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> Build something great and they will come. Have you done this successfully yourself? You’re saying the opposite of what many people with startup experience re
by dahart 4y ago
> Build something great and they will come.
Have you done this successfully yourself? You’re saying the opposite of what many people with startup experience recommend.
I found out why ‘build something great and they will come’ is usually not true, the hard way, by blowing my own savings along with other people’s investments doing it. Great products almost never go viral on their own, they need tons of iteration and feedback. Most developers who have a truly great idea, including yours truly, don’t understand that their great idea doesn’t appeal to most people, or like in my case that people like the idea but they each have 3 different things they consider much more important, and you can only find out which great ideas have mass appeal by talking to a lot of people.
Normally, the wise startup advice is to listen deeply to a lot of people, to not jump to implement exactly what they’re asking for, but hear more broadly what their problems are and what they need. The advice is not to stop listening and ignore them, and it is not to consider listening a waste of time, the advice is to listen first and then read between the lines.
‘Build it and they will come’ is practically an anti-meme in the startup world, you can find tons and tons of examples of this failing to work, and tons of examples of wise people with experience advising to get this idea out of your head ASAP.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- MrOwnPut 4y agoI'm not saying don't market it. But I'm also saying you should have a better vision than "well gee what should we make, world?" That's pretty pathetic. Have passion in what you want to do, it should be personal. If you have a problem, there's countless others with that same problem. Showing it to them and pointing out the problem is hard, yes.
- dahart 4y agoThis isn’t what @onion2k was talking about, so straw man, no? You’re also talking in platitudes. Having a passion for what you do isn’t a recipe for good business, and isn’t necessary. It might be great for you, if you want. But people with actual experience have learned this repeatedly.
- MrOwnPut 4y agoThey weren't addressing my main point, so the straw man started earlier, no? Cliche HN words aside, they started with a personal question, which I can't answer as it would dox me. Then their main point concerned the lack of going viral, which has nothing to do my point. They said "Great products almost never go viral on their own". I'm saying build a product you think is great, fuck others bad advice, then market the shit out of it and make people realize how great it is. > But people with actual experience have learned this repeatedly. I have experience in this. The real pioneers aren't doing that. It's just a SV meme to maximize their shit product, it's the best they can do without a vision.