4 ms·

Having built a successful web service I know two things: One, there is a long journey from idea to having something ready to test in the marketplace. This sort

by tammer2022 4y ago

Having built a successful web service I know two things: One, there is a long journey from idea to having something ready to test in the marketplace. This sort of site is great for that phase. Second: Those of us who have been through the roller coaster of entrepreneurship know how "encouraging words from strangers" are often just the tonic you need psychologically to keep going because in the real world the "candid feedback" can often sap your morale. Love the thing. I'll use it for real.

leobg 4y ago
Thanks for the kind words! Hadn't expected this at all on HN. I generally also agree that the real test is the marketplace, i.e. real customers voting with their wallets. But of course you're right: Seeing that someone actually cares is sometimes worth more. Or rather, is what's needed to get to the stage where you actually dare to launch something on the actual marketplace. My own use case is that I have a list of 100+ ideas. There are a few I have some degree of conviction in. Enough at least to put together an MVP that I can put to the test. But all the others? I'll never find out. For all I know, there could be one idea among them that wants to grow big, and that has a huge marketplace. But I cannot see that. And on my list, it would simply fade away from me. So the idea of having a space where I can just dump such ideas and have a chance of someone reaching out is attractive to me. That's what I'm hoping to do with this site. It also isn't about giving creators false hope. Upvotes exist on the site because they're easy and non-committal for the consumer. But they count very little. On the other side of the spectrum, a consumer can fill out a questionaire and tell you exactly why they think they need your thing, what problems they are hoping to solve with it, how they are currently dealing with that problem, etc.. While it is encouraging if someone takes the time to write all of this down for you, it's also valuable information if you're making that thing. I would have also loved to implement a thing where consumers can buy shares in your idea right now (or rather, in you implementing it). Something like, they pay you $10 now, and will be eligible as beta testers once you build it. But there seems to be no off-the-shelf solution for user-to-user payments. So for now, there's just an option to send money to the owner of an idea via an Amazon gift card. The big challenge, of course, is going to be attracting enough "consumers" to the site - meaning people who go there to shop for potential solutions to problems they might have, or for ideas they want to see become real.

leobg 4y ago

Thanks for the kind words! Hadn't expected this at all on HN. I generally also agree that the real test is the marketplace, i.e. real customers voting with their wallets. But of course you're right: Seeing that someone actually cares is sometimes worth more. Or rather, is what's needed to get to the stage where you actually dare to launch something on the actual marketplace. My own use case is that I have a list of 100+ ideas. There are a few I have some degree of conviction in. Enough at least to put together an MVP that I can put to the test. But all the others? I'll never find out. For all I know, there could be one idea among them that wants to grow big, and that has a huge marketplace. But I cannot see that. And on my list, it would simply fade away from me. So the idea of having a space where I can just dump such ideas and have a chance of someone reaching out is attractive to me. That's what I'm hoping to do with this site. It also isn't about giving creators false hope. Upvotes exist on the site because they're easy and non-committal for the consumer. But they count very little. On the other side of the spectrum, a consumer can fill out a questionaire and tell you exactly why they think they need your thing, what problems they are hoping to solve with it, how they are currently dealing with that problem, etc.. While it is encouraging if someone takes the time to write all of this down for you, it's also valuable information if you're making that thing. I would have also loved to implement a thing where consumers can buy shares in your idea right now (or rather, in you implementing it). Something like, they pay you $10 now, and will be eligible as beta testers once you build it. But there seems to be no off-the-shelf solution for user-to-user payments. So for now, there's just an option to send money to the owner of an idea via an Amazon gift card. The big challenge, of course, is going to be attracting enough "consumers" to the site - meaning people who go there to shop for potential solutions to problems they might have, or for ideas they want to see become real.