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I'm Sed and I'm addicted to adding more features to my startup. This article talks to my heart. I have been working on my startup for 7 years now. For all thes

by ne01 9y ago

I'm Sed and I'm addicted to adding more features to my startup. This article talks to my heart. I have been working on my startup for 7 years now. For all these years, I have been adding more and more features, changing the product direction twice and still not knowing if we have something valuable. I want to start marketing right now and stop adding more features! P.S. Anyone interested in helping me? I am willing to split the profits for the lifespan of a user if you can help me acquire new paying users!

andy_ppp 9y ago
Interesting, I wonder if you can set that up as a marketplace connecting successful marketers to recurring revenue.
- icebraining 9y ago
  Isn't that essentially a marketplace for affiliate programs? There are a few around.
no1youknowz 9y ago
I hear you and I'm in the same boat lol. Except that, I have been engaging potential customers prior to a launch. I am having 30 minute conversations and asking THEM things like:- 1) What their process looks like. 2) What pain-points they have. 3) What they are actually using and paying... We then brain storm what potential solutions could solve these pain points and move onto: 4) How much they would be willing to pay to solve these problems. i.e, if their ROI could increase by a certain % is paying the $$ a no brainer. 5) More importantly, how much time they would be saving and is the $$$ a now brainer now? Features are great, they differentiate between yourself and your competitors. But they aren't the goal. What is the goal, is making those features part of a process flow and achieving a result that your customers want AND will be willing to pay for, compared to your competitors. What's the point in building a feature a potential customer won't use or understand? Or even worse, is too complex and when they use it they leave frustrated? Bottom line is, you don't know if you have something because you aren't talking to your market. So stop what you are doing. Nowadays it's really easy. Go on Facebook, start searching for some groups. Sometimes the gold is there because people are asking questions and you can get a sense of where your product fits. Then insert yourself into the conversation and start asking questions. Start adding people and trying to engage them directly. Say you'll send them a coupon or buy them lunch for 30 minutes of their time. You can setup a Skype conversation and then glean lots of knowledge. I would also suggest doing this with those who are experienced and in the weeds. Because they could give you actual insights over what people THINK they need. Best of luck! :)
- ne01 9y ago
  You are right! Without knowing the answer to those questions I feel like I have been creating these features for myself. I should start engaging on social medias. Do you think Facebook is better than Twitter for this? Thank you! :)
  - no1youknowz 9y ago
    Yes, Facebook is so much better! Purely for the groups aspect and usually you have people engaging with competitors products and asking how to do things. I personally don't bother with Twitter for this aspect of product validation.
    - ne01 9y ago
      Will definitely check out Facebook! Thanks again!
icebraining 9y ago
I can't help you with that, but since your product for programmers, I have a suggestion: show an example of the markup of a page. Doesn't have to be very complex, but not an hello world either. You've essentially built a programming language, and there's a reason why most of their sites have code examples on the homepage :)
- ne01 9y ago
  Great idea! Thanks! :)
robbiemitchell 9y ago
> I am willing to split the profits for the lifespan of a user if you can help me acquire new paying users! This is what affiliate programs (and networks) are for!

by ne01 9y ago

andy_ppp 9y ago

Interesting, I wonder if you can set that up as a marketplace connecting successful marketers to recurring revenue.

icebraining 9y ago
Isn't that essentially a marketplace for affiliate programs? There are a few around.

no1youknowz 9y ago

I hear you and I'm in the same boat lol. Except that, I have been engaging potential customers prior to a launch. I am having 30 minute conversations and asking THEM things like:- 1) What their process looks like. 2) What pain-points they have. 3) What they are actually using and paying... We then brain storm what potential solutions could solve these pain points and move onto: 4) How much they would be willing to pay to solve these problems. i.e, if their ROI could increase by a certain % is paying the $$ a no brainer. 5) More importantly, how much time they would be saving and is the $$$ a now brainer now? Features are great, they differentiate between yourself and your competitors. But they aren't the goal. What is the goal, is making those features part of a process flow and achieving a result that your customers want AND will be willing to pay for, compared to your competitors. What's the point in building a feature a potential customer won't use or understand? Or even worse, is too complex and when they use it they leave frustrated? Bottom line is, you don't know if you have something because you aren't talking to your market. So stop what you are doing. Nowadays it's really easy. Go on Facebook, start searching for some groups. Sometimes the gold is there because people are asking questions and you can get a sense of where your product fits. Then insert yourself into the conversation and start asking questions. Start adding people and trying to engage them directly. Say you'll send them a coupon or buy them lunch for 30 minutes of their time. You can setup a Skype conversation and then glean lots of knowledge. I would also suggest doing this with those who are experienced and in the weeds. Because they could give you actual insights over what people THINK they need. Best of luck! :)

ne01 9y ago
You are right! Without knowing the answer to those questions I feel like I have been creating these features for myself. I should start engaging on social medias. Do you think Facebook is better than Twitter for this? Thank you! :)
- no1youknowz 9y ago
  Yes, Facebook is so much better! Purely for the groups aspect and usually you have people engaging with competitors products and asking how to do things. I personally don't bother with Twitter for this aspect of product validation.
  - ne01 9y ago
    Will definitely check out Facebook! Thanks again!

icebraining 9y ago

I can't help you with that, but since your product for programmers, I have a suggestion: show an example of the markup of a page. Doesn't have to be very complex, but not an hello world either. You've essentially built a programming language, and there's a reason why most of their sites have code examples on the homepage :)

ne01 9y ago
Great idea! Thanks! :)

robbiemitchell 9y ago

> I am willing to split the profits for the lifespan of a user if you can help me acquire new paying users! This is what affiliate programs (and networks) are for!