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Ask HN: Which problems can we build an MVP for in a week?

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Re: Ask HN: Which problems can we build an MVP for in a week?

#11

Post by mrborgen »

supercoder wrote: post #6

If you're going to tackle something in the area of real estate for your MVP, I'd advise being careful not to create something that is a two sided market place. So if the app requires people to list property, but as well as users to view the properties etc then it's something that will be hard to gauge any traction on quickly as you'll need both sides to be rapidly signing up. Developing a product that is focused on e…

I was thinking about a 'Yelp for rental apartments', where people can rate their experience with various landlords. Hopefully it could make bad landlords provide a better service. But as you point out, it's such a huge task to reach critical mass on something like that.

Re: Ask HN: Which problems can we build an MVP for in a week?

#13

Post by a5seo »

Problem: I have a 30+ variations of the same photo, and I only need the "best" one. Help me find it with the help of Turk.

I bootstrapped a real estate related web app and sold it for a bit over $10M. My advice is that unless you enjoy creating stuff for technology laggards (i.e. people who adopt things only begrudgingly), avoid that industry.

Re: Ask HN: Which problems can we build an MVP for in a week?

#14

Post by a5seo »

mrborgen wrote: post #11
supercoder wrote: post #6

If you're going to tackle something in the area of real estate for your MVP, I'd advise being careful not to create something that is a two sided market place. So if the app requires people to list property, but as well as users to view the properties etc then it's something that will be hard to gauge any traction on quickly as you'll need both sides to be rapidly signing up. Developing a product that is focused on e…

I was thinking about a 'Yelp for rental apartments', where people can rate their experience with various landlords. Hopefully it could make bad landlords provide a better service. But as you point out, it's such a huge task to reach critical mass on something like that.

I know this market really really well. There have been attempts at this, but unsuccessful.

http://consumerist.com/2006/01/26/trembickycom-the-bad-landl...

Re: Ask HN: Which problems can we build an MVP for in a week?

#15

Post by phantom_oracle »

Here's a simple process to follow:

1) Identify a pain-point you are personally experiencing in some X-industry

2) Search through to the deepest darkest hole of the internet to find an existing solution

3) Identify whether current players are poorly marketing themselves OR if the market is too small (only 500 people need this??)

4) If after analyzing 3), the idea is viable, go for it, else begin from 1) again.

Re: Ask HN: Which problems can we build an MVP for in a week?

#16

Post by supercoder »

mrborgen wrote: post #11
supercoder wrote: post #6

If you're going to tackle something in the area of real estate for your MVP, I'd advise being careful not to create something that is a two sided market place. So if the app requires people to list property, but as well as users to view the properties etc then it's something that will be hard to gauge any traction on quickly as you'll need both sides to be rapidly signing up. Developing a product that is focused on e…

I was thinking about a 'Yelp for rental apartments', where people can rate their experience with various landlords. Hopefully it could make bad landlords provide a better service. But as you point out, it's such a huge task to reach critical mass on something like that.

Yeah and unlike restaurants, people aren't potentially renting a new place 3 times a day. So I'd guess it would be a struggle to even start collecting content.

Plus, something like that has varying use depending on where you live and the rental market. In Melbourne, Australia the supply is low so there is a lot of competition for rentals. Most people wouldn't care too much about the experience of the last guy, nor do they really have the luxury of choosing, they just want a place quickly.

Re: Ask HN: Which problems can we build an MVP for in a week?

#17

Post by Gabriel_h »

mrborgen wrote: post #5
BerislavLopac wrote: post #2

Here's an idea: aggregate available APIs (Google, Zoopla, TFL) to help people make decisions which neighbourhood(s) might be right for them. Make users answer questions (e.g. What newspapers you read? Where do you work or regularly commute to? Do you have children? etc) and narrow the options based on the answers.

Thanks for the tip! I like it. This would make a great project for using D3.js, to visualize the data in an exciting way, if people are to browse through neighbourhoods for example. Do you know of any services that does this already btw?

Check out www.illustreets.co.uk (built in Meteor)

Re: Ask HN: Which problems can we build an MVP for in a week?

#18

Post by mrborgen »

a5seo wrote: post #14
mrborgen wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking about a 'Yelp for rental apartments', where people can rate their experience with various landlords. Hopefully it could make bad landlords provide a better service. But as you point out, it's such a huge task to reach critical mass on something like that.

I know this market really really well. There have been attempts at this, but unsuccessful. http://consumerist.com/2006/01/26/trembickycom-the-bad-landl...

Yeah, Swapt too tried something similar, but seems like they are doing a pivot, or at least re-launching.

http://www.swapt.com/

If you know this market well, I'd be very interested in getting in touch with you, for possible input on future project I might be involved in within this space.

Re: Ask HN: Which problems can we build an MVP for in a week?

#19

Post by mrborgen »

phantom_oracle wrote: post #15

Here's a simple process to follow: 1) Identify a pain-point you are personally experiencing in some X-industry 2) Search through to the deepest darkest hole of the internet to find an existing solution 3) Identify whether current players are poorly marketing themselves OR if the market is too small (only 500 people need this??) 4) If after analyzing 3), the idea is viable, go for it, else begin from 1) again.

That's a good process! My personal pain-point in this is paying way too much rent for way too little. (However, that's just the supply/demand mechanisms doing its work). But also, the landlord aren't delivering what it promised before I moved in...
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