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Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

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Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#281

Post by shawn-butler »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #117

This discussion is awesome! I would never have believed such a simple conjecture could provide so much illumination around the myths and realities of startups. First, its a great deal, both for hmexx and folks who take him up on it. Frankly I think it could be revolutionary. My reasoning is as follows; Many "products" over the last couple of years have been fairly straight forward web "apps" built on top of existing…

RIM was offering US $10,000 for any app that generated $1000 in sales. Still might be available leading up to their relaunch.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#282

Post by orionblastar »

robomartin wrote: post #265
orionblastar wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a good start there. I haven't used your app but looking at it the GUI looks kid-friendly. You might want to look at iOS and iPhone review sites and give them your link for possible reviews. If you get more reviews on it from third parties who are neutral, it will help promote your app. Find target users by posting to K-12 education forums with your Tommy Teaches web site in your signature, find Homeschooling…

Thanks very much for your feedback. Yes, quite a bit of what you are suggesting is in my game-plan already. I have an excellent relationship with my kid's elementary school. The Principal already presented Tommy Teaches to all the teachers and I got good reviews. I am also about to get involved with their developmentally disabled classes. I know the teachers who look after those kids (one of them lives across the str…

You are welcome. I paid 99 cents for the alphabet app and left a review for you on the app store.

My wife is half-Thai and I know a lot of Thai people who want to learn English. You might want to consider an ESL aspect of your app for adults who speak a foreign language.

I think this proves that I know what I am talking about in this thread. My plan I wrote for your app is very similar to what you are doing, and you didn't tell me what it was.

Yes at some point you have to hire other people or take on investors and cofounders to help out. Make sure you research them thoroughly before you sign any contract with them. Don't take just anyone, there are a lot of scam artists out there that prey on startups like sharks.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#283

Post by saraid216 »

niggler wrote: post #224
calciphus wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone "beats you to the punch" then they would have beat you anyway. If you have an idea that's so simple that it can be easily replicated from a signup / info page, it probably wouldn't last.

First mover advantage. In the time it takes for you to do market research, others may already have a leg-up in starting something which may converge to your idea before you launch. And having that initial traction may completely squelch your launch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-mover_advantage#First-mov...

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#284

Post by eranation »

dalore wrote: post #278
eranation wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like it but I think the order should be reversed, before building the MVP, I would have built a landing page for each idea (after filtering the good ones), spend some money on marketing first and see if it gets beta sign ups traction (developer commits that if it does, they'll build it), only then pay for building it (I would also offer to sign an NDA with the developer protecting their idea if the deal doesn't exe…

So you've alienated all your early adopter customers by saying you have a product but you don't have anything.

Potentially yes, but not likely in my opinion (and in the opinion of people I talk with) and the fact is that most do it, usually they do it when they actually start building it, but we all know that many even big companies, sell first, develop later. Those who develop first and hope they'll find a market, sometimes just end up with a great piece of code with no way to make money out of it.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#285

Post by copyhackers »

scott_s wrote: post #255
niggler wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First mover advantage. In the time it takes for you to do market research, others may already have a leg-up in starting something which may converge to your idea before you launch. And having that initial traction may completely squelch your launch

I'm skeptical that "first mover advantage" is very important. There are many examples of products and services that were not first, but became the best and won.

Kevin O'Leary says pioneers get slaughtered and settlers get rich. First to move well on a proven idea - and keep moving on it - may have the advantage. First to act? Not so much.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#286

Post by cdcarter »

e12e wrote: post #210
hmexx wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To those who responded by email. Please give me a few days. I may need to set-up a mailing-list/blog/twitter to broadcast info before getting to you individually as the response has blown past my expectations.

I'd be very interested to hear rough numbers on how many emailed, how many you considered interesting, and how many of those you end up funding/going ahead with. And I'm sure everyone will want a post mortem in 6 to 12 months :-)

Indeed, Pinboard's PIC-PC had over 300 applicants, and they are hearing responses already. I'd be interested in seeing how many also are applying for this, or if less are interested, since the stakes seem higher.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#287

Post by campbellmorgan »

orionblastar wrote: post #269
saym wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand what your tone is responding to.

Who knows the market of your product better? The person who works hard on it for two months and knows it inside and out, or some guy you met anonymously over the Internet who wants $8000 in exchange for half your stock, just to market it? Think about it, what does he know about the product? Nothing. You'll spend a lot of time explaining it to him in full details and then he markets those details to strangers, parroti…

Knowing your product too well is not necessarily an asset when it comes to marketing, especially if you created it yourself. There is often a tendency to overvalue features which were difficult to code rather than features which add real value. Knowing your consumers is far more important.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#288

Post by robomartin »

orionblastar wrote: post #282
robomartin wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks very much for your feedback. Yes, quite a bit of what you are suggesting is in my game-plan already. I have an excellent relationship with my kid's elementary school. The Principal already presented Tommy Teaches to all the teachers and I got good reviews. I am also about to get involved with their developmentally disabled classes. I know the teachers who look after those kids (one of them lives across the str…

You are welcome. I paid 99 cents for the alphabet app and left a review for you on the app store. My wife is half-Thai and I know a lot of Thai people who want to learn English. You might want to consider an ESL aspect of your app for adults who speak a foreign language. I think this proves that I know what I am talking about in this thread. My plan I wrote for your app is very similar to what you are doing, and you…

Many thanks for purchasing the app. I'd certainly value your feedback if you have a chance to have small children play with it.

Yes, at one point you have to hire-in help. I am on the camp that an experienced solo founder could be better than inexperienced young co-founders. You can hire-in (and fire) help but if you discover that your co-founders are, shall we say, problematic, it can get ugly fast.

Prior to this I started a tech company in my garage that did pretty well until circumstances around the economic collapse of 2008 imploded it. Basically, most of our business was through leasing and when banks stopped lending our customers (and orders) evaporated nearly overnight. Ugly. Anyhow, I started it solo. Spent two years locked in the garage developing hardware and software. Grew it to twenty employees and a 10,000 square foot manufacturing facility at the peak. It was a fantastic ride. Not without peril, but, putting aside the pain of the loss of a twelve year effort, a wonderful experience.

You comment about scam artists one to heed. Newbie entrepreneurs can be prime targets. I have my share of scars to prove how "real" it can be.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#290

Post by greghinch »

jacquesm wrote: post #271
greghinch wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks to the others for explaining vesting, they are spot in. Basically, you don't want to end up in a situation where your co-founder can take off after 6 months and still have 50% of the company. Co-founder==co-worker, in the strictest sense. Conversely, if the $8k is to be treated as just investment (which would not fall under vesting) he should be taking much less than 50%.

It's not just an investment though, the OP has committed to doing some serious marketing, let's say at least equal to the amount of work that the dev co-founder puts in to create the product in the first place.

From what I read, he was committing $3k towards marketing and gathering users, but did not specify how much work he'd personally do. Just want to make sure any people new to this ask the right questions up front, I'm not implying that hmexx is trying to screw anyone
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