stuff un…

You can just skip all this: create a landing page with a “Coming Soon” mock-up and sign up form.

Buy some ads, tweet and then wait to see if it’s worth working on.

Re: Ask HN: How do you generally build a product?

#62

Post by chris_j » Thu, May 06, 2021, 5:15 PM UTC

tr1ll10nb1ll wrote: post #60

chris_j wrote: post #59

It would be helpful to give some ideas of the sorts of projects that you're thinking of. It sounds like you have a very specific idea in mind. What sort of things do you have on your TODO list and what are you assuming that folks here have on their TODO lists? For me, the first thing when starting a project is to figure out who you're building it for and what problem you're solving for them. Try to talk to them and a…

Alright, I'll help you understand what I'm trying to imply with the TODO list of ideas. It's fairly close to what you mean by intrinsic motivation to work on something. Except, sometimes, I, get different ideas to build something fun when I'm already busy with something I thought of as cool a while back. For example, right now, I'm working on something full-time on what I thought would be really cool to build in Janu…

Cool thanks for expanding. That TODO list of ideas makes sense now. Am I correct in understanding that finding the time/energy to actually do something with your ideas is the limiting factor for you? Or is it something else?

Re: Ask HN: How do you generally build a product?

#63

Post by rcgorton » Thu, May 06, 2021, 6:13 PM UTC

Use agile Steal underpants Fail

Or: understand the market, the timing opportunity, the costs to construct it. Use the Amazon approach: https://hbr.org/2021/04/have-we-taken-agile-too-far?ab=hero-.... Do not pivot mid-stream; stay the course.

Re: Ask HN: How do you generally build a product?

#64

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 06, 2021, 6:27 PM UTC

bm1362 wrote: post #61

terminalserver wrote: post #37

Think of a product name. Buy the domain name. Launch a cloud linux server, install web server, database, application server. Configure it all up to talk to each other. Build the user creation and auth system. Implement email system for user emails. Start building the hardest bits of the application first, try to get a minimal end to end implementation of the system, iterate over the minimal version improving stuff un…

You can just skip all this: create a landing page with a “Coming Soon” mock-up and sign up form. Buy some ads, tweet and then wait to see if it’s worth working on.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How do you generally build a product?

#65

Post by pHollda » Thu, May 06, 2021, 9:35 PM UTC

1. Michael Swivel: https://youtu.be/C27RVio2rOs 2. Steve Huffman and Emmett Shear: https://youtu.be/6IFR3WYSBFM 3. Jan Koum: https://youtu.be/s1Rd4UShDxQ

Re: Ask HN: How do you generally build a product?

#66

Post by klausjensen » Fri, May 07, 2021, 5:41 PM UTC

linkdd wrote: post #49

nprateem wrote: post #40

TBH I've created so many things over the years I've learnt my lesson. Now, I always start with a marketing plan: * Who's your target market, and how big is it and what are they likely to pay? * What do they want? * How will you create value you can capture? * How will you reach them? * What's the competition? If you can't answer these or don't get decent answers, bin it and move on. It's easy as an engineer to build…

Same except I don't bin it, I put it in the "projects for fun" box. NB: "What's the competition" is a very hard question when you're trying to innovate.

There are generally three reasons for not having competitors:

1. You're blind to what you're competing against. 2. It's not a problem worth solving. 3. You're genuinely innovating, creating a whole new category, which you're the first to ever think of.

Number 1 and 2 are extremely common. 3 is extremely rare.

Re: Ask HN: How do you generally build a product?

#67

Post by linkdd » Fri, May 07, 2021, 6:51 PM UTC

klausjensen wrote: post #66

linkdd wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same except I don't bin it, I put it in the "projects for fun" box. NB: "What's the competition" is a very hard question when you're trying to innovate.

There are generally three reasons for not having competitors: 1. You're blind to what you're competing against. 2. It's not a problem worth solving. 3. You're genuinely innovating, creating a whole new category, which you're the first to ever think of. Number 1 and 2 are extremely common. 3 is extremely rare.

This is exactly why it's a hard question to answer.

Innovation is not always "new problems to solve", but more often "new clever ways to solve a problem", which rules out number 2 IMHO.

For example, Kubernetes was an innovation in the cluster management field where many had already solved that problem with other means, and many still do today.

When you're trying to innovate, it's easy to fall in number 1 (being blind to the competition: current means to solve the problem).

Re: Ask HN: How do you generally build a product?

#68

Post by tr1ll10nb1ll » Fri, May 07, 2021, 7:18 PM UTC

chris_j wrote: post #62

tr1ll10nb1ll wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alright, I'll help you understand what I'm trying to imply with the TODO list of ideas. It's fairly close to what you mean by intrinsic motivation to work on something. Except, sometimes, I, get different ideas to build something fun when I'm already busy with something I thought of as cool a while back. For example, right now, I'm working on something full-time on what I thought would be really cool to build in Janu…

Cool thanks for expanding. That TODO list of ideas makes sense now. Am I correct in understanding that finding the time/energy to actually do something with your ideas is the limiting factor for you? Or is it something else?

Yeah, you're correct with that observation.

Re: Ask HN: How do you generally build a product?

#69

Post by chris_j » Sat, May 08, 2021, 10:30 AM UTC

tr1ll10nb1ll wrote: post #68

chris_j wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool thanks for expanding. That TODO list of ideas makes sense now. Am I correct in understanding that finding the time/energy to actually do something with your ideas is the limiting factor for you? Or is it something else?

Yeah, you're correct with that observation.

I probably shouldn't be surprised to hear that because my experiences are similar and I understand that this is the case for most people.

My advice would be to work on projects that you are intrinsically motivated to work on. Don't work on a project in expectation of any reward if you complete it. Let yourself know that it's ok if you don't achieve all (or any) of what you might have set out to achieve in the first place. Myself, the side projects where I've achieved the most have been ones that give me a dopamine hit (basically games or things that are graphical, in my case, even though I've rarely been paid to work on those sorts of things in my career as a software engineer).

If you're interested in reading up on motivation then there are few books that I've found really useful:

- Drive by Daniel Pink talks about the different types of motivation (intrinsic vs extrinsic) and talks about the motivating factors of autonomy, mastery and purpose. There's a nice sketchnote video based on a talk by the author that did the rounds a few years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgGhSOAtAyQ that sums up the key points.

- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg talks about habits, how they form and how you can understand and hack them.

- The Power Of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz talks about managing different aspects of your life in order to have energy to do the things that are important to you.

Hopefully the above may be of some use to you. They have been very useful for me, particularly in understanding how counterintuitive human psychology is in some cases and in terms of understanding how some strategies that you may be tempted to use can be counterproductive.

Re: Ask HN: How do you generally build a product?

#70

Post by ishwarjha » Sat, May 08, 2021, 11:12 AM UTC

The better you have processed your idea, it significantly improves your chances of success. Before you take a plunge, add an intense and disciplined approach to brainstorm your idea and it's evaluation process:

1. Build lists of potential customer types, business and pricing models.

2. Evaluate the opportunities where these lists overlap.

3. Then, go out of your building and evaluate the top ideas with real potential users, customers, and suppliers.

4. The goal of evaluation process should be to know whether your idea has likelihood of success. Also, it will help you know early on to waste less time down the road, even if you pivot from your original idea.

I wrote a complete set of 11 articles to go from idea to launch and growth. Check it out here:

https://appetals.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-digital-product-l...