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"... I was a member of the community that would eventually be using the software, and I basically just built something I would use myself ..." Do you think thi
by bootload 19y ago
"... I was a member of the community that would eventually be using the software, and I basically just built something I would use myself ..."
Do you think this is a variation of "make what users want"?
Initially being in a community gives you insight into what they want. But you don't always have to be part of a community to do this. You could just as easily extend this to "making tools for yourself" solving those annoying problems. In the process develop something that others might find useful.
"... "Operacy" and the skills of doing. The notion that it is enough to "know" is both absurd and dangerous. Research has shown that youngsters who pursued hobbies did much better in life - because they has some experience of operacy ..." ~ http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/msg02r.htm http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/msg02r.htm
Insight comes also from operacy or doing. Rather than just knowing, watching, reading. You gain more from doing.
- nostrademons 19y ago"Do you think this is a variation of "make what users want"?" Absolutely. "Make something users want" is really the fundamental principle of just about all of business. Everything else is just details. It's surprisingly difficult to know what users want, though, unless you're one of them. It's usually the most mundane details that lead to success - things like YouTube and Reddit enabling comments, or FaceBook keeping your information private outside of the college, or FictionAlley hosting Cassandra Claire's fanfics. A lot of consultants will tell you "Do market research! Make sure people want what you're building", but the fact is, most people are unable to verbalize what they want. They know it when they see it, and they might be able to tell you if you sit next to them and walk through how they use it, but a bunch of questions over the phone isn't going to get any useful feedback.
- Jd 19y agoI think all three of the above examples (Facebook, Reddit, Facebook) are examples of first mover advantage, not any specific technical feature.
- nostrademons 19y agoNone of the examples above were actually first-movers, though. YouTube was beaten to market by Google Video and a whole bunch of Web 1.0 video-sharing sites that nobody's ever heard of. Reddit was beaten by Digg, del.icio.us, and various others. FaceBook was beaten by Friendster, MySpace, Orkut, and lots of other social-networking sites. FictionAlley was beaten to market by Fanfiction.net and lots of boutique archives.