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Ask HN: Here is my idea...help & feedback needed.
Ok..I am going to come straight with you guys. I am feeling vulnerable right now, and had to reach out to the community for a little support.
I have been consulting for the last few months. That one client was my largest client and they are going away very shortly. I could either continue trying to do the freelance/consulting thing, or get a 'regular job' except I am in Jamaica and the startup scene, that I would want to work in, is not available locally. Going through the visa process is such a turn off, for another job in the US.
On that note, I would rather work on my app and am going to put my idea out there and see what happens.
I have been working with designers and developers for the better part of the last 3 - 4 years, in a project management type capacity and have discovered a huge pain point that I am determined to fix.
When a designer does a comp for me, they email it to me (or post it to basecamp, or upload to an ftp). I then look at it, reply to the email with comments, or post a comment to basecamp or send notes in a word/txt file. They then revise it, and on and on and on. This process gets very messy, especially when I have to then pass the comp along to other stakeholders (e.g. people on the executive team, other designers, developers, etc.). So I am building a web app to do that. It's called either 'Comp Version' or 'Comp Versions'. I own both domains.
I have started working on the interface, mainly jQuery, HTML, CSS. I am no designer, but I know how it should look and function and have decided to just build it myself. The truth is, that had things continued on (i.e. still had my major client) I was planning on taking the long slog of a journey and building it on my own, while learning everything. I am learning jQuery as I go along, and it is an uphill climb.
So, right now, in my moment of vulnerability. What I am looking for are a number of things. 1) Do you guys think this idea is good, and would any of you want to pay for this monthly? 2) Would you be willing to sign up for an alpha? 3) Are you a strong rails developer, that are interested in working with me on the back-end for equity or delayed compensation (that might be much higher than getting paid upfront)? 4) Any encouragement that can help me get over this little slump of vulnerability I am feeling right now.
I know that if I am able to power through, and get this app off the ground (without running out of cash), I will be much better off...both financially and psychologically (I can't explain how long I have been wanting to do this). I am just going through a slightly rough time at the moment.
Thanks guys.
P.S. I would apply to Y-Combinator...but it's too late and am running out of cash :|
- bdickason 16y agoI think the idea is great. I have seen people struggling with Basecamp for this in the past and I've been on both ends. The only downside that I see is that the number of designers out there doing freelance projects is relatively small, so your eventual 'market' is kinda tiny. Anyway I wouldn't let that stop you. If you feel the pain I'm sure at least 50 others do, and that, to me, is enough to do it :) One thing I'd add though - partner with another designer. Designers care greatly about the visual aesthetic of the tools they work with. As this is mostly targetted at designers, make sure that you get one that believes in it (offer lifetime free service) to help you out :)
- marcamillion 16y agoThis is an awesome suggestion. I think I will edit my post to include a reach out to designers. I meant to do so, but it slipped my mind. Also...re: the market size...that's what you think at first glance. However, if you look at the number of interactive agencies around the world, I would say there are at least a few tens of thousands - if not hundreds of thousands or a million. Remember this is not just for web designers. Anyone that does any graphics work, that needs to collect revision notes from their customers. Illustrators, animators, sketchboard artists, print designers, web designers, marketers that do print design, etc. I am fairly confident that the market is big enough for me to make enough to work on this full-time, and have enough to support at least one or two others doing the same. As for bigger than that, we will just have to see.
- bdickason 16y agoPerhaps you could build something that plugged into Scribd then? They are gearing up to be the defacto HTML5 'embed anything' vendor for the web. Building a comment and revision tracking system on top of it that is very easy to use could be a great way to 'start' your startup before moving to a standalone system? :)
- marcamillion 16y agoInteresting. Never thought about that. Not sure if that will be a good place to start, but I will definitely look into it. My main issue now though is to get some sort of cash flow going as soon as I can. So we will see. Thnx though.