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My $0.02. If you feel like the problem exists, start building. But, if you think the problem is solved, then it makes no sense to proceed with it. For a start

My $0.02. If you feel like the problem exists, start building. But, if you think the problem is solved, then it makes no sense to proceed with it. For a startup, people use your product because they have a problem to solve. It does not matter how bad your UI/UX is, how drastically bad your flows are, if you are offering a solution no one else is, you will have users. It just needs to work. The more pertinent the problem, more the users will be annoyed if it does not work. Ideally, your idea should be one of the solutions to the problem, and the entire initial phase is there to establish two things: 1/ Whether your solution works? Can you find a unique solution for the problem? 2/ Do a lot of people really have that problem? For example: If you want to get into ridesharing and taxi market today, it will be difficult. But there is an open case where the wait times and variability annoys a lot of people. That is, if I am taking an Uber, I dont know how long will I need to wait. The app says 5 mins, but can be anywhere between 5-15 depending on the match. Sometimes, I have waited for >10 min and the driver cancelled and had to wait another 15. If some app can tell me exact time - or even let me schedule a ride - I would be happy to pay extra for that given it saves me the time and frustration. Not sure how many will have the problem, or it is good enough for others, but I will prefer a cab which allows me exactly this - even at a higher price point.

narag 7y ago
For a startup, people use your product because they have a problem to solve. It does not matter how bad your UI/UX is, how drastically bad your flows are, if you are offering a solution no one else is, you will have users. It just needs to work. It's funny because I came to the same conclusion years ago, but had not written it until yesterday in a different context: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19770812 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19770812 Great minds think alike :)
- ankit219 7y ago
  True that. Great minds really do think alike :) I came to the conclusion the hard way when I focused on UI/UX (it should look good) instead of focusing on providing the best possible solution. This is the most important learning I took from the entire entrepreneurial experience.
bo1024 7y ago
I really like this perspective! Maybe Zoom is a good example. For remote meetings, I was using Skype, Google Hangouts, and other video chat software. I kept having problems (especially on Linux). Products existed, but the problem wasn't solved. For me, Zoom solved the problem.
- Ologn 7y ago
  The same for me. Zoom works well for me on Ubuntu Linux. IIRC, Google Hangouts works as well. Skype for Business I have had problems with. I have primarily used Linux for 25 years. In recent years the only other program I had trouble with was that the Unity IDE would run on Ubuntu, but to compile and export a VR scene, I needed to use a Mac. Noting the OP - I created a thesaurus site a few years ago - https://www.matchingwords.com https://www.matchingwords.com . I tried to pay for Google Ads for it, but they said the site was "not unique enough" and refused my money. Well there was an aspect of the site that was somewhat unique, although not completely unique - I had integrated hunspell into the site, so not only would a word like "laugh" yield a result, so would "laughs" and "laughed". That still was not enough for them though. Tangentially, the thesaurus backend work was something another project had needed and was done before the web site was put up. With that backend work done, I thought it would be easy to just put up a website so that the backend work could be used twice, so I put up the website.
jabart 7y ago
UI/UX does matter if that is the problem you are trying to solve. If users can't use your product because they don't understand it, it isn't solving their problem. Source: We sign up people because, and these are quotes from sales calls, "You have a good font size, easy to read", "I won't have to train new staff on how to use this correctly".
- ankit219 7y ago
  Of course, if your core value proposition is usability then obviously it matters. I think this is true for many of legacy Saas products. I was more talking in terms of b2c where there might not be a solution to a user's specific problem. (In your case, the solution is there but impossible to use so its similar to no solution available)

narag 7y ago

For a startup, people use your product because they have a problem to solve. It does not matter how bad your UI/UX is, how drastically bad your flows are, if you are offering a solution no one else is, you will have users. It just needs to work. It's funny because I came to the same conclusion years ago, but had not written it until yesterday in a different context: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19770812 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19770812 Great minds think alike :)

ankit219 7y ago
True that. Great minds really do think alike :) I came to the conclusion the hard way when I focused on UI/UX (it should look good) instead of focusing on providing the best possible solution. This is the most important learning I took from the entire entrepreneurial experience.

bo1024 7y ago

I really like this perspective! Maybe Zoom is a good example. For remote meetings, I was using Skype, Google Hangouts, and other video chat software. I kept having problems (especially on Linux). Products existed, but the problem wasn't solved. For me, Zoom solved the problem.

Ologn 7y ago
The same for me. Zoom works well for me on Ubuntu Linux. IIRC, Google Hangouts works as well. Skype for Business I have had problems with. I have primarily used Linux for 25 years. In recent years the only other program I had trouble with was that the Unity IDE would run on Ubuntu, but to compile and export a VR scene, I needed to use a Mac. Noting the OP - I created a thesaurus site a few years ago - https://www.matchingwords.com https://www.matchingwords.com . I tried to pay for Google Ads for it, but they said the site was "not unique enough" and refused my money. Well there was an aspect of the site that was somewhat unique, although not completely unique - I had integrated hunspell into the site, so not only would a word like "laugh" yield a result, so would "laughs" and "laughed". That still was not enough for them though. Tangentially, the thesaurus backend work was something another project had needed and was done before the web site was put up. With that backend work done, I thought it would be easy to just put up a website so that the backend work could be used twice, so I put up the website.

jabart 7y ago

UI/UX does matter if that is the problem you are trying to solve. If users can't use your product because they don't understand it, it isn't solving their problem. Source: We sign up people because, and these are quotes from sales calls, "You have a good font size, easy to read", "I won't have to train new staff on how to use this correctly".

ankit219 7y ago
Of course, if your core value proposition is usability then obviously it matters. I think this is true for many of legacy Saas products. I was more talking in terms of b2c where there might not be a solution to a user's specific problem. (In your case, the solution is there but impossible to use so its similar to no solution available)