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I am a non-techie that also believes I ought to learn the technical part to breathe life into my thingamawhop. I would still love the ability to know if someon

I am a non-techie that also believes I ought to learn the technical part to breathe life into my thingamawhop. I would still love the ability to know if someone could make it right now right now for $500. If you snip the cocoon by putting it on doitfor500.com, that's on you, right? Where there's a want, there's a product. I'd post my thingamawhop.

padseeker 14y ago
I love the name - doitfor500.com. And it is available... I'm still on the fence. While I have you engaged, I feel like I posted this in the wrong way - should I have put this on Ask HN?
- bradleysmith 14y ago
  From my non-techie experience of HN, yeah. But, there you are on the front page. I'm sure someone building a filter somewhere is insignificantly bothered.
  - padseeker 14y ago
    Yeah, go figure! I don't understand the algorithm for determining what appears on the front page of ask on hacker news. 7 points is not compelling enough for me to build this thing.
    - bradleysmith 14y ago
      Most of your potential market may have never heard of HN, much less have established karma here. Not defending my lowly position and certainly understand what you're getting at, but I do not think you're doing your idea justice by taking 'Ask HN' as a solid interest gauge. If I were trying to validate this idea, I would probably look to local meetups for co-founders and non-tech founders, LinkedIn groups for tech-business people, and tech-business students. They're your market, so ask them. How long do you think it would take? Are there any substantial costs involved?
      - padseeker 14y ago
        Well, it's basically bringing together 2 groups - technical hacker news reader types and non-technical people with an idea. If I can't get to 30-40 points on hacker news my hope is not that high. Which is not to say it does not have potential or is not worth pursuing. I might not be doing it justice. But based on the new school of thought, where you validate your idea before you build your startup, I am not feeling this is a white hot idea. Still there is potential. I do feel like it may be worth exploring. The source of the idea was going to bootstrapper breakfast in Chicago and hearing a lot of non-technies asking technies what they should do. That was arguably my favorite part, helping those who were not technical figure out the best way to build out their technical needs. Anybody can hire a offshore developer or get a local student to help them out, but there is no guarantee what that person offers to develop is what you should develop. Building out the MVP? I could build it in Rails in under a month as I work full time and can only code after hours. Costs could be close to none if I do the work. Maybe I would buy a bootstrap template so it looks decent. What I really want is what stackexchange already has, with a bit more functionality as it relates to the payment part. I like the upvoting of answers to questions, the way it tracks reputation of users. I'm going to send you an direct email, this idea is worth discussing. Thanks for not abandoning this post.
Mz 14y ago
He asked to be invalidated. I was giving him the feedback he requested. I am someone who routinely either gets useless pats on the head or hatred from people. I can't fucking get anyone to engage me in meaty discussion of the issues. And that fact is helping to ensure that my thingamawhop will be stillborn or miscarried entirely. Perhaps he doesn't appreciate being given what he asked for. Perhaps like everyone else on planet earth, he will not take my feedback seriously and will merely be defensive like it is a personal attack and not a well meaning, honest critique. And, gee, that's on him what he does with it. But he did ask for people to try to poke holes in his idea, presumably on the theory that it would help him uncover weaknesses and thereby improve the darn thing. But maybe it was just pc bs, like most of the blather on the face of the planet.
- padseeker 14y ago
  If you think it is invalid that is a perfectly acceptable response. You made a point and I countered. No need to get hostile Mz. I'm just glad you took the time to respond. You're feedback is appreciated, even if the answer is "your idea isn't worth building". I want to hear what your thingamawop is - please share. Maybe this is the start of doitfor500, and you get the first version for free. Or at least we put you on the right path if you do it yourself. I'm really curious now what it is.
  - Mz 14y ago
    You seem to have missed my point entirely. I gave you the feedback you requested. That doesn't mean "it isn't worth building". That means I respect you enough to help you try to find the weaknesses before you build the damn thing, in hopes that it will hurt less should you actually launch. And if you can't come to terms with that, life will get really painful when you do go public with it. My thingamawhop: I nearly died just about twelve years ago. Then I was diagnosed with "atypical cystic fibrosis". I have spent the last twelvish years getting well when the entire world thinks that is impossible. I would like to write a simulation -- aka "game" -- to more effectively share my mental model. But it might never happen. I get accused of having Munchhausen Syndrome rather than cf. Most people with cf have made it abundantly clear that they would rather die a slow torturous death than speak to me at all. And I have been lovingly called a "troll" by the good people of hn for trying to get feedback to resolve my problems. Sorry if I am a tad raw over the whole thing. This kind of bullshit has gone on for years. It likely won't end. Ever. Best of luck with your idea.

