Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#1

Post by OscarPedroso » Mon, Dec 08, 2014, 6:51 PM UTC

howdy,

I recently launched a website this past spring (www.gradfly.co) to narrow the gap between hardware and software developers. It's a pivot from another concept we were working on. I'm trying to see whether there's truly a need for this before I invest more time and money into it.

In a nutshell, it's a repository and QA forum for hardware projects like Github and Stack Overflow are for code. It would be a site where professional and enthusiast developers (both hardware and software) come together to collaborate and become part of a "crowd-instructing" community. You'd find resources, talent, and example projects to help with products or concepts you're trying to design.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be awesome.

Thanks!

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#2

Post by mc_hammer » Mon, Dec 08, 2014, 6:58 PM UTC

definitely but you should have a good plan to monetize - at this point an amazon affilliate or a blog of cat pictures can make u 10k/mo so maybe thats a better site. but if you love the idea and the business you should do it for sure :D

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#3

Post by steeples » Mon, Dec 08, 2014, 7:05 PM UTC

My two cents: Some screenshots of the Dashboard and webapp interface would be nice. I want to sign up - but not knowing what's behind a walled garden login screen is annoying.

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#4

Post by OscarPedroso » Mon, Dec 08, 2014, 7:21 PM UTC

steeples wrote: post #3

My two cents: Some screenshots of the Dashboard and webapp interface would be nice. I want to sign up - but not knowing what's behind a walled garden login screen is annoying.

I agree, I'm planning on changing that real soon! Thanks!

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#5

Post by ASquare » Mon, Dec 08, 2014, 9:24 PM UTC

Serious question - have you asked this question of people who might really have this problem?

This is customer development 101.

This is a great resource on the topic: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/26-customer-development-resourc...

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#6

Post by OscarPedroso » Mon, Dec 08, 2014, 9:52 PM UTC

ASquare wrote: post #5

Serious question - have you asked this question of people who might really have this problem? This is customer development 101. This is a great resource on the topic: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/26-customer-development-resourc...

Thanks for sharing! I'm familiar with a few of the customer development stuff but I'll be going through the list tonight to learn a bit more. I'm trying to get to a point where I'm asking the right questions to the right crowd. I figured I might have some luck posting on here, too.

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#7

Post by HeyLaughingBoy » Mon, Dec 08, 2014, 10:22 PM UTC

First, let me say that ideas like this are near and dear to my heart. As a software dev with a hardware background who's worked in Embedded Systems his entire career, I love this stuff and I enjoy helping people on online forums.

That said, I simply won't join a site that doesn't tell me much about what it does before I have to sign up. I need to browse. I need to see what the average level of discourse is. I know what level I want to engage people at and I've been at this long enough to grow tired of the "how do I blink an LED with my Arduino?" questions. Nothing wrong with that -- everyone starts somewhere -- but it's not for me.

You're competing with, among others, http://electronics.stackexchange.com/ and http://robotics.stackexchange.com/ Show me how you're different/better before I decide to sign up.

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#8

Post by aepearson » Tue, Dec 09, 2014, 12:07 AM UTC

Just a quick heads up - check your DNS settings (or however you choose to do it)... http://gradfly.co/ does not resolve. (requires 'www')

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#9

Post by shinamee » Tue, Dec 09, 2014, 3:05 AM UTC

Sounds good and I would use it, I am online a bit concern with the design pattern as it seems like a company site rather than a community platform.

All in all, its a good thing :)

Re: Is my startup idea solving a real need out there?

#10

Post by OscarPedroso » Tue, Dec 09, 2014, 5:32 AM UTC

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #7

First, let me say that ideas like this are near and dear to my heart. As a software dev with a hardware background who's worked in Embedded Systems his entire career, I love this stuff and I enjoy helping people on online forums. That said, I simply won't join a site that doesn't tell me much about what it does before I have to sign up. I need to browse. I need to see what the average level of discourse is. I know wh…

Thanks for your input and links to these sites. I hadn't thought about stack exchange but definitely some good traffic on there. I think what I really want to do is spend some time understanding pain points in this space - I'm not convinced I've found that one thing yet that really needs to be solved.

So far, I've interviewed a few of our users and they seem to be looking for an elance-for-hardware type of site where technical people submit ideas and a budget and hardware/software developers come together, create teams, and build that concept into a product. Quirky and Maker's Row do something like this but I'd still have to do a bit more customer discovery.

A bit far from what I'm aiming to build but I'm wondering whether I should listen a bit closer.