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

Ask HN: Ok you've built a rudimentary prototype – how would you proceed next?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 25 posts

Re: Ask HN: Ok you've built a rudimentary prototype – how would you proceed next?

#11

Post by huehehue »

There have been more than a few companies with similar ideas, and most have since shut down. You might want to look at those companies - what were their features, how much capital did they have, what was their timeline, why did they fail, etc. Trying to corner the entire restaurant market is very hard.

For example, a company called uVore tried exactly this but found greater success catering to a more niche market (in their case, coffee pickups). Maybe consider a more targeted approach? Just some ideas. Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: Ok you've built a rudimentary prototype – how would you proceed next?

#12

Post by kra34 »

http://www.tabbedout.com/

When I was looking at this awhile ago, these guys had gotten pretty far with the concept. I think they had a blog article detailing why POS companies were a pain to work with and in some cases very expensive (they charge partner companies for access to their "APIs")

A business plan might be a good idea. Who is going to pay for the service, are you going to charge the bars or the consumer or both?

OpenTable is also doing this now for restaurants they have the added advantage of having a dedicated PC with their software in each restaurant already.

Re: Ask HN: Ok you've built a rudimentary prototype – how would you proceed next?

#13

Post by snowwrestler »

codegeek wrote: post #9

At this point, do something that does not scale. That means "Engage 1 bar and work with them". Sure you could say why not multiple bars at the same time. But that will be over optimizing which you don't want in the beginning. Get your very first client by talking to them manually, showing them everything manually and get them to believe that your service will provide value to their business and help them make/save mo…

Relevant Paul Graham essay: Do Things That Don't Scale

http://paulgraham.com/ds.html

Edit: I once saw a big bank commercial that said "Our goal is not to process 10 millions checks. Our goal is to process one check perfectly, and then repeat that 10 million times."

Re: Ask HN: Ok you've built a rudimentary prototype – how would you proceed next?

#14

Post by benjaminlhaas »

busterarm wrote: post #7

Find a very understanding bar(and understanding bartenders) to rent out for an evening for a private event. Make sure everyone who shows up for your event is using your app -- Invite friends, your friends friends, the bartender's friends, etc. Get feedback from these users, the bartenders and the bar management. Do this a few times. This will cost you a lot of money (you most likely will need to offer heavily discoun…

I agree with this, but I'd simplify even further: Get two friends to play the role of bartender, buy a few cases of beer, and do this at home. Invite 10-15 friends over and ask them use your app. Watch them use it, and ask lots of questions afterward. Make sure you have a small set of specific questions you want to see answered by your user study.

Re: Ask HN: Ok you've built a rudimentary prototype – how would you proceed next?

#15

Post by busterarm »

benjaminlhaas wrote: post #14
busterarm wrote: post #7

Find a very understanding bar(and understanding bartenders) to rent out for an evening for a private event. Make sure everyone who shows up for your event is using your app -- Invite friends, your friends friends, the bartender's friends, etc. Get feedback from these users, the bartenders and the bar management. Do this a few times. This will cost you a lot of money (you most likely will need to offer heavily discoun…

I agree with this, but I'd simplify even further: Get two friends to play the role of bartender, buy a few cases of beer, and do this at home. Invite 10-15 friends over and ask them use your app. Watch them use it, and ask lots of questions afterward. Make sure you have a small set of specific questions you want to see answered by your user study.

At the stage it sounds that they're at, that sounds like much better advice, honestly. Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Ok you've built a rudimentary prototype – how would you proceed next?

#16

Post by w4tson »

snowwrestler wrote: post #13
codegeek wrote: post #9

At this point, do something that does not scale. That means "Engage 1 bar and work with them". Sure you could say why not multiple bars at the same time. But that will be over optimizing which you don't want in the beginning. Get your very first client by talking to them manually, showing them everything manually and get them to believe that your service will provide value to their business and help them make/save mo…

Relevant Paul Graham essay: Do Things That Don't Scale http://paulgraham.com/ds.html Edit: I once saw a big bank commercial that said "Our goal is not to process 10 millions checks. Our goal is to process one check perfectly, and then repeat that 10 million times."

This article has been our mantra from the beginning. Thanks for the advice. I think we knew this in our guts but when you don't have any experience it's all too easy to do the technical stuff which is more familiar.

Re: Ask HN: Ok you've built a rudimentary prototype – how would you proceed next?

#17

Post by robot »

You don't need a business plan, just need to work out how to make money. You need to engage bars/restaurants, and start servicing users (like 5-10 users will do to start with). Know that this is a very crowded space, and ordering alcoholic drinks on an app is usually illegal due to age check not happening.

Re: Ask HN: Ok you've built a rudimentary prototype – how would you proceed next?

#18

Post by w4tson »

kra34 wrote: post #12

http://www.tabbedout.com/ When I was looking at this awhile ago, these guys had gotten pretty far with the concept. I think they had a blog article detailing why POS companies were a pain to work with and in some cases very expensive (they charge partner companies for access to their "APIs") A business plan might be a good idea. Who is going to pay for the service, are you going to charge the bars or the consumer or…

Interesting, I'd not come across tabbedout.

I'm hoping a business plan will form when we follow the good peoples advice in this thread.

Doing a plan at this stage feels a bit like waterfall to me. I realise you can't get far without one but sitting down and writing one before we've established the pain points, opportunities & demands feels too early.

Maybe I'm just naive

Re: Ask HN: Ok you've built a rudimentary prototype – how would you proceed next?

#20

Post by cport1 »

w4tson wrote: post #18
kra34 wrote: post #12

http://www.tabbedout.com/ When I was looking at this awhile ago, these guys had gotten pretty far with the concept. I think they had a blog article detailing why POS companies were a pain to work with and in some cases very expensive (they charge partner companies for access to their "APIs") A business plan might be a good idea. Who is going to pay for the service, are you going to charge the bars or the consumer or…

Interesting, I'd not come across tabbedout. I'm hoping a business plan will form when we follow the good peoples advice in this thread. Doing a plan at this stage feels a bit like waterfall to me. I realise you can't get far without one but sitting down and writing one before we've established the pain points, opportunities & demands feels too early. Maybe I'm just naive

I used to see these guys at every bar in Austin. I used it once and then never used it again. It was almost more of a hassle using the app than just simply using my credit card.
Post reply on HN