Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

news.ycombinator.com

111–120 of 301 posts

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#111

I think your idea is fantastic. That doesn’t exist for me today; even if there is another solution out there, it hasn’t come to my attention, consideration, or adoption. I think the idea of a reverse address book could be generalized across many contexts. Tim Bernes-Lee is laying tracks for a protocol with that in mind, but it needs apps, especially ones that reach into where people store data today and migrate it to…

Can you share more information about the protocol Tim is developing? Any Link?

The idea sounds promising.

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there's already another website that does exactly the same thing I don't think there's anything wrong with this per se, but you still need something to set yours apart. For example, if the features are identical, then the price can be different. If the price is the same, then you can edge them out with features or service or get ready, experience. Amazon won us over with price, but now there are often other places…

> For example, if the features are identical, then the price can be different. Just a reminder that pricing "cheaper" isn't always a good idea. Newbies often think they'll charge less, but without having the data competitors have of how long the product takes to develop & maintain, how much support is involved, how much advertising costs to acquire a customer, how often you need to upgrade your equipment etc. Please…

> Just a reminder that pricing "cheaper" isn't always a good idea.

That's all true, but also keep in mind that they will often charge as much as people are willing to pay so there can be room for a lower cost competitor to play. Even removing one (costly) feature and charging less could be a good option if it captures customers who didn't need that feature or wouldn't pay more than your lowest cost option to begin with.

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#113
No, except in certain cases.

When the market is large you can almost always carve out a stake. You already know the demand is there, you can get a share of it by reaching people who haven't heard of or don't like your competitor, or by doing something a little different and better. The risk and reward are both lower in these businesses vs a Valley style moonshot that VCs tend to like.

However if the market is just a few companies or the service depends heavily on network effects I wouldn't do it. E.g. the investment required to offer as many apps as Google Play or as many social updates as Facebook is huge, you can't really bootstrap your way into this, and people are only going to engage with so many app stores or social networks.

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#114

Here'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…

Wonderful! Your point of view is unique, by definition. Your idiocyncratic view, priorities and approach can have niche appeal or be better outright. So true that your unique view can evaporate and recrystallize into the incumbent's way. Search was old before google.

Ha. Most people here never had to struggle with NexisLexis.

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#116

Here'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…

Thank you so much taking your time to write this down! It helps me in a recent situation.

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#117

Here'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…

I would go one step further: don't Google the existing solutions at all. If you haven't heard of any one of them by the time you are done conceiving it you are in the exact same position as the other companies are, possibly minus some funding and their initial batch of customers.

There are far more potential customers that haven't heard from either of you yet. So your next order of battle then becomes to try to contact as many of those potential customers ahead of any of your - would be - competitors.

Competition is healthy it keeps you sharp, but don't bother mapping it until you've established your position well enough that you are actually in competition, until that time it is usually a waste of time.

On the other side of all this: if you have heard of a particular company that executes on an idea you have had as well then unless you are willing to eventually go head-to-head with that company you may as well leave it alone. Chances are they are so far ahead on the 'mindshare' metric that a head-to-head battle will be extremely costly leaving you with a much diluted share in your own venture once all is said and done. If you're comfortable with that go ahead but if I were in the position of a founder I'd prefer a start-up where the founders had majority control until at least well past series 'A'.

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#118

Here'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…

Jumping on the bandwagon - great advice indeed!

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#119
post #5

Mine 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…

What is it if you don't mind sharing? I am working on something niche too.

It's more of a list of resources for generating static sites. I've handwritten everything based on my own experience, so I'm sure content will be different, but the end result is the same as what others have done.

Re: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?

#120
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Started this as an open source project with the goal of first creating an ecosystem. So far, I have been getting good reviews from people who are using it as a search solution. Eventually, there will be certain premium features that maybe only 10% of people will really want, and I will charge for that. Playing the long game here.

How do you protect yourself from Amazon offering it on their cloud? Same issue as MongoDB and Elasticsearch.

Surprising, AWS is quite open with startups about potential cannibalization if you can form a relationship with the Accelerate program.
Post reply on HN