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Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

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Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#261

Post by [deleted] »

ricardobeat wrote: post #251
vik1211 wrote: post #190

I like this idea so much that I'm willing to join hmexx and e21 by matching the offer for the right idea. Further, the right idea/individual would get my full, undivided attention, resources, and limitless brainstorming/pivoting sessions. I'm also a fan of the idea of documenting the process and milestones on hn for the benefit of future teams or projects. My background is in law and business and I'm interested in te…

You should add your e-mail to your profile - it must be in the "about" field for everyone to see it. I happen to be sitting on a project that bridges online and offline, we applied for the last YC batch but didn't make it. Will send more info as soon as I'm able to :)

[deleted]

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#262

Post by vik1211 »

vik1211 wrote: post #190

I like this idea so much that I'm willing to join hmexx and e21 by matching the offer for the right idea. Further, the right idea/individual would get my full, undivided attention, resources, and limitless brainstorming/pivoting sessions. I'm also a fan of the idea of documenting the process and milestones on hn for the benefit of future teams or projects. My background is in law and business and I'm interested in te…

Contact info: @vik1211 about.me/viksingh

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#263

Post by SatvikBeri »

niggler wrote: post #224
calciphus wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone "beats you to the punch" then they would have beat you anyway. If you have an idea that's so simple that it can be easily replicated from a signup / info page, it probably wouldn't last.

First mover advantage. In the time it takes for you to do market research, others may already have a leg-up in starting something which may converge to your idea before you launch. And having that initial traction may completely squelch your launch

First mover advantages are actually very rare. They're only relevant for markets with extremely strong network effects and lock-in. Even then, Facebook wasn't the first social network.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#264

Post by jacquesm »

brudgers wrote: post #238
jacquesm wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Either make a better counter offer using your rep as your backing or go build something. Saying 'nay' is easy, improving on the concept is a bit harder but can easily be done if you're so inclined. You are essentially saying that people here can't make up their own minds if they want to take a chance on something or not. If the OP is full of it then I'm pretty sure he/she wi…

Unlike much of Western Europe, the US has pay to play model for elite youth sports. It is largely a side effect of the role colleges play in amateur athletics. There is no La Masia. There are no schoolboy contracts. I referee youth soccer. My son plays. I see the way the business works. Dreams of college scholarships fill the trough at which professional youth coaches feed. All premised on the misconception that wome…

So, we're all youths and we need a daddy to look out for us?

Hmexx is putting his money on the line.

You counter with paranoia and paternalism.

If hmexx wouldn't be $55000 short on what two months are worth to me I'd happily take him up on his offer and I don't think I'd need you to look out for me on the contractual side of things.

If there is just one person here whose price tag is a bit more modest and who is sharp enough to come back here to ask for some guidance during the negotiation phase or the review of a contract then that person has all of HN to back them and a ready pool of counter offers in case the OP is full of it.

No deal may be a better one. But those that make it into the big leagues would agree that being stuck in youth soccer is not the end of the line for everybody.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#265

Post by robomartin »

orionblastar wrote: post #249
robomartin wrote: post #217

OK, I'll put something concrete on the table to get away from the hypothetical. Here's one of my MVP's (yes folks, I am working on more than one idea at a time): http://www.tommyteaches.com/ Go on, check it out and come back. This is actually a finished product. There's nothing new to build at this stage except for additional installments of Tommy Teaches apps (additional subjects) and a few that will require slightl…

You have a good start there. I haven't used your app but looking at it the GUI looks kid-friendly. You might want to look at iOS and iPhone review sites and give them your link for possible reviews. If you get more reviews on it from third parties who are neutral, it will help promote your app. Find target users by posting to K-12 education forums with your Tommy Teaches web site in your signature, find Homeschooling…

Thanks very much for your feedback.

Yes, quite a bit of what you are suggesting is in my game-plan already. I have an excellent relationship with my kid's elementary school. The Principal already presented Tommy Teaches to all the teachers and I got good reviews.

I am also about to get involved with their developmentally disabled classes. I know the teachers who look after those kids (one of them lives across the street from me) and they've already told me about a general lack of tools for their kids. My plan is to spend a week or two with the kids at school observing and interacting with them. I'm sure it will be heart-breaking to some extent but if I can help them in any way it'd be absolutely wonderful.

Ditto for the eBooks and some of the other ideas. I even have a very interesting concept for a Tommy Teaches toy.

At one point you start to run into the limits of a solo founder. I can't do everything. I have so far, including developing the character and doing all of the animation work (and I am not a designer at all). This is where intelligent money (meaning money that comes with vision, contacts, perspective, ideas, etc.) could be valuable.

Another interesting angle on Tommy is adult learning. Tommy's genetically-evolved teaching engine could be applied to teaching various subjects that adults want to learn. That's a very interesting market.

