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I once developed an app and a site before i really knew people would actually want to pay for it! rookie mistake! lesson learnt: don't make before you sell

by reice 2y ago

spikey_sanju 2y ago
I do the same thing! How do you find people who want your product before you make it? It's hard to get people to know about it without showing them something first. What if I don't have any distribution or social followings? P.S. I'm in the same boat.
- bruce511 2y ago
  If you can't find people before you make it, then you won't find them after you make it either. Which makes this an excellent question. Indeed perhaps the most important question to ask before you build anything. Too many programmers subscribe to the school of "if you build it through will come'. (Hint: that's not how it works.) Firstly you don't have to show anything to potential customers, (and even when you have it, it's better not to show it.) You are selling benefits, not features. Secondly, how to find them is exactly the hard problem you need to figure out (it'll be different for different products.) For me personally, I the late 90s / early aughts, I traveled to user groups (all over the world.) Turns out that "showing up" spread the word very quickly. (That worked for me because it's a niche area and nobody else bothered to travel, so I stood out.) The key lesson here- if you can't define your market, and if you can't reach them, you can't sell to them. Every business has hard problems. This may be yours. Solve this problem first, not last.
  - reice 2y ago
    This is actually a really informative answer! This quote really stod out tho: If you can't find people before you make it, Then you won't find them after you make it either. literly every time i just wasted money in business was because i didn't work by this quote!
    - tomhallett 2y ago
      “The mom test” is an amazing book for this exact problem
  - gigatree 2y ago
    That’s a mistake I see too many people make. They try to solve a problem and build a product from afar, using their imagination or trying to copy an existing product without having personal relationships with people having that problem (or without having it themselves). I guess it’s possible to create a product first and then find people who need it and iterate from there, but I’ve found that having personal relationships and then making something in response to a common problem they have is the only way to start and grow. That’s what I’ve found “talk to users” actually means.
- Liquix 2y ago
  1. Spend time with people/problems in $space 2. Recognize a $space shortcoming that users would pay to resolve 3. Start building Bonus points if it's an area you're passionate about! But don't expect everything you're passionate about to solve a marketable problem.
metadat 2y ago
I made this mistake as a solo founder. It still ended up opening new doors for me, but still could've done a lot better if I had internalized this from the get go.
deleted 2y ago
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SoftTalker 2y ago
It's a balancing act. If you represent that you have a product, sell it, collect payment, and actually don't have a product at all, that could be fraud.
deleted 2y ago
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visox 2y ago
yeah a standard problem of mine but i do still enjoy building things

I once developed an app and a site before i really knew people would actually want to pay for it! rookie mistake! lesson learnt: don't make before you sell

by reice 2y ago

I once developed an app and a site before i really knew people would actually want to pay for it! rookie mistake! lesson learnt: don't make before you sell

spikey_sanju 2y ago

I do the same thing! How do you find people who want your product before you make it? It's hard to get people to know about it without showing them something first. What if I don't have any distribution or social followings? P.S. I'm in the same boat.

bruce511 2y ago
If you can't find people before you make it, then you won't find them after you make it either. Which makes this an excellent question. Indeed perhaps the most important question to ask before you build anything. Too many programmers subscribe to the school of "if you build it through will come'. (Hint: that's not how it works.) Firstly you don't have to show anything to potential customers, (and even when you have it, it's better not to show it.) You are selling benefits, not features. Secondly, how to find them is exactly the hard problem you need to figure out (it'll be different for different products.) For me personally, I the late 90s / early aughts, I traveled to user groups (all over the world.) Turns out that "showing up" spread the word very quickly. (That worked for me because it's a niche area and nobody else bothered to travel, so I stood out.) The key lesson here- if you can't define your market, and if you can't reach them, you can't sell to them. Every business has hard problems. This may be yours. Solve this problem first, not last.
- reice 2y ago
  This is actually a really informative answer! This quote really stod out tho: If you can't find people before you make it, Then you won't find them after you make it either. literly every time i just wasted money in business was because i didn't work by this quote!
  - tomhallett 2y ago
    “The mom test” is an amazing book for this exact problem
- gigatree 2y ago
  That’s a mistake I see too many people make. They try to solve a problem and build a product from afar, using their imagination or trying to copy an existing product without having personal relationships with people having that problem (or without having it themselves). I guess it’s possible to create a product first and then find people who need it and iterate from there, but I’ve found that having personal relationships and then making something in response to a common problem they have is the only way to start and grow. That’s what I’ve found “talk to users” actually means.
Liquix 2y ago
1. Spend time with people/problems in $space 2. Recognize a $space shortcoming that users would pay to resolve 3. Start building Bonus points if it's an area you're passionate about! But don't expect everything you're passionate about to solve a marketable problem.

metadat 2y ago

I made this mistake as a solo founder. It still ended up opening new doors for me, but still could've done a lot better if I had internalized this from the get go.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

SoftTalker 2y ago

It's a balancing act. If you represent that you have a product, sell it, collect payment, and actually don't have a product at all, that could be fraud.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

visox 2y ago

yeah a standard problem of mine but i do still enjoy building things