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May I ask you why, being an experienced developer with an autistic child that know the actual state of the industry, you overlooked this opportunity? It's a ge
by DeusExMachina 15y ago
May I ask you why, being an experienced developer with an autistic child that know the actual state of the industry, you overlooked this opportunity?
It's a genuine question, because I do it all the times as well and then, when I realize it to late, I wonder why I didn't think about it in the first place. I would like to know if there is a pattern or something.
- newobj 15y agoIn this particular case my child is fairly high functioning and not non-verbal, so I wasn't aware of this particular need. We do use some small pictoral cards with him to help prepare him for transitions, but it's literally like laminated clip art. Don't really need something high tech. In that case presenting him with an ipad would likely just distract him... But I sympathize with your general lament over "why didn't I think of that?" Haven't we all experienced that SO many times?
- baby 15y agoWhat I don't understand is why don't you make exactly the same app to compete with him right now?
- qq66 15y agoSpotting commercial opportunities is its own skill. Any experienced programmer could have made the v1 of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc... but figuring out that people need that is nontrivial.
- jamesbritt 15y agoIs that how it works, or do lots of people build lots of things, and when a tiny handful of them go big the creators are retroactivley deemed prescient?
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- adriand 15y agoI think that there's no question you have to do some things right to succeed, but many people do things right and fail, because ultimately, a lot of it is just pure luck.
- brc 15y agoIt's more about recognising when you're on to something, and when you're flogging a dead horse. And being able to double-down quickly in the first instance, and trash-can it in the second.
- qq66 15y agoEveryone is convinced that their startup is the next big thing. Some of them end up being right. Part of that was prescience, part of it was the "luck" to be obsessed with the right idea.
- damoncali 15y agoA lot of it is that the people build things they know will work (rather than things they think will work) tend to succeed more often. (At least in my own admittedly anecdotal experience) The hard work of research, initial sales and market validation is later retroactively glossed over as "vision" by onlookers.
- ja27 15y agoAnd getting what you built into the hands of the people that need it is nontrivial and I'd argue it's the hardest part.
- Providentian 15y agoTrue. The reason why this went well for the developer is that he did direct sales to find early advocates, and didn't rely on an app store magic wand. Of course, that is possible with a $199 app, not so much with a $1.99 one.
- smackfu 15y agoI think it would become more obvious if you are actually writing a check for a $X000 piece of equipment, and thinking "my iPad could do this".