Live data from Hacker News

diary.io - should we build this?

shouldwebuild.diary.io

31–40 of 50 posts

Re: diary.io - should we build this?

#31
Just a minor thing, but you should use smaller mockup images, because the automatic down-scaling is incredibly poor and results in a really jaggy image.

`width: x%` is always going to lead to poor image-scaling, but it can be mitigated somewhat.

Re: diary.io - should we build this?

#32
I think if there is value here, it is not so much in the backups and crossposting, both of which are available already. It would be in helping people manage their various personas or public image. And that would take something more than just tech tools.

Re: diary.io - should we build this?

#33
post #26

Nope, because you didn't believe in it enough to build it, instead choosing to waste time posting on websites. Zuckerberg didn't ask if he should build Facebook, the GitHub founders didn't ask if they should make GitHub, and Jason Fried didn't ask if he should build 37signals.

You're saying it's better to invest months of time, thousands of dollars only to find nobody wants it? For every Facebook you quote me, I'll show you 10,000 others that didn't succeed and instead wasted time and effort when they could have done some customer research exactly like this.

> You're saying it's better to invest months of time, thousands of dollars only to find nobody wants it?

Why would you invest that much? If your minimum viable product takes months and thousands of dollars you're doing it wrong.

Re: diary.io - should we build this?

#34

Nope, because you didn't believe in it enough to build it, instead choosing to waste time posting on websites. Zuckerberg didn't ask if he should build Facebook, the GitHub founders didn't ask if they should make GitHub, and Jason Fried didn't ask if he should build 37signals.

Really? Assessing demand before diving into app development is considered a bad thing?

How is a web form going to give you any useful data about demand? There's no investment or interaction with actual users. If you want to assess demand, make a minimum viable product.

Re: diary.io - should we build this?

#37
You're asking the wrong people.

1. Read "The Lean Startup."

2. Find the cheapest and fastest way to test whether potential customers think you should build it for them. For example, you could make a fake product web page with a "try free" button and count the number of people who click the button.

Asking us is not lean. Asking customers is not lean. Testing customers != asking them. Building it is too expensive a test to be lean.

Gotta run, can't put more words into this, sorry!

Re: diary.io - should we build this?

#39
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're saying it's better to invest months of time, thousands of dollars only to find nobody wants it? For every Facebook you quote me, I'll show you 10,000 others that didn't succeed and instead wasted time and effort when they could have done some customer research exactly like this.

> You're saying it's better to invest months of time, thousands of dollars only to find nobody wants it? Why would you invest that much? If your minimum viable product takes months and thousands of dollars you're doing it wrong.

that's not true. Not every product requires the same amount of "minimal".

You can quite easily get the signal from users of your MVP that they are not interested - when actually it's just that you have a crappy MVP.

Besides that, your original comment was not about building an MVP, it was referring to a full product. That's what I was referring to with "months" and "thousands"

Re: diary.io - should we build this?

#40
build something that makes sense and it's simple I don't understand what do you want to build, anyway

"A diary is a record (originally in handwritten format) with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other ..."

Post reply on HN