3 ms·

I am building X because I like the challenge and not because I know its needed

2 points by lilouartz 2y ago

It has been about 2 weeks now since I first came across a problem. Namely, I needed to buy supplements based on doctor's recommendations, and I got lost browsing hundreds of supplements trying to compare them to each other. Somehow this lead me to wanting to build a supplement store that allows to compare supplements based on their active ingredients rather than marketing materials. So... two weeks in, something that had to be an overnight MVP, has grown into me studying chemical compounds and building a database of every nutrient, enzyme, etc. I do genuinely enjoy the process a lot, and I already have a somewhat working product. However, I am increasingly questioning my decision making going down this rabbit hole. The questions I ask myself are... * Is this even a solvable problem? [as I've learned along the way, there are near infinite amount of variations how the same ingredient can be described, and often normalization happens with limited amount of information, making a great deal of assumptions] * If this even worth solving? [are there people who care that much about getting _the best_ supplement?] There is no ask. I just took a break from writing test cases and paused to reflect on where I am in this journey, but... Would love for someone to share perspective/suggestions if you have one.

s1k3s 2y ago
We can't tell you if it's solvable because we didn't do the research, you did that. So it's up to you to decide if you can do it or not. Regarding your second point, the general rule for assessing this is: imagine the product is ready as an MVP. Now answer these questions: - How do you acquire users/customers? Literally, how do you plan to turn someone who never heard of you into a customer. - How do you make money? - Do you have enough money to invest to keep it alive until it becomes profitable? DO NOT: ask your friends, ask your family etc. This is not valuable input to decide if a product is worth building. A lot of these questions can only be answered by actually shipping a live version and measuring the results of a time/budget limited campaign. So a lot of times you have to build it first and then see if it works.
- lilouartz 2y ago
  I asked myself a lot of the same questions, and also have come to similar conclusions that I just need to throw it out there to see if people are even remotely interested.
al_borland 2y ago
My question would be, did you get a supplement to follow the doctors orders, to take for now even if it isn’t perfect, or are you waiting until you have this thing done before you feel like you can pick something?
- lilouartz 2y ago
  In my case, it is the latter. I very intentionally figured that I want to "retain" my problem so that I could test with my own product whether it at least addresses my original problem. That being said, I am a bit nuts! I can go into decision paralyses if I don't know all the variables.
  - al_borland 2y ago
    If that’s the case, then I guess you have no choice but to keep going.

2 points by lilouartz 2y ago

s1k3s 2y ago

We can't tell you if it's solvable because we didn't do the research, you did that. So it's up to you to decide if you can do it or not. Regarding your second point, the general rule for assessing this is: imagine the product is ready as an MVP. Now answer these questions: - How do you acquire users/customers? Literally, how do you plan to turn someone who never heard of you into a customer. - How do you make money? - Do you have enough money to invest to keep it alive until it becomes profitable? DO NOT: ask your friends, ask your family etc. This is not valuable input to decide if a product is worth building. A lot of these questions can only be answered by actually shipping a live version and measuring the results of a time/budget limited campaign. So a lot of times you have to build it first and then see if it works.

lilouartz 2y ago
I asked myself a lot of the same questions, and also have come to similar conclusions that I just need to throw it out there to see if people are even remotely interested.

al_borland 2y ago

My question would be, did you get a supplement to follow the doctors orders, to take for now even if it isn’t perfect, or are you waiting until you have this thing done before you feel like you can pick something?

lilouartz 2y ago
In my case, it is the latter. I very intentionally figured that I want to "retain" my problem so that I could test with my own product whether it at least addresses my original problem. That being said, I am a bit nuts! I can go into decision paralyses if I don't know all the variables.
- al_borland 2y ago
  If that’s the case, then I guess you have no choice but to keep going.