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Ask HN: Should you bother hiding your website's secret sauce?

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Ask HN: Should you bother hiding your website's secret sauce?

#1

Post by entangld »

I'm looking for a cofounder, so I end up explaining my project to a lot of people. People wonder how I will accomplish it, but it only becomes obvious after I explain it (or show the demo)... I hear "Ohhhh... or that's interesting" and that freaks me out. I feel like I just gave it away.

I know I sound like every other paranoid freak, but I'm learning as I'm building so it's very slow. And I'm sure someone else could build it while I'm still looking things up.

Wracking your brain over nonsense like this comes with the territory, but I'll take any advice I can get.

Re: Ask HN: Should you bother hiding your website's secret sauce?

#3

Post by entangld »

redredraider wrote: post #2

If keeping it secret is that big of deal it's probably going to fail anyway. If something is so easy to copy that you can't tell anyone then it's not worth pursuing. IMO.

That's a legitimate argument, but you could say Groupon was pretty easy to copy.

Like magic tricks, the magician is like the first one to discover an idea is possible... I mean in general. I'm not calling mine magical.

Re: Ask HN: Should you bother hiding your website's secret sauce?

#4

Post by burrows »

The way I've heard successful start up types describe this is issue is like so.

Keeping your idea a secret is only going to hurt you and the project because it doesn't have the opportunity to grow with the criticisms of potential users and people who think differently than yourself. So in general you should talk to people about your idea.

That is unless, your 'secret sauce' is something on the order of Tungsten being the secret to light bulb filaments. That you would want to keep a secret.

I tend to agree with this assessment.

Re: Ask HN: Should you bother hiding your website's secret sauce?

#6

Post by redredraider »

entangld wrote: post #3
redredraider wrote: post #2

If keeping it secret is that big of deal it's probably going to fail anyway. If something is so easy to copy that you can't tell anyone then it's not worth pursuing. IMO.

That's a legitimate argument, but you could say Groupon was pretty easy to copy. Like magic tricks, the magician is like the first one to discover an idea is possible... I mean in general. I'm not calling mine magical.

Right. So Groupon probably didn't go around hush hush. I agree with the post above about execution. It's not about being first it's about being the best.

Re: Ask HN: Should you bother hiding your website's secret sauce?

#7

Post by calebhicks »

entangld wrote: post #3
redredraider wrote: post #2

If keeping it secret is that big of deal it's probably going to fail anyway. If something is so easy to copy that you can't tell anyone then it's not worth pursuing. IMO.

That's a legitimate argument, but you could say Groupon was pretty easy to copy. Like magic tricks, the magician is like the first one to discover an idea is possible... I mean in general. I'm not calling mine magical.

Groupon -is- very easy to copy, hence the hundreds of Groupon clones making money hand over fist.

However, even with the clones, Groupon seems to be doing just fine.

Re: Ask HN: Should you bother hiding your website's secret sauce?

#8

Post by curt »

burrows wrote: post #4

The way I've heard successful start up types describe this is issue is like so. Keeping your idea a secret is only going to hurt you and the project because it doesn't have the opportunity to grow with the criticisms of potential users and people who think differently than yourself. So in general you should talk to people about your idea. That is unless, your 'secret sauce' is something on the order of Tungsten being…

When I invent something this is exactly what I do. I have no problem explaining everything up to the 'key' that no one else would be able to replicate without me explaining/showing them.

Even then I have no problem telling them 'the secret sauce'... I just don't show them how it works or how to do it.

Now you also have a type of secret sauce called operational knowledge. For example I know how to take an idea, prototype it, and produce it in days. I could explain to someone exactly how to do it and they would still fail because you need the experience and breath of knowledge. In those cases I rarely hold anything back, unless it involves a piece of equipment/technology I've designed that revolutionizes a process.

Re: Ask HN: Should you bother hiding your website's secret sauce?

#9

Post by burrows »

curt wrote: post #8
burrows wrote: post #4

The way I've heard successful start up types describe this is issue is like so. Keeping your idea a secret is only going to hurt you and the project because it doesn't have the opportunity to grow with the criticisms of potential users and people who think differently than yourself. So in general you should talk to people about your idea. That is unless, your 'secret sauce' is something on the order of Tungsten being…

When I invent something this is exactly what I do. I have no problem explaining everything up to the 'key' that no one else would be able to replicate without me explaining/showing them. Even then I have no problem telling them 'the secret sauce'... I just don't show them how it works or how to do it. Now you also have a type of secret sauce called operational knowledge. For example I know how to take an idea, protot…

Despite the fact that Operational Knowledge can be hard to replicate with the efficiency of someone who has more experience. I find talking to more senior engineers about their development process (or even just pair programming with them) to be very insightful.

Even if it's just a matter of how they have their key bindings set, terminal aliases, window management, testing integrating, etc. Stuff like that is nice to pick off of people who have honed it over some time.

Re: Ask HN: Should you bother hiding your website's secret sauce?

#10

Post by ljf »

calebhicks wrote: post #7
entangld wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a legitimate argument, but you could say Groupon was pretty easy to copy. Like magic tricks, the magician is like the first one to discover an idea is possible... I mean in general. I'm not calling mine magical.

Groupon -is- very easy to copy, hence the hundreds of Groupon clones making money hand over fist. However, even with the clones, Groupon seems to be doing just fine.

I knew there were hundreds of clones but didnt know they were making cash hand over first. Any operating in a country that groupon operates in you can point me to? Just interested.

I chatted with some of the groupon guys a short while ago and was shocked by just how much cash they spend on aquiring business. I wonder how many groupon type companies a city can hold, and for how long?

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