You’ve got an idea. Now what?

This is a great presentation, especially from slide 14 onward. Exactly the kind of practical advice entrepreneurial developers need to move towards a MVP. I wish there was more regarding how to set the stage before launching something (aside greyhat/blackhat techniques), i.e. having some eyeballs waiting for what you might be creating.

Re: You’ve got an idea. Now what?

#7

Post by patio11 » Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 7:58 PM UTC

kgtm wrote: post #6

This is a great presentation, especially from slide 14 onward. Exactly the kind of practical advice entrepreneurial developers need to move towards a MVP. I wish there was more regarding how to set the stage before launching something (aside greyhat/blackhat techniques), i.e. having some eyeballs waiting for what you might be creating.

Start writing about the topic before you launch. Presumably if you're passionate enough about the space to spend N months slinging code you can at least write a few pages about it. (I need to be better at this.)

Re: You’ve got an idea. Now what?

#8

Post by chc » Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 8:51 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #7

kgtm wrote: post #6

This is a great presentation, especially from slide 14 onward. Exactly the kind of practical advice entrepreneurial developers need to move towards a MVP. I wish there was more regarding how to set the stage before launching something (aside greyhat/blackhat techniques), i.e. having some eyeballs waiting for what you might be creating.

Start writing about the topic before you launch. Presumably if you're passionate enough about the space to spend N months slinging code you can at least write a few pages about it. (I need to be better at this.)

Something I've been thinking about lately: What if your product is merely a tool? Say, it's useful in solving a real problem, but it isn't central to any particular workflow. For example, OCR software. It can save massive amounts of time, but I can't imagine what I'd write on the topic. Am I just not being creative enough?

Re: You’ve got an idea. Now what?

#9

Post by hcho » Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 9:11 PM UTC

chc wrote: post #8

patio11 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Start writing about the topic before you launch. Presumably if you're passionate enough about the space to spend N months slinging code you can at least write a few pages about it. (I need to be better at this.)

Something I've been thinking about lately: What if your product is merely a tool? Say, it's useful in solving a real problem, but it isn't central to any particular workflow. For example, OCR software. It can save massive amounts of time, but I can't imagine what I'd write on the topic. Am I just not being creative enough?

You are not being creative enough. Here's a list of blog post titles for you:

- OCR application(s) in forms - OCR application(s) in vehicle registration plates - OCR in archive digitization - OCR in business card scanning - OCR in mobile industry

With the simple formula of your product plus application fields you can generate hundreds of posts.

Re: You’ve got an idea. Now what?

#10

Post by pw » Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 10:32 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #7

kgtm wrote: post #6

This is a great presentation, especially from slide 14 onward. Exactly the kind of practical advice entrepreneurial developers need to move towards a MVP. I wish there was more regarding how to set the stage before launching something (aside greyhat/blackhat techniques), i.e. having some eyeballs waiting for what you might be creating.

Start writing about the topic before you launch. Presumably if you're passionate enough about the space to spend N months slinging code you can at least write a few pages about it. (I need to be better at this.)

Why didn't you do this with AR? (Not being critical, just curious, because I remember you being a bit stealthy about AR pre-launch (of your demo, at least).)

Also, how would you respond to those that wouldn't want to do this for fear of "giving away their idea"?

Is just another case of being needlessly protective of an idea that is, in and of itself, fairly worthless? Or is the trick to write to about the problem generally and not your specific solution?