Gigster (YC S15) Does The Dev Work To Turn Your Idea Into An App • Hacker News Board

Re: Gigster (YC S15) Does The Dev Work To Turn Your Idea Into An App

#131

Post by ForHackernews » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 1:36 AM UTC

msellout wrote: post #114

markbnj wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> But what do you propose we do if a developer gets sick or has to travel? I think that's sort of the point. You do whatever any other engineering team does when faced with the same challenges. The question is what is Gigster doing differently that allows you to achieve consistent on-time, on-budget results? Because if you have that formula, you could probably make a lot more money just consulting with existing dev…

Their FAQ answers your question. They are planning to simply eat any project budget overrun, aiming for growth rather than profit. YOU SOUND TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. HOW CAN YOU DO IT THIS CHEAP? Agencies and development shops have a lot of overhead & are fundamentally lifestyle business, meaning that their focus is profits. Gigster is venture-backed so our focus is growth & customer satisfaction. We’d have a referral fr…

This actually sounds like a fantastic opportunity to have your development work subsidized by some rich VCs.

Re: Gigster (YC S15) Does The Dev Work To Turn Your Idea Into An App

#132

Post by cellis » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 1:38 AM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #112

It's pretty worrisome that they say "The Gigsters come from companies like Google or Stripe that are looking for some extra projects." Google is pretty strict about side projects done by its employees; its IP release claims ownership over anything "along the lines of business of Google", which the company has in the past interpreted as "anything tech-related". There's a release process, but I really doubt they would…

You're right that Google has a clause for IP/Invention Assignment, but if push comes to shove a court would probably invalidate overly broad parts of a Google employees employment contract, so I think this fear is overblown. But 1) IANAL and 2) I didn't work at Google.

Re: Gigster (YC S15) Does The Dev Work To Turn Your Idea Into An App

#133

Post by LoSboccacc » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 1:39 AM UTC

Who owns the project source after initial development? Who actually manage deployment in production (and ultimately pays for the vms)?

Re: Gigster (YC S15) Does The Dev Work To Turn Your Idea Into An App

#134

Post by jwatte » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 1:44 AM UTC

So it's like pivotal labs, or any other contract shop? Why would anyone fund this?

This sets off my "peak tech" sensor like nothing before it!

Re: Gigster (YC S15) Does The Dev Work To Turn Your Idea Into An App

#135

Post by krapp » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 1:50 AM UTC

georgemcbay wrote: post #128

rogerdickey wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not linear but the math works out - managed right, and up to a point, projects get faster with more people. The management part is hard but that's where our platform comes in.

> that's where our platform comes in. "our platform" is quickly overtaking "the cloud" as something a web browser extension should replace with "butt".

If you're using firefox, here you go:

https://gist.github.com/kennethrapp/abbbca60ec286cc73f92

Re: Gigster (YC S15) Does The Dev Work To Turn Your Idea Into An App

#136

Post by exelius » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 1:57 AM UTC

pbreit wrote: post #113

exelius wrote: post #71

Just because you hide a software consulting shop behind an app doesn't mean you can change the fundamental difficulties with software consulting. I wish Gigster luck, but ultimately this approach isn't much different from what many offshore dev shops do today. I can get a quote in under an hour from a half dozen places today; but it doesn't mean it will be accurate or what I want.

Productizing a highly demanded service is a reasonable business.

It's not "productized"; it's exactly the same as the thousands of other companies that do this. I'm not saying they won't make money (it's actually a pretty profitable business), but this is not a business model that scales geometrically. It's also a really, really crowded space where relationships, project management and financial discipline (aka staying on top of your collections from day 1) are bigger factors of success than a fancy app or good customer service. Those functions don't even scale linearly, and because they're account management functions, you can't farm them off to a computer system unless you're cool with never getting paid.

Again, I know a half dozen companies off the top of my head that provide the exact same service. Just instead of a website, I have an account rep I can e-mail or call and get even more personalized service. And I can choose if they source developers from China, India, Argentina, Colombia, Ukraine, etc. based on price. Their PMs handle the intake and return a product within a specified time period. What's novel about this?

Re: Gigster (YC S15) Does The Dev Work To Turn Your Idea Into An App

#137

Post by exelius » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 2:00 AM UTC

LoSboccacc wrote: post #129

jsprogrammer wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably, Gigster has already curated the top resources into a brand you can trust for the projects that they specialize in (and which you want done).

Also they might have a library in place for speed development. Startup of services have all the same set of core needs

So does Infosys, Tata, Wipro, IBM, Cognizant, etc. They all have rapid prototyping frameworks for mobile/web apps, and can churn out something functional in under a week. This is a commodity product already offered by a number of scaled players. Their chances of breakout success are zero.

Re: Gigster (YC S15) Does The Dev Work To Turn Your Idea Into An App

#138

Post by LoSboccacc » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 2:04 AM UTC

exelius wrote: post #137

LoSboccacc wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also they might have a library in place for speed development. Startup of services have all the same set of core needs

So does Infosys, Tata, Wipro, IBM, Cognizant, etc. They all have rapid prototyping frameworks for mobile/web apps, and can churn out something functional in under a week. This is a commodity product already offered by a number of scaled players. Their chances of breakout success are zero.

Their libraries are more geared toward big startups needing a major player, this service seems more inclined to garage dreamers, big difference in scope can make huge impact

Re: Gigster (YC S15) Does The Dev Work To Turn Your Idea Into An App

#139

Post by harpc29 » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 2:05 AM UTC

exelius wrote: post #71

Just because you hide a software consulting shop behind an app doesn't mean you can change the fundamental difficulties with software consulting. I wish Gigster luck, but ultimately this approach isn't much different from what many offshore dev shops do today. I can get a quote in under an hour from a half dozen places today; but it doesn't mean it will be accurate or what I want.

Wait, isn't Roger Dickey an investor in Toptal? I certainly read or heard this somewhere. That would be pretty odd (and unethical) if he is an investor in Toptal creating what seems to be a direct competitor. It's actually on his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogerdickey "Investments: Docker, Toptal, Addepar, Classdojo, OpenGov, Wanelo, Vulcun, iCracked, Facebook (2nd market)"

Re: Gigster (YC S15) Does The Dev Work To Turn Your Idea Into An App

#140

Post by markbnj » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 2:07 AM UTC

msellout wrote: post #114

markbnj wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> But what do you propose we do if a developer gets sick or has to travel? I think that's sort of the point. You do whatever any other engineering team does when faced with the same challenges. The question is what is Gigster doing differently that allows you to achieve consistent on-time, on-budget results? Because if you have that formula, you could probably make a lot more money just consulting with existing dev…

Their FAQ answers your question. They are planning to simply eat any project budget overrun, aiming for growth rather than profit. YOU SOUND TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. HOW CAN YOU DO IT THIS CHEAP? Agencies and development shops have a lot of overhead & are fundamentally lifestyle business, meaning that their focus is profits. Gigster is venture-backed so our focus is growth & customer satisfaction. We’d have a referral fr…

Translation: we're burning other people's money so we can underbid anyone and build a customer book. Of course, at some point someone is going to want the business to be profitable and then, hey presto, you're a dev shop like all the other dev shops.