If someone has an idea for a mobile app and wants to develop it without any funds or developmental skills how would you recommend going about it while protecting your idea?
Ask HN: How to develop an app with no money or skills?
1–8 of 8 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to develop an app with no money or skills?
#2No one works for free
If you don't have the skills get them... its the fastest course, and it shows your serious.
Bad and working is worth a lot more than an idea on paper.
Re: Ask HN: How to develop an app with no money or skills?
#3You don't.
Ideas are a dime a dozen. If you think you're going to find someone to build an application/product for you for free, you might reconsider your idea because I'd say you already aren't thinking clearly.
As zer00eyz said, if you don't have the skills, get them.
Re: Ask HN: How to develop an app with no money or skills?
#4It's quite simple, really. I used to be like yourself, but then I read the famous How to Win Friends and Influence People. Dale Carnegie wrote it in the 1930s, which explains the weird title, but don't shy away from it because of that. It's actually very enlightening!
Re: Ask HN: How to develop an app with no money or skills?
#5It's quite simple, really. I used to be like yourself, but then I read the famous How to Win Friends and Influence People. Dale Carnegie wrote it in the 1930s, which explains the weird title, but don't shy away from it because of that. It's actually very enlightening!
will def read
Re: Ask HN: How to develop an app with no money or skills?
#6I dont expect to work for Free but maybe offer equity in the idea
Re: Ask HN: How to develop an app with no money or skills?
#7I tend to agree with most of the other commenters - don't fall into the "I need a technical person because I can't do it myself" mantra. Build something, anything, to get off the ground. Learn as much as you can, by yourself. This will also help you manage and monitor technical work later on and woo technical co-founders potentially (who rarely like to work with non-techie types).
Like others have said, ideas are a dime a dozen. Execution is what matters. Most apps nowadays can be (rudimentarily) recreated over a weekend - it's likely that almost nothing you are doing is so revolutionary that is should be considered a state secret. If you are THAT worried, it could be a sign of insecurity in your ability to execute on the idea, not the threat of losing the idea itself to someone else. Keep that in mind.
Think of it this way, the Twitter technology itself was not exactly revolutionary and there were literally thousands of copycats after it launched, but their execution is what set them apart and helped them gain the traction they needed.
Re: Ask HN: How to develop an app with no money or skills?
#8I dont expect to work for Free but maybe offer equity in the idea
Look as a nerd I hear "ill give you 1/2 if you build it"... we talk about their idea, then I say... Well the first step is for you to go put that on paper. Go build wireframes, put together a business plan (high level) look at the competitive landscape. Wire frame are easy and if you bring me a stack of bar napikins with doodles I will help you put them into something more formal.
I have never seen a wire frame, or a bar napkin, or a business plan or any sort of competitive analysis come back from one of these proposals.
Lets flip this on its head. I have an idea, and I'm doing all the coding/dev work. What are YOU going to do to add value to that endeavor? How much would that work be worth as a percentage?