4 ms·

The Idea That Wasn't Meant To Be

2 points by vital101 16y ago

michael_dorfman 16y ago
I think chalking it up to "wasn't meant to be" isn't doing justice to some of the other more important take-aways. I submitted my site for review to Hacker News, and they basically told me the idea was great, but the site wasn’t usable. In my infinite wisdom, I trudged ahead. Now, there's a valuable lesson: don't ask for advice, if you're not willing to take it. Or, put another way: be humble enough to admit that other people's opinions count, especially where customers are concerned. After unsuccessfully marketing my product for a few months and trying to get people to seed reviews, I gave up on the original and started on my redesign. The redesign was going to be grand! A huge ajaxy call to action form field in the middle of the screen just begging to be used, a karma system for people who seed reviews, special status for moderators, and incentives to invite your friends And here's another lesson: start with a minimum viable product. Your first interation was minimal, but not viable. Instead of going for a "grand" redesign with all kinds of new features, you could have tackled your most pressing obstacle (the usability issue) and added on the new features afterwards. When I secured a real job, I found it became much harder to balance work, the fiance, side projects, and free time. I made the choice to sit on Should I Get the Book until the winter when I would have a bit more free time to work on it. Bad choice. Lesson #3: there's no time like the present. Sure, you'll have more time, someday. Do it now, and then you can use the additional time someday to do more. Maybe I didn’t try hard enough. It sounds like you put effort in, at least at first, but didn't take the good advice given to you. You know the old saw: work smarter, not harder. Maybe I didn’t put enough money into it. I don't think that would have helped. Or maybe I didn’t sacrifice enough. Only in terms of sacrificing a little pride towards humility, I think. In any event: best of luck in your next venture.
- vital101 16y ago
  Thanks. All were hard lessons to learn, but I feel like my next venture will come out of the gate much stronger than this one did. I see life as a learning experience, so no matter how this could have turned out I still came away as a better/more complete person.

2 points by vital101 16y ago

I think chalking it up to "wasn't meant to be" isn't doing justice to some of the other more important take-aways. I submitted my site for review to Hacker News, and they basically told me the idea was great, but the site wasn’t usable. In my infinite wisdom, I trudged ahead. Now, there's a valuable lesson: don't ask for advice, if you're not willing to take it. Or, put another way: be humble enough to admit that other people's opinions count, especially where customers are concerned. After unsuccessfully marketing my product for a few months and trying to get people to seed reviews, I gave up on the original and started on my redesign. The redesign was going to be grand! A huge ajaxy call to action form field in the middle of the screen just begging to be used, a karma system for people who seed reviews, special status for moderators, and incentives to invite your friends And here's another lesson: start with a minimum viable product. Your first interation was minimal, but not viable. Instead of going for a "grand" redesign with all kinds of new features, you could have tackled your most pressing obstacle (the usability issue) and added on the new features afterwards. When I secured a real job, I found it became much harder to balance work, the fiance, side projects, and free time. I made the choice to sit on Should I Get the Book until the winter when I would have a bit more free time to work on it. Bad choice. Lesson #3: there's no time like the present. Sure, you'll have more time, someday. Do it now, and then you can use the additional time someday to do more. Maybe I didn’t try hard enough. It sounds like you put effort in, at least at first, but didn't take the good advice given to you. You know the old saw: work smarter, not harder. Maybe I didn’t put enough money into it. I don't think that would have helped. Or maybe I didn’t sacrifice enough. Only in terms of sacrificing a little pride towards humility, I think. In any event: best of luck in your next venture.

vital101 16y ago
Thanks. All were hard lessons to learn, but I feel like my next venture will come out of the gate much stronger than this one did. I see life as a learning experience, so no matter how this could have turned out I still came away as a better/more complete person.