Is my startup idea solving a real need out there? • Hacker News Board

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#11

Post by OscarPedroso » Tue, Dec 09, 2014, 5:36 AM UTC

shinamee wrote: post #9

Sounds good and I would use it, I am online a bit concern with the design pattern as it seems like a company site rather than a community platform. All in all, its a good thing :)

thanks a ton! yeah, I agree with you. The site will change to become more of a community. Right now, I'm just testing landing pages and playing with different messages. I also growing the community and that definitely takes time.

On a side note, I'm trying to validate a concept along the lines of elance-for-hardware. Thoughts?

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#12

Post by OscarPedroso » Tue, Dec 09, 2014, 5:37 AM UTC

aepearson wrote: post #8

Just a quick heads up - check your DNS settings (or however you choose to do it)... http://gradfly.co/ does not resolve. (requires 'www')

thank you! Will change that!

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#13

Post by ASquare » Tue, Dec 09, 2014, 2:36 PM UTC

OscarPedroso wrote: post #6

ASquare wrote: post #5

Serious question - have you asked this question of people who might really have this problem? This is customer development 101. This is a great resource on the topic: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/26-customer-development-resourc...

Thanks for sharing! I'm familiar with a few of the customer development stuff but I'll be going through the list tonight to learn a bit more. I'm trying to get to a point where I'm asking the right questions to the right crowd. I figured I might have some luck posting on here, too.

Cheers!

Just one thing with respect to the books mentioned at the end of the post.

I've read all of them and don't think that you need any of them.

If you are going to pick one up - get "Running Lean" by Ash Maurya - it's literally a step by step manual on how to do whatever it is you need to.

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#14

Post by brudgers » Tue, Dec 09, 2014, 2:58 PM UTC

The intended market is a Venn diagram of an intersection. of disconnected interests The intended product is a union of solutions to three hard problems.

That's not a particularly promising scope.

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#15

Post by OscarPedroso » Tue, Dec 09, 2014, 3:25 PM UTC

brudgers wrote: post #14

The intended market is a Venn diagram of an intersection. of disconnected interests The intended product is a union of solutions to three hard problems. That's not a particularly promising scope.

Thanks for the comment. Are you in any one of these circles within the Venn diagram? Any particular pain points that come to mind? Just exploring.

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#16

Post by OscarPedroso » Tue, Dec 09, 2014, 3:26 PM UTC

ASquare wrote: post #13

OscarPedroso wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for sharing! I'm familiar with a few of the customer development stuff but I'll be going through the list tonight to learn a bit more. I'm trying to get to a point where I'm asking the right questions to the right crowd. I figured I might have some luck posting on here, too.

Cheers! Just one thing with respect to the books mentioned at the end of the post. I've read all of them and don't think that you need any of them. If you are going to pick one up - get "Running Lean" by Ash Maurya - it's literally a step by step manual on how to do whatever it is you need to.

Thanks ASquare, I'm actually in the midst of reading that one right now. It really breaks things down nicely!

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#17

Post by brudgers » Tue, Dec 09, 2014, 8:57 PM UTC

OscarPedroso wrote: post #15

brudgers wrote: post #14

The intended market is a Venn diagram of an intersection. of disconnected interests The intended product is a union of solutions to three hard problems. That's not a particularly promising scope.

Thanks for the comment. Are you in any one of these circles within the Venn diagram? Any particular pain points that come to mind? Just exploring.

The comment is general. The intersection is a tiny slice from each of two larger communities. There's no obviously good way to reach it with a marketing push and engage it enough to create a critical mass. StackOverflow works because it is so general and solves immediate workaday problens, but many many StackExchange sites have failed. Building community is a hard problem.

Have you listened to the StackOverflow and StackExchange podcasts?

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#18

Post by OscarPedroso » Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 6:26 AM UTC

brudgers wrote: post #17

OscarPedroso wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the comment. Are you in any one of these circles within the Venn diagram? Any particular pain points that come to mind? Just exploring.

The comment is general. The intersection is a tiny slice from each of two larger communities. There's no obviously good way to reach it with a marketing push and engage it enough to create a critical mass. StackOverflow works because it is so general and solves immediate workaday problens, but many many StackExchange sites have failed. Building community is a hard problem. Have you listened to the StackOverflow and S…

This is true. I haven't checked out the podcasts - will definitely do that!

The only other idea I've been tinkering with is an 'Elance for hardware' type of gig where hardware and software developers join forces to work on someone else's project. (Say John Smith posts a project to have two arduinos communicate using WiFi Direct and he is seeking help and willing to pay $350 to have someone work with him in parallel and speed up the project.

So we'd help teams find resources, talent, and example projects to help with products or concepts that they're trying to create. Still playing around with ideas. Thanks again for the podcasts!