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Ask HN: How would you develop your next “big idea” if you were alone?

• sharemywin 10y ago
  for me it all starts with marketing. how are you getting the word out about it? if you can't: 1. Build a landing page and collect names of people that are interested then it's going to be hard to market. 2. if it's B2B, generate leads from advertising or SEO trouble.
  • sharemywin 10y ago
    also, it helps you focus on the main benefit of what your selling.
  • patrics123 10y ago
    +1 on this one. Try to find 3 customers first. Ask what they actually need and charge for solving their pain. And on getting ideas stolen... Most people dont even enough time for their own ideas. But Feedback helps a Lot. Which city are you living in? Any Start-Up/Meetups or Dev Meetups you could Swing by?
• stray 10y ago
  Build a teensy tiny part of it. Then build another. And another.
  • andymurd 10y ago
    Eat that elephant one bite at a time.
• GFischer 10y ago
  "I’m afraid that my idea get stolen" You should find someone trustworthy and share it with them. I've had a few ideas which I think can be turned into huge companies - at first I was afraid to share, and after sharing, first with friends and family, and later with my university's startup office, I realized that no, they aren't interested in stealing your idea (the startup office actually advised the largest startup in the country, and they obviously didn't steal the idea, even though it wasn't too hard to duplicate on paper). Obviously don't divulge it to people who can become competitors (like people here) before having executed at least a bit. Nobody will be as enthusiastic as you. Heck, you'll have to explain your idea over and over, and shout it to the four corners of the earth once you want to start selling! http://cdixon.org/2009/08/22/why-you-shouldnt-keep-your-startup-idea-secret/ http://cdixon.org/2009/08/22/why-you-shouldnt-keep-your-star... I don't know what the startup scene is in Germany, but if you're in a large city, there are hacker spaces, coworking spaces, meetups, etc. Not knowing anyone shouldn't be a problem, it would be ideal if you can enter a hackathon and establish some rapport and work together. Speaking from experience, you have to be willing to work hard to make it succeed - my own project is languishing because I don't put in the hours (I work 10 hours a day). But put yourself out there, and validate early. Get it in front of customers. I hired a freelance programmer and it didn't go all that well due to different expectations of his commitment. It would be great if you can build a crude prototype yourself.
• ashleypt 10y ago
  hmm. on my own without much money to bootstrap with I'm just focusing on getting the mvp out. if it fails, I'll just write another app/pivot based on both feedback and empirical testing. I think that's the conventional wisdom for keeping a startup lean and not getting too invested in one big idea. as for creating the code with less effort, I'd say either a good microframework OR a more monolithic one - both have advantages and disadvantages for a small project. the advantage with a node/express backend vs meteor for example is that you can just write the API and only add the components you need googling as you go. if I only want an android app that uses VERY simple auth and a very simple db that sequelize can map, I can then have more flexibility and not have to learn as much. there is less code to maintain often, not as much autogenerated code. I can also write a native android or react native app instead of being nudged towards a cordova/phone gap solution. the con is that if you're new or especially if you haven't worked a tech job before your code can get disorganized or buggy, especially if you don't know TDD (I still want to learn). also meteor has easy deploy solutions and a lot of magic. similar dynamic applies to sinatra vs rails, django vs flask, etc. as for sharing ideas, this doesn't scare me at all if it's just a chat with friends or likeminded people - actually I don't worry much at all. if someone else can make it /better/ and /faster/ than me then I just picked the wrong niche, I'll just need to pick one where I'm the best next time. I think it's better if my app can succeed in a market with perfect information because then I'm specializing to the best of my ability. I'm still learning but this is the wisdom I've got from reading about how to do this stuff on your own and trying and just doing the work. I'm curious to get feedback on my way of thinking about this as I'm sure I could improve even further
• forgottenacc57 10y ago
  You have to write it yourself. Stop giving reasons why that can't be done.
• jayajay 10y ago
  Your idea will get stolen, if it's good. Most likely, it's not good and your idea won't get stolen because no one gives a fuck about you and your problems, which is a good thing. If you are in the .1%, then you probably don't need to getting regurgitated advice from the rest of the 99.9% (i.e. the retards like me that use this website who have no idea what the fuck they are talking about). How many people use this site monthly, like 100k? Maybe 10k of those people have been in real startups and maybe 1k of those people have gotten non-trivial funding. Out of those 1k, 950 are retards. Out of the 50 people who can give you great advice, they all have other things they would rather be doing, and might not even login for a few weeks. Shut the hell up and get to work, dude.
  • mads 10y ago
    you should be a startup boot camp drill instructor.
  • mjurczyk 10y ago
    > Shut the hell up and get to work, dude. As simple as it gets. Start working on it. Create something, a simple MVP, to test your idea. Then worry about the details. If you do it before you even begin with your project, you will end up with a hundred reasons not to start it at all.
  • HiroshiSan 10y ago
    and if your idea is really good, you won't be able to shove it down anyones throat fast enough. See classic dropbox thread.
  • kohanz 10y ago
    > Out of those 1k, 950 are retards. Is this language really necessary?! Yes, I'm going to be that guy, but having worked with special needs individuals, it really upsets me when people still use this term. It's about as outdated and offensive as labeling something you dont like as "gay".
• coldshower 10y ago
  If your idea isn't worth failing spectacularly for, then it's not worth doing.
• WhitneyLand 10y ago
  Unless you are famous, no one will steal your idea. The truth is it will be very difficult to get anyone to even care about your idea. Google, E-Bay were rejected many times, no one cared. The positive side to this is you can sharpen your pitch. Once you get strong positive (honest) feedback you know your story is getting stronger. Do not pay for $1 of development until you have done lots of validation. Have you talked to experts in the industry? How many potential customers said they'd be willing to buy? Have you spec'd out an MVP? Have you had someone who's run a successful startup review your business model? Once your ready to hire developers, you again need to plan carefully. There are 100 ways to get burned. Also it takes skill to manage their effort and know when things are going wrong.
• Brightwise 10y ago
  Break it down and let freelancers develop the building blocks which you integrate by yourself into the final solution.
• mfrye0 10y ago
  I'm doing the same thing. Been working on it for a year now and I'm solo. Not going to lie, it's fucking hard sometimes. It's definitely not for everyone. Some days I want to give up and some days when things come together I feel that it's all worth it. That's the life you have to be prepared for - drastic ups and downs. Since I'm bootstrapping the company I just don't have the money to hire full-time people yet. So what I did is bring on a few advisors who can help out in exchange for equity. Mainly in the areas that I'm not very strong skill wise. If anything they are someone to talk to. It can get lonely being solo. As far as meetups and presenting it, that's usually better after you have something. If you already have something and have traction, people are often more interested in joining you rather than competing. Before then talk to prospective customers and make sure people actually want what you have. Good luck!
• ergot 10y ago
  > I’m afraid that my idea get stolen https://sivers.org/multiply https://sivers.org/multiply