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The problem is that you cannot get customers without software. So every software STARTS as software without customers. I assume that the market exists since t
by streetcat1 7y ago
The problem is that you cannot get customers without software.
So every software STARTS as software without customers.
I assume that the market exists since this should be the reason for the project.
No code can be replicated easily. This is a myth spread by non programmers.
Software patents are useless since the Alice case. I.e. you cannot really patent software anymore.
Since I am not sure about the current state of the project I cannot give advice, but I would try and start the business actions asap. I.e. just continue with the original plan.
- swsieber 7y agoWell, that's not strictly true. Doing things that don't scale (a prime target for startups) tends to include things you are just pretending is software, but you actually do by hand. It's entirely possible to have customers before implementing the software.
- streetcat1 7y agoIt might be possible to verify the market, but even then you will not get real feedback unless people actually pay. I.e. the myth of a landing page as MVP is just that.
- swsieber 7y agoI'm not talking about a landing page. I'm talking abouy something that looks automated but is really powered by people on the backend and would never scale without actual software powering the product. It's pretty rare, but it is a thing. Take for example TillerHQ (never used an, but it seems like a genius product). You could MVP it as a form the collects bank login info and then has a person manually copy the bank statements into a spreadsheet for the customer. Highly dicey due to privacy concerns, but it illustrates my point perfectly.
- goatherders 7y agoWhy do you assume the market exists? They are two years in with - best I can tell- no customers. I
- streetcat1 7y agoI do not. However, dev time is no indication of the lack of market. As I said before, you cannot sell nonexistent software. The fact that the business side partner forked the company indicates that there is a market. The question is whether the code contains unique features of the product. IF yes, I would proceed with the software.
- jbverschoor 7y agoThis is just plain wrong. You can sell non existing software and use those funds to actually create it. Same as you can sell non existing real estate, or anything really
- streetcat1 7y agoWell. You can also create a small lab that can do full blood analysis from one drop.
- Tostino 7y agoI thought this may be a good place to tell a relevant story. I created a company with 2 co founders. I quit my day job doing support for a company in a specialized b2b accounting software industry, and started competing with them soon after. A year of development later and we had some barely working software, and had already snagged our first client by promising them the second part would be done in the next 3 months. We hustled and got it done enough and just keep 1 step ahead of what was needed. 3 years later, we have around 10 clients, and are almost about to make a positive month and start paying off debt we incurred, towards being profitable. We sold shortly after for around 6 million split 3 ways, and had the option of doing what we were for good pay. We had been living off savings and debt for the last three years so that sounded mighty fine.
- goatherders 7y agoPeople sell non existant software all the time.