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Ask HN: How to decide if it should be a feature or be built as a new product?
Our company is building a new crowdfunding platform for energy poverty (inability to afford basic energy services). However, a lot of people comment that it can just be a feature/project on the existing crowdfunding platforms (e.g. Gofundme).
So, how do you decide whether it's okay just be a feature of a (existing) project or it has the potential to be developed as a new project?
e.g. crowdfunding for everything VS. crowdfunding for hardware VS. crowdfunding for energy poverty?
Our landing page: energizelives.gridmates.com/energy-poverty/
Homepage is still the old version of the website.
We'll appreciate any honest comments that you have!
- IanDrake 11y agoIf you're building a business, never build it as a feature onto someone else's platform without some sort of contract that confirms the nature of your relationship.
- gridmates 11y agoWe are not really building on anyone's platform right now. It's intended to be an independent platform. However, we just don't know whether existing platforms e.g. Dosomething.org, Indiegogo or GoFundMe can achieve the things that we want to achieve or not. However, there's a crowdfunding platform for the homeless (www.handup.org) and for water (Watsi) too. So we're not sure.
- hiltonlam 11y agoA new product has to have a significant functional difference and and technological advancement. Or it should cater for the special needs of a different demographic that has a very different behaviour. A product is not nice to have. It's a leap. It's a break through. A feature is just nice to have.
- gridmates 11y agoWe have a technology (plugin) for utility companies to put on their websites and let people donate on their websites. Does it work? Our billing system is also designed for energy donation.
- rachellee 11y agothe new product has to fit a large audience that is not satisfied with the existing product. If I wanna support poor people, why don't I donate cash to them in general. Why don't I donate for food or education but energy? Is it more emotionally appealing to donors?
- gridmates 11y agoyeah this is the challenge we're facing right now. it seems like not a lot of people are familiar with the concept of energy poverty.
- gridmates 11y agoFYI, we built this product because we could find a way to donate money, food, clothes but not energy. However, it's something really important in lives. That's why we decided to build a product for it.
- brudgers 11y agoA crude heuristic: Products segment markets. Features enhance products. This sounds like market segmentation. Existing funding platforms tend not to segment the market. Whether or not it's a viable segment is another matter. Whether or not the product can get enough of a lead to make up for the low barrier to entry for existing platforms is another matter, too.