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New Website Builds Minimum Viable Products for Startups

ibuildmvps.com

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Re: New Website Builds Minimum Viable Products for Startups

#31

Post by dpritchett »

fierarul wrote: post #8

The idea is really nice ( IF you can actually execute)! I don't like the website though: * all the toplevel links take you to another website. I usually expect those to take you to pages that are at least consistent with the top domain I'm coming from. * FOUNDER'S BLOCK is listed twice. * There is a list of people with a small blurb, that initially made me think they work for this website: Eric Ries, Steve Blank, Bra…

I've always liked the cheeky footer at The Setup†:

"This is yet another waferbaby snafu. Follow us on Twitter, subscribe to the feed, or grab the Ruby source code (if you're into that sort of thing)."

"Another website by Bob" isn't quite as catchy but it's moving in the right direction.

† http://usesthis.com/

Re: New Website Builds Minimum Viable Products for Startups

#32

Post by JangoSteve »

I like the idea of using this niche to market your contracting services. However, I have one small nag. Building an MVP is not simply about cranking something out as quickly as possible. It's about not wasting time where it's not needed. But that means if your MVP proves successful, you better be ready to continue building it. And I'm guessing a lot of people won't want their MVP to be some 3-hour one-off built in PHP. I hope you have more than that to offer.

Re: New Website Builds Minimum Viable Products for Startups

#33

Post by user24 »

rcavezza wrote: post #24

Thanks for the comments everyone: Here are some replies... 1.) This website took 90 minutes to create from idea to publishing. 2.) Eric, Steve, Brant, and Peter are in no way affiliated with this except they are awesome and helped inspire it. 3.) An MVP can mean many things to many people. I think you should do the least amount of work in order to validate/invalidate the most assumptions. "Get out of the building", s…

make this into a marketplace which connects technical people with your target, instead of what it is currently which is a glorified "hey I'm a freelancer please hire me" page. Then you have a product. Screen applicants on both ends to ensure quality.

Re: New Website Builds Minimum Viable Products for Startups

#34

Post by klochner »

tomh- wrote: post #15

Why are the names of Eric Reis and Steve Blank there? Are they involved? If not, make that more clear, else it looks to me like you are trying to sell your services by using their names to promote it..

He's using their names to promote it either way, it's just unethical if they're not involved.

Re: New Website Builds Minimum Viable Products for Startups

#37

Post by danshapiro »

rcavezza wrote: post #24

Thanks for the comments everyone: Here are some replies... 1.) This website took 90 minutes to create from idea to publishing. 2.) Eric, Steve, Brant, and Peter are in no way affiliated with this except they are awesome and helped inspire it. 3.) An MVP can mean many things to many people. I think you should do the least amount of work in order to validate/invalidate the most assumptions. "Get out of the building", s…

VCs get away with it because: 1) They have reputations; 2) They have the money 3) It's a practical necessity for someone who looks at a dozen pieces of IP daily.

None of those cases apply to you, and as a general rule, no competent entrepreneur will pay a contractor who won't sign an NDA.

My recommendation would be to sign enthusiastically, because it means you got a job.

Re: New Website Builds Minimum Viable Products for Startups

#38

Post by rcavezza »

klochner wrote: post #34
tomh- wrote: post #15

Why are the names of Eric Reis and Steve Blank there? Are they involved? If not, make that more clear, else it looks to me like you are trying to sell your services by using their names to promote it..

He's using their names to promote it either way, it's just unethical if they're not involved.

False. Linking to people I admire. I considered changing this (as I changed many parts of the site based on HN comments), but I like the links as a tribute to them.

Re: New Website Builds Minimum Viable Products for Startups

#39

Post by notahacker »

dpritchett wrote: post #23

I recommend you focus your copy on the type of people you'd expect to buy your service and not the programmers here at HN that are offended by the boldness of your claims. You're contracting a high hourly rate to non-technical would-be founders on the understanding that they can get to the validation stage after a few hours of your time without having to line up a co-founder/CTO. This is gold! Hopefully patio11 will…

I agree. First point on the copy is that people that are most likely to benefit from your services are the people that need someone to explain what a MVP actually is, and why they want one

Re: New Website Builds Minimum Viable Products for Startups

#40

Post by dpritchett »

rcavezza wrote: post #38
klochner wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's using their names to promote it either way, it's just unethical if they're not involved.

False. Linking to people I admire. I considered changing this (as I changed many parts of the site based on HN comments), but I like the links as a tribute to them.

The links are fine but to make it kosher you need to put up some sort of description like "These fine folks inspired me. They are not affiliated with this service."
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