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I built an application to solve a problem but got nobody to buy it

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: I built an application to solve a problem but got nobody to buy it

#51

Post by pessimizer »

pathy wrote: post #13
lelandriordan wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree. By talking to the guy making the cards and not the boss, you are essentially showing him a product that makes a big part of his value as an employee obsolete. Buying it would be like cutting off a big portion of his value to the company and future as an employee. To his boss however, it could be a huge savings, he saves on wages and he no longer needs someone with good Photoshop skills to do the s…

It doesn't have to be that an extreme, making the employee(s) currently responsible for the cards redundant, but it would allow them to do more productive tasks. That said, those productive tasks may not be as relaxing and mindless as creating those cards in Photoshop. Point still stands though.

Often when you automate a job done manually, the only productive work for that person to do is to contribute to the profit margin by getting laid off.

I've written a lot of MS Office macros that replaced people - immediately they became the person who ran the macro while other things were looked for that they could do, then a month later they were gone. The entirety of a lot of people's $30k/yr jobs is taking digital data from one source and entering it into a different program. $30k/yr is a lot of money.

I've seen it so often that it actually soured me to the work.

edit: This is exactly the kind of thing that I would work on. It could clearly be reduced to a .csv, template image, and a few Imagemagick calls.

Re: I built an application to solve a problem but got nobody to buy it

#52

Post by joewee »

Have you considered finding a sales partner? Someone that already has the relationships with buyers in your target space? For example, educational book publishers?

I always prefer to partner if I have technology that is useful to a niche market I don't have strong contacts in. They will be able to get to those who really have purchasing power and give you immediate feedback on whether there is really a market or not.

Re: I built an application to solve a problem but got nobody to buy it

#53

Post by unclebucknasty »

hemtros wrote: post #25

I am from Nepal. Its definite that nobody here can buy licensed copy of Photoshop. People ocassionally buy original Antivirus copies. Selling software in such a market is tough. I have just completed Bachelor of Software Engineering. Developing countries are being able to provide world class education but market is definitely not what they can provide. Creating this software was my friend's idea and he is definitely…

>Changing this mindset is a big challenge and I am still trying to convince some of the potential customers.

Save yourself time and money and find a different market or stop now. If you are a one or two man shop (or similar) with limited resources, you will likely fail. Educating a market is costly and time consuming, and changing mindsets even moreso.

Sorry to be blunt, but been there too many times. Good luck.

Re: I built an application to solve a problem but got nobody to buy it

#54

Post by derefr »

pessimizer wrote: post #51
pathy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't have to be that an extreme, making the employee(s) currently responsible for the cards redundant, but it would allow them to do more productive tasks. That said, those productive tasks may not be as relaxing and mindless as creating those cards in Photoshop. Point still stands though.

Often when you automate a job done manually, the only productive work for that person to do is to contribute to the profit margin by getting laid off. I've written a lot of MS Office macros that replaced people - immediately they became the person who ran the macro while other things were looked for that they could do, then a month later they were gone. The entirety of a lot of people's $30k/yr jobs is taking digital…

> $30k/yr is a lot of money.

Another way to think of automation is that you're making it $30k/yr cheaper to run a business. The more automated the world becomes, the cheaper it becomes to start (useful, profitable) businesses--and so the more likely people are to start them.

Or, to put it another way: to whatever degree social mobility is enabled in a culture (and to whatever degree people realize "start a business" is an option to escape unemployment), automation converts a culture's proletariat wage-earners into bourgeois capital-holders. This process is lossy--it also outputs non-adaptive workers on welfare--but if the exchange is recognized at a cultural/governmental level, it can be optimized through education and incentive programs to produce more entrepreneurs and fewer non-productive workers.

Re: I built an application to solve a problem but got nobody to buy it

#55

Post by Mandatum »

This is usually done in InDesign if it's a batch job, Photoshop - definitely not unless it's a tiny web shop. InDesign allows you to create a print-ready PDF and the printer will know how to "step it up" (basically lay multiple on a page to save $). Your software sounds goods for people who don't do this sort of work constantly - such as schools, medium-sized businesses, etc.

Try pitching to those audiences.

Re: I built an application to solve a problem but got nobody to buy it

#56

Post by coldtea »

derefr wrote: post #54
pessimizer wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Often when you automate a job done manually, the only productive work for that person to do is to contribute to the profit margin by getting laid off. I've written a lot of MS Office macros that replaced people - immediately they became the person who ran the macro while other things were looked for that they could do, then a month later they were gone. The entirety of a lot of people's $30k/yr jobs is taking digital…

> $30k/yr is a lot of money. Another way to think of automation is that you're making it $30k/yr cheaper to run a business. The more automated the world becomes, the cheaper it becomes to start (useful, profitable) businesses--and so the more likely people are to start them. Or, to put it another way: to whatever degree social mobility is enabled in a culture (and to whatever degree people realize "start a business"…

>Another way to think of automation is that you're making it $30k/yr cheaper to run a business. The more automated the world becomes, the cheaper it becomes to start (useful, profitable) businesses--and so the more likely people are to start them.

And the less employed people would be out there to buy your stuff.

Sorry, but automation either ultimately leads to something like communism or similar, or to a severy damaged market economy.

The only reason neither has happened thus far is because we haven't achieved nearly total automation, actually not even for 10-20% of the jobs. And still, what there has been have led to a shrinking middle class compared to decades past.

>it can be optimized through education and incentive programs to produce more entrepreneurs and fewer non-productive workers.

The only reason entrepreneurs are "productive" is because there are workers (either productive or non-productive) that have salaries to buy their stuff and services.

Re: I built an application to solve a problem but got nobody to buy it

#57

Post by CyberFonic »

jzwinck wrote: post #22
smoyer wrote: post #12

"The creation of ID card is generally done with photoshop and separately edited for each card" I've actually never seen this done. The schools and companies in my area all have systems that integrate the picture taking with the identity information and automatically print a card. What you're describing simply requires too much skill and time. So you've built a product, but you're competing with packaged systems. I di…

I'm guessing from the author's writing that he/she isn't from the US. A quick stalking suggests India. This is important because the the market is much different in places with low labor costs and many eager and able workers. For example, cutting grass next to the highway in the US is usually done something like this: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/4710027673_eff0b14e9e.jp... (with a tractor) but in other countr…

What you say is true. But ... bosses are loathe to spend money when the current solution works "adequately" in their assessment. That's why they'll buy more weed whackers than a new tractor - to use your example. The tractor salesman would generally be disappointed.

Re: I built an application to solve a problem but got nobody to buy it

#58

Post by dehrmann »

jzwinck wrote: post #22
smoyer wrote: post #12

"The creation of ID card is generally done with photoshop and separately edited for each card" I've actually never seen this done. The schools and companies in my area all have systems that integrate the picture taking with the identity information and automatically print a card. What you're describing simply requires too much skill and time. So you've built a product, but you're competing with packaged systems. I di…

I'm guessing from the author's writing that he/she isn't from the US. A quick stalking suggests India. This is important because the the market is much different in places with low labor costs and many eager and able workers. For example, cutting grass next to the highway in the US is usually done something like this: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/4710027673_eff0b14e9e.jp... (with a tractor) but in other countr…

An Indian friend told me a story. In India, it's cheaper to pay someone to come to your house, drive a nail into a wall, and hang a painting for you than to buy a hammer.
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