Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I have a great idea for a webapp, but hardly any programming knowledge. What should i do?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 104 posts

Re: I have a great idea for a webapp, but hardly any programming knowledge. What should i do?

#41

Post by chaostheory »

augy wrote: post #38
johnrob wrote: post #21

I don't know how you can find a good hacker, because there is no way for you to judge one. That aside, your best bet is to offer a lot of equity in the startup. More than half of the company. Your biggest selling point is that you will take care of all the stuff that annoys hackers - designing UI screens, marketing, face time with real users. If your idea is good, you offer more than 50% equity, and take care of the…

do people design UI screens with Adobe?

using my past life as a web designer - yes, specifically with Illustrator

Re: I have a great idea for a webapp, but hardly any programming knowledge. What should i do?

#42

Post by thehigherlife »

anamax wrote: post #30
thehigherlife wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard, because you don't want to just let you plan out there in the open and have someone take it right out from under you.

Very few good ideas are actually stolen. Why is yours potentially one of the exceptions?

i don't know, i just have never used the web as a tool to get a project together.

Re: I have a great idea for a webapp, but hardly any programming knowledge. What should i do?

#43

Post by thehigherlife »

rkabir wrote: post #33

might be the obvious question here - but do you have any friends? (that have programming knowledge). My non-hacker buddies come to me with ideas all the time.

yeah, i do the problem is i am more of a techie computer guy as in my skills in the computer industry are more troubleshooting based ie, if it is broken in some way be it cabling issue or DHCP server, i can fix it, not programming based, a lot of my friends who would be interested in this are so busy with school and things of that nature that they don't really have time to be completely involved in a project.

Re: I have a great idea for a webapp, but hardly any programming knowledge. What should i do?

#44

Post by webwright »

kyro wrote: post #4

If you're not planning on paying, and want to create a team, you'd better learn how to program. I was in your same position several months ago. I tried looking for programmers, and those that I found were turned off by the fact that I had no programming knowledge/experience. So, I got fed up and decided to learn how to program. I started with Python, dabbled in some SQL, and am currently trying to refine my Django sk…

This is potentially terrible advice.

Temperamentally, many people are poorly suited for programming. The OP might be a great designer, writer and bootstrap marketeer who could benefit from a partnership.

I'd advocate for assessing your skills and honestly figuring out if you have anything to offer to a founding team (a lot of skills really don't matter until you've actually built something of value). If not, sure-- learn to code. Learn to design. But if you do have valuable skills, find a partner who has complementary skills and get rolling. If you can't find a partner, it's likely that your idea isn't as good as you thought it was. ;-)

Re: I have a great idea for a webapp, but hardly any programming knowledge. What should i do?

#45

Post by run4yourlives »

ecuzzillo wrote: post #22

This is a bit like saying "I have a great idea for a painting. Will you paint it for me, and then give me half the money you get from selling it?"

Your analogy is apt. What you (like a lot of programmers) fail to realize is that selling a painting is extraordinarily difficult.

They didn't coin the phrase "starving artist" for fun.

Re: I have a great idea for a webapp, but hardly any programming knowledge. What should i do?

#46

Post by kyro »

webwright wrote: post #44
kyro wrote: post #4

If you're not planning on paying, and want to create a team, you'd better learn how to program. I was in your same position several months ago. I tried looking for programmers, and those that I found were turned off by the fact that I had no programming knowledge/experience. So, I got fed up and decided to learn how to program. I started with Python, dabbled in some SQL, and am currently trying to refine my Django sk…

This is potentially terrible advice. Temperamentally, many people are poorly suited for programming. The OP might be a great designer, writer and bootstrap marketeer who could benefit from a partnership. I'd advocate for assessing your skills and honestly figuring out if you have anything to offer to a founding team (a lot of skills really don't matter until you've actually built something of value). If not, sure-- l…

Well, not too long ago I posted my dilemma about me being very business oriented and having design skill, and still not being able to find programmers as they were turned off.

And the majority of the replies I received were ones telling me to learn how to program.

Just because I'm learning to code doesn't mean, however, that I am tossing my other skills away. I find that I have a much much much better understanding of the mechanics behind apps and that at the very least, i'll be able to connect on a much deeper level with another programmer if I were to assemble a team and not take a significant programming position.

You're right, perhaps he may turn out to be an awful coder, but at the very least, establishing a common thread of communication by which a programmer can relay his concerns to a designer or a marketer, and for them to understand, in my opinion, is pretty valuable.

Re: I have a great idea for a webapp, but hardly any programming knowledge. What should i do?

#48

Post by centipede »

henning wrote: post #27

It might turn out it's not such a great idea at the current time after all because as a non-programmer you think too vaguely and declaratively. This isn't anything personal about you, it's just human nature. Writing code forces you to think precisely and consider practicalities that are otherwise hidden from you as a user.

Yes. Programming languages are only starting to get more declarative.

Re: I have a great idea for a webapp, but hardly any programming knowledge. What should i do?

#49

Post by Shooter »

imsteve wrote: post #14
axod wrote: post #8

ideas are easy. Executing them is harder.

for sufficiently vague definitions of "idea".

[for sufficiently vague definitions of "idea"]

Upmodded. That is brilliant.

As an entrepreneur, I have very specific thoughts on what constitutes a "good idea for a business." To me, it suggests that you have four things:

1. a keen insight into what a group of people (with money) want

2. you have a means of delivering a solution to those needy people

3. you have a way of targeting those needy people to let them know about your solution

4. you can deliver your solution at a profit.

When I started investing in startups, I learned that my definition of a good idea for a business differs GREATLY from what many are willing to pitch to me as a good idea. Many people are willing to pitch a very nebulous 'idea.'

There are also certain ideas prevalent in the startup community now that are MOSTLY or SOMETIMES true, but that I think people take too literally or misunderstand.

"Ideas are worthless, execution is paramount." Look, if you have a truly great idea...execution becomes much less important. With a great idea (which implies an actual business model), you can make quite a few execution mistakes and still end up with a great business. If you stumble, investors are more forgiving and will usually find the help you need in the execution area.

"Your final business is almost always different than what you initially intended to do" is another startup cliche that I think some entrepreneurs sometimes take too literally. This pearl of wisdom is basically telling you that you need to be flexible. Being flexible is very different that attacking an industry because it is hot and hoping something shakes out.

"Get the users and figure out a profit model later. It is easy to monetize millions of eyeballs." Again, this may be mostly true for a certain class of business...but it can also be a ticket to FAIL.

With apologies to Mrs. Robinson, I'm actually getting pitches like this:

Entrepreneur: "I have a GREAT idea!"

Me: "Yes?"

Entrepreneur: "Plastics!!!"

Me: "What do you mean 'plastics'?"

Entrepreneur: "They're gonna be huge. Plastics are the future."

Me: "What is your actual idea? How are you going to make money?"

Entrepreneur: "Advertising?"

Re: I have a great idea for a webapp, but hardly any programming knowledge. What should i do?

#50

Post by axod »

imsteve wrote: post #14
axod wrote: post #8

ideas are easy. Executing them is harder.

for sufficiently vague definitions of "idea".

true :)

ok, ideas are easy. Ideas that could potentially make a lot of money aren't too hard to come up with. Ideas that could be the next big thing, are also within most peoples grasp.

Still think coming up with the idea is maybe 5% of the work. It's almost as bad as people who register what they think is a great domain name and think that's their website pretty much done now.

Post reply on HN