4 ms·

Yeah I’ve tried another similar site and people’s expectations are a bit loony, usually they want to pay the price you would charge a single customer for 1 year

Yeah I’ve tried another similar site and people’s expectations are a bit loony, usually they want to pay the price you would charge a single customer for 1 year as a SaaS for you to develop the entire solution! Maybe non software folks don’t get the difference between say paying Atlassian $1000/month or whatever it is for Jira and paying a dev $1000 to develop a JIRA clone, because it probably seems like the same thing.

edmundsauto 7y ago
You're validating the problem, not the value or the target market. You need all 3, but it's easier to identify problems, then validate whether the defined target would be interested at a given price point. The freelancer sites are just a starting point, they answer the question of, "what are some things business owners want".
poulsbohemian 7y ago
Recent client: "I took a fortran class back in college, so let me know if you need any help." Therein lies the problem: They know lawyers, doctors, accountants, heck even plumbers are going to be expensive because they are educated / trained and/or they get you out of an identifiable tight spot (the IRS isn't happy, water is coming into the house, I'm having a heart attack, I'm getting sued, etc). Software developers? Outside the FAANGs technical people are viewed as fungible. Many, many small businesses are grossly undercapitalized such that a business owner might very well be paying that technical person a lot more than they pay themselves. Likewise, technical roles are typically compensated well above many other clerical / field / service / business type roles such that a business owner might not have ever paid so much to any other single employee.
- balfirevic 7y ago
  > Outside the FAANGs technical people are viewed as fungible. Fungible does not mean low-paying. Plumbers are mostly viewed as fungible, however expensive they may be.

edmundsauto 7y ago

You're validating the problem, not the value or the target market. You need all 3, but it's easier to identify problems, then validate whether the defined target would be interested at a given price point. The freelancer sites are just a starting point, they answer the question of, "what are some things business owners want".

poulsbohemian 7y ago

Recent client: "I took a fortran class back in college, so let me know if you need any help." Therein lies the problem: They know lawyers, doctors, accountants, heck even plumbers are going to be expensive because they are educated / trained and/or they get you out of an identifiable tight spot (the IRS isn't happy, water is coming into the house, I'm having a heart attack, I'm getting sued, etc). Software developers? Outside the FAANGs technical people are viewed as fungible. Many, many small businesses are grossly undercapitalized such that a business owner might very well be paying that technical person a lot more than they pay themselves. Likewise, technical roles are typically compensated well above many other clerical / field / service / business type roles such that a business owner might not have ever paid so much to any other single employee.

balfirevic 7y ago
> Outside the FAANGs technical people are viewed as fungible. Fungible does not mean low-paying. Plumbers are mostly viewed as fungible, however expensive they may be.