Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dear Programmer, I have an idea

blog.mkrecny.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 143 posts

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#101

Post by funkwyrm »

SamuelMulder wrote: post #91
funkwyrm wrote: post #81

I have been through this a lot with a music/art interactive platform I've been working on for the past year and a half or so. My gut take on this is that programmers have the same problem musicians have; although they may be in demand, they overestimate their ability to evaluate potential enterprises. (great players have about as much trouble evaluating whether a band is worth joining as A&R people did picking winner…

Your biggest problem is probably that Objective C developers are in extremely high demand. They can make a lot of money, or if they have an interest in start-ups the barrier for entry is so low to get in the app store that they probably don't see a need to partner. Everyone has a dozen ideas for cool apps. It sounds like you have a pretty compelling pitch, but you are pitching to a very small market with tons of comp…

Yeah, that's kind of the conclusion I came to. But that just makes me ask the question: Then why doesn't every developer with a related skillset just learn Objective C already and try to charge me lots of money? I mean, if I didn't already have two jobs on top of spending months of the year on tour, that's what I would do. Sometimes capitalism doesn't work.

Thanks for your well wishes!

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#102

Post by aerique »

irishcoffee wrote: post #68
Evbn wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I'm kind of curious what the 'etc' are to which you refer?

Websites specific to the niche you're targetting or well known sites in the native language of the target audience. Perhaps Twitter or more closed communities like Something Awful.

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#103

Post by SoftwareMaven »

TomGullen wrote: post #72
Domenic_S wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Up until the MVP is developed there's really not much else to do.

As a guy that straddles the line between "tech guy" and "business guy" (I've done both of them), my opinion is that there is a lot that can be done before the MVP is developed. In fact, if the business guy isn't out validating what the tech guy is building from day one, it is almost guaranteed the MVP is going to be wrong and/or it is going to land with a resounding splat.

As the business guy, my job was getting out, meeting with potential customers, understanding what they would buy, what they wouldn't buy, and why. My job was getting early interest in our idea that could translate into (eventual) early use of the product. My job was making sure we understood who else was in the space and how we were going to differentiate our product.

In short, if you practice "throw some code out and start selling", you are going to have a really hard time getting traction.

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#105

Post by hpguy »

>> Have some way to pay the developer.

>> Have an impressive track record of expertise / success in the relevant industry.

>> Have considerable technical skills.

>> Have considerable design skills.

If I have all that, why do I need YOU to execute this idea?

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#106

Post by myhf »

hpguy wrote: post #105

>> Have some way to pay the developer. >> Have an impressive track record of expertise / success in the relevant industry. >> Have considerable technical skills. >> Have considerable design skills. If I have all that, why do I need YOU to execute this idea?

It said you need ANY of those, not ALL of them.

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#107

Post by hpguy »

myhf wrote: post #106
hpguy wrote: post #105

>> Have some way to pay the developer. >> Have an impressive track record of expertise / success in the relevant industry. >> Have considerable technical skills. >> Have considerable design skills. If I have all that, why do I need YOU to execute this idea?

It said you need ANY of those, not ALL of them.

My bad, I misread it. Still, I would ask the same for the requirement of "have considerable technical skills".

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#108

Post by [deleted] »

TillE wrote: post #63
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.…

That seems like a clever idea, but really each step you're describing would take about five minutes for someone who knows what they're doing. If you can enumerate your requirements so precisely, I'm sure you can find someone decent for less than $60/hour to execute them.

[deleted]

Re: Dear Programmer, I have an idea

#110

Post by sadow »

saurik wrote: post #56
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…

(Note: I am a programmer.) Being "the suit" isn't just "I have an idea", and assuming the suit must be capable of doing something technical undermines the interesting complexity that that kind of knowledge entails. Instead, imagine someone who has found a "market opportunity" (not "an idea": everyone has ideas, and assuming programmers somehow don't have enough of their own to work on is part of what makes these kind…

Really love what you've laid out here and think it's a great description of the relationship connecting both sides of the equation.
Post reply on HN