In terms of additional languages, yes, absolutely. I speak a couple of languages myself outside of English and am very aware of the lack of quality apps in those domains. Thinking out loud, Spanish might be the first I'd target.

Thanks again for the pointers.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#266

Post by r0s »

zbruhnke wrote: post #113
gknoy wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would also consider vesting for both of you, keeps things honest. For those of us who are complete neophytes at things like this, would you be willing to elaborate on what this means, and why it's important?

Vesting means that each owners shares of the company will be given to them over time so right off the bat neither of the people own an outright 50% stake. for example a common scenario is a Four year vesting with a one year cliff, acceleration up any sale or liquidation event. What this means in every day terms is that you own more shares each month you work, but if you leave before a year is up you own nothing. So i…

Thanks for the explanation, I've got a couple questions:

Say two founders begin a vested company and one drops out, does total ownership transfer to the other founder?

If BOTH drop out, how are assets divided?

Lastly, it seems that the disagreements over ownership will merely shift to disagreements over 'time worked', and weather the effort was legit.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#267

Post by orionblastar »

eranation wrote: post #223
niggler wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand if someone beats you to the punch after discovering your market research, you wasted time and energy.

It's always a problem and a catch 22, you want to get customers, but also avoid competition, but I think the trend today is that stealth mode is not that helpful, there are so many ideas and if you believe what they say in the news, not enough developers to build them, your big enemy is a market with no customers, not a market with competitors. if you launch 3 months after someone in today's world, even if they manag…

You could also find a niche market that has little to no competition and develop to that. I remember when the Desktop Publishing market was new, and the Commodore Amiga had Deluxe Paint and a few third part desktop publishing apps in 1985. Then later in Adobe made Photoshop in 1989 for the Macintosh that copied the ideas of desktop publishing software on the Amiga. Not only that but Newtek had a Video Toaster and Video Editing software for the Amiga, and later on Apple copied it with iMovie and other stuff. But back in 1985 it was a small niche market, and it grew so much that it migrated to the Macintosh and became best selling products that promoted the Mac over the PC.

The Amiga was basically a launch platform that went away for many niche market software. If the companies that developed those for the Amiga had developed them for the Macintosh, they'd still dominate today.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#268

Post by jacquesm »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #221
eranation wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like it but I think the order should be reversed, before building the MVP, I would have built a landing page for each idea (after filtering the good ones), spend some money on marketing first and see if it gets beta sign ups traction (developer commits that if it does, they'll build it), only then pay for building it (I would also offer to sign an NDA with the developer protecting their idea if the deal doesn't exe…

That system has worked in other creative endeavors as well, the whole 'landing page/sign-up' thing is a way to de-risk concept development but that may not be the issue here. One has to optimize for the 'harder' thing being done. So if the challenge is getting the MVP written, then this order makes sense, the risk on the $3000 is less than the risk on the $5000. If the challenge is getting people to understand it, th…

> This really side steps the whole "I've got a great idea if I could just get it off the ground" discussion into "What are you willing to bet?"

That nails it perfectly. I like the OPs proposition. I like it so much that I'm now wondering what would be a better counter offer, and I've failed to come up with anything so far. This little trick could kickstart a whole new phase in the start-up world.

Unless the OP turns out to be Jason Calacanis ;)

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#269

Post by orionblastar »

saym wrote: post #253
orionblastar wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.resourcenation.com/blog/the-6-ps-of-marketing/396... I hold dual degrees in computer science and business management. I think I can do my own marketing, thank you. If not I know people who will for a small fee.

I don't understand what your tone is responding to.

Who knows the market of your product better? The person who works hard on it for two months and knows it inside and out, or some guy you met anonymously over the Internet who wants $8000 in exchange for half your stock, just to market it?

Think about it, what does he know about the product? Nothing. You'll spend a lot of time explaining it to him in full details and then he markets those details to strangers, parroting your words.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#270

Post by orionblastar »

jacquesm wrote: post #207
brudgers wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The precedent of a questionable value proposition by an anonymous member raises the question, are caveat emptor funding offers beneficial to the HN community? Logical assumptions lead to a plausible candidate - but that's not identity.

I've taken substantially larger chances on some HN members, anonymous to me at the time and I think everybody came out ahead, sometimes even considerably ahead. What you would do or not do is entirely besides the point. If you don't think this is a valid proposition, then don't do it. Who cares who the 'candidate' is, I'm sure that anybody that enters into this will want to know before they commit to two months work,…

This is basically a 'poker' business deal, there is risk to it, some bluffing, and you hold most if not all of the chips.

I got for the 'chess' business deal, strategy, tactics, planning, thinking ahead of the competition, sacrificing time and pieces to advance that pawn or take key pieces and then win the game. No bluffing, just out-thinking and studying book moves. Chess in 12 dimensions actually.

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