padseeker 14y ago

I love the name - doitfor500.com. And it is available... I'm still on the fence. While I have you engaged, I feel like I posted this in the wrong way - should I have put this on Ask HN?

bradleysmith 14y ago
From my non-techie experience of HN, yeah. But, there you are on the front page. I'm sure someone building a filter somewhere is insignificantly bothered.
- padseeker 14y ago
  Yeah, go figure! I don't understand the algorithm for determining what appears on the front page of ask on hacker news. 7 points is not compelling enough for me to build this thing.
  - bradleysmith 14y ago
    Most of your potential market may have never heard of HN, much less have established karma here. Not defending my lowly position and certainly understand what you're getting at, but I do not think you're doing your idea justice by taking 'Ask HN' as a solid interest gauge. If I were trying to validate this idea, I would probably look to local meetups for co-founders and non-tech founders, LinkedIn groups for tech-business people, and tech-business students. They're your market, so ask them. How long do you think it would take? Are there any substantial costs involved?
    - padseeker 14y ago
      Well, it's basically bringing together 2 groups - technical hacker news reader types and non-technical people with an idea. If I can't get to 30-40 points on hacker news my hope is not that high. Which is not to say it does not have potential or is not worth pursuing. I might not be doing it justice. But based on the new school of thought, where you validate your idea before you build your startup, I am not feeling this is a white hot idea. Still there is potential. I do feel like it may be worth exploring. The source of the idea was going to bootstrapper breakfast in Chicago and hearing a lot of non-technies asking technies what they should do. That was arguably my favorite part, helping those who were not technical figure out the best way to build out their technical needs. Anybody can hire a offshore developer or get a local student to help them out, but there is no guarantee what that person offers to develop is what you should develop. Building out the MVP? I could build it in Rails in under a month as I work full time and can only code after hours. Costs could be close to none if I do the work. Maybe I would buy a bootstrap template so it looks decent. What I really want is what stackexchange already has, with a bit more functionality as it relates to the payment part. I like the upvoting of answers to questions, the way it tracks reputation of users. I'm going to send you an direct email, this idea is worth discussing. Thanks for not abandoning this post.

Mz 14y ago

He asked to be invalidated. I was giving him the feedback he requested. I am someone who routinely either gets useless pats on the head or hatred from people. I can't fucking get anyone to engage me in meaty discussion of the issues. And that fact is helping to ensure that my thingamawhop will be stillborn or miscarried entirely. Perhaps he doesn't appreciate being given what he asked for. Perhaps like everyone else on planet earth, he will not take my feedback seriously and will merely be defensive like it is a personal attack and not a well meaning, honest critique. And, gee, that's on him what he does with it. But he did ask for people to try to poke holes in his idea, presumably on the theory that it would help him uncover weaknesses and thereby improve the darn thing. But maybe it was just pc bs, like most of the blather on the face of the planet.

padseeker 14y ago
If you think it is invalid that is a perfectly acceptable response. You made a point and I countered. No need to get hostile Mz. I'm just glad you took the time to respond. You're feedback is appreciated, even if the answer is "your idea isn't worth building". I want to hear what your thingamawop is - please share. Maybe this is the start of doitfor500, and you get the first version for free. Or at least we put you on the right path if you do it yourself. I'm really curious now what it is.
- Mz 14y ago
  You seem to have missed my point entirely. I gave you the feedback you requested. That doesn't mean "it isn't worth building". That means I respect you enough to help you try to find the weaknesses before you build the damn thing, in hopes that it will hurt less should you actually launch. And if you can't come to terms with that, life will get really painful when you do go public with it. My thingamawhop: I nearly died just about twelve years ago. Then I was diagnosed with "atypical cystic fibrosis". I have spent the last twelvish years getting well when the entire world thinks that is impossible. I would like to write a simulation -- aka "game" -- to more effectively share my mental model. But it might never happen. I get accused of having Munchhausen Syndrome rather than cf. Most people with cf have made it abundantly clear that they would rather die a slow torturous death than speak to me at all. And I have been lovingly called a "troll" by the good people of hn for trying to get feedback to resolve my problems. Sorry if I am a tad raw over the whole thing. This kind of bullshit has gone on for years. It likely won't end. Ever. Best of luck with your idea.