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Dear Programmer, I have an idea

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Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#71

Post by j45 »

its_so_on wrote: post #41

there's another route. break down what you want to do and you can basically get it done for free. For example: -------------- Requirements. 1. requisition an Amazon EC2 instance for me. No other steps. -------------- then a tech guy on IRC will do it for $5. Next, you want to get someone to do the following. I need a programmer to put a plain rails installation on my amazon ec2 instance. -------------- Requirements.…

This is a neat way of doing this, thanks for sharing! I'm going to try this out if I get the chance, any irc network in particular you found effective?

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#72

Post by TomGullen »

Domenic_S wrote: post #38
TomGullen wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of those points are valid (#1 especially). But when you run a business it's important that all parties are happy and feel like they have a fair deal. You need to ask yourself that 6 months down the line, when the other person really isn't contributing much because they can't, and you're working long days sweating, working hard and putting a career on hold, and you've got 50% equity, are you going to be happy? It…

Hence, > 2. It takes more than code to make a business. Like culture, marketing, market validation, generating press buzz, interviews, recruiting, and so forth. If the idea guy can't do a lot of those business-y things, you don't have a business so the 6-month question is premature.

I don't think it's premature, a lot of people will want a product (MVP) before they go ahead and formalise the entire thing. You're going to be the guy doing all the work in that department. Up until the MVP is developed there's really not much else to do.

Pretty much everything you listed is most effectively after you actually have a product.

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#73

Post by hosh »

cstejerean wrote: post #59
startupfounder wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am also always looking for a co-founder. When a geek approaches me (or I approach them) to be the suit for their project, I usually give them some simple soft skill to do - like go out and talk to potential customers and get feedback from say 500 in a day. Finally, before I even consider hustling customers and investors I want some paltry measure of ability. If you can hack something together in 24-48 hours or even…

Talking one-on-one to 500 customers in one day to get feedback doesn't seem possible. If you only spend 5 minutes talking to each customer, and you have them lined up back to back so you don't waste time in between, it would still take 40+ hours. I guess you could do 1 minute conversations and get it down to about 8 hours, although even assuming you can get 500 people to queue up for this, I'm curious what will come…

I am curious about that too. I'm taking it at face value that "talking to 500 people" is as trivial as setting up a twitter account.

Only way I can think of is to do a survey and enlist the help of bored college students to stand in front of of a busy intersection. I'm guessing part of the "soft skill" is recognizing that > 90% of the people walking by won't even be interested in stopping and talking. (Or send an email/twitter/whatever blast somewhere. Or something). But essentially, "talking to 500 people" is not necessarily "talking one-on-one".

I think that says a lot more about the difference in mindset between the geek and the suit than anything else.

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#74

Post by Swizec »

Evbn wrote: post #54
Swizec wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't 5000 emails a bit steep to ask for in a day or even a week? A conversion rate of 5% is pretty respectable, that means the landing page needs to be seen by 100k people to collect 5000 emails. That's quite a bit for having nothing more than a landing page to offer, I can see that happening for a MVP, but not for just a landing page.

A post on Reddit, HN, etc, can get plenty of views for an interesting idea.

Yeah, but it can't get that many. Not for a landing page.

Being #1 on HN for a few hours will bring you 20 to 30k views (cumulative with getting up and drifting back down). The reddit frontpage frontpage will get you the amount of views you need, but you're not getting there, I can almost promise you that.

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#75

Post by Swizec »

cstejerean wrote: post #57
Swizec wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't 5000 emails a bit steep to ask for in a day or even a week? A conversion rate of 5% is pretty respectable, that means the landing page needs to be seen by 100k people to collect 5000 emails. That's quite a bit for having nothing more than a landing page to offer, I can see that happening for a MVP, but not for just a landing page.

It is quite a bit to get from a landing page, but I think that's the point. If something can get 5000 people on a mailing list in 1 day then it shows that there's a strong interest in the idea, so it's worth investing time in developing it further.

Man, if you can get 300 in a single day, you have my attention!

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#76

Post by hosh »

carbocation wrote: post #69
cstejerean wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talking one-on-one to 500 customers in one day to get feedback doesn't seem possible. If you only spend 5 minutes talking to each customer, and you have them lined up back to back so you don't waste time in between, it would still take 40+ hours. I guess you could do 1 minute conversations and get it down to about 8 hours, although even assuming you can get 500 people to queue up for this, I'm curious what will come…

The entire post was a satirical response to the GP comment. It was meant to show how, depending on your point of view, the same logic can be applied to either the tech or the business side and maybe even "look good" but seem unreasonable to those on the other side of the table. Not saying I am in full agreement, but it's pretty clearly the purpose of the parent comment.

Except that it is possible to hack together something in 24 - 48 hours, or a week, assuming you are willing to pare it down to essentials and fake parts of the demo.

Satire aside, it's enough to make me wonder if talking to 500 people is as trivial as setting up a twitter account. Setting up a twitter account or a C Corp is really not that hard to do.

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#77

Post by cstejerean »

carbocation wrote: post #69
cstejerean wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talking one-on-one to 500 customers in one day to get feedback doesn't seem possible. If you only spend 5 minutes talking to each customer, and you have them lined up back to back so you don't waste time in between, it would still take 40+ hours. I guess you could do 1 minute conversations and get it down to about 8 hours, although even assuming you can get 500 people to queue up for this, I'm curious what will come…

The entire post was a satirical response to the GP comment. It was meant to show how, depending on your point of view, the same logic can be applied to either the tech or the business side and maybe even "look good" but seem unreasonable to those on the other side of the table. Not saying I am in full agreement, but it's pretty clearly the purpose of the parent comment.

I had a feeling that might be the case when I started reading about the 500 people in one day bit. The second half however, about assessing whether the future technical co-founder can actually build a prototype over a weekend, seems like reasonable advice.

Programmers aren't immune from overestimating their competency, and if you are about to get into a venture with someone you don't know well, I think it makes sense for both sides to do some due diligence.

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#78

Post by Alexx »

startupfounder wrote: post #46
padobson wrote: post #30

I'm always looking for a co-founder, whether I'm the geek or the suit. When a suit approaches me to be the geek for their idea, I usually give them some simple technical task to do - like setup a Tumblr or a Twitter account for the idea. Then I'll often ask for something businessy - form a C-corp for the idea or file a provisional patent. Finally, before I even consider opening my laptop to code their idea, I want so…

I am also always looking for a co-founder. When a geek approaches me (or I approach them) to be the suit for their project, I usually give them some simple soft skill to do - like go out and talk to potential customers and get feedback from say 500 in a day. Finally, before I even consider hustling customers and investors I want some paltry measure of ability. If you can hack something together in 24-48 hours or even…

But the difference is that the 'software geeks' are the ones in demand in this senario.

A geek does not typically approach an outsider and say 'I've got skills can you come up with an idea for me?'. But on the flip side 'you have skills, I've got this idea' is a -very- common occurrence. If you are the one doing the approaching applying your own quality control is a given.

If against the odds you are being approached by an unknown geek wanting to partner with you, then testing their skills should be part of the process yeah, you both have to be confident in each other; though I would consider the above methods to be a truly terrible interview...

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#79

Post by jnbiche »

tomasien wrote: post #47

The first app I ever recruited technical people to was thecityswig.com. It required a ton of industry knowledge and foot work, all of which I provided, so we all felt like we were equal. Now, when I present ideas I come at it from this direction: if you want to work with me, you're the boss. You decide how much I'm worth and we'll go from there. I know you're going to be more valuable, especially initially, so your o…

thecityswig is impressive. Any plans to expand outside of VA?
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