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Great explanation. > means you don't understand why people use it I think this is a problem for app developers in general. I can't predict what a typical app

Great explanation. > means you don't understand why people use it I think this is a problem for app developers in general. I can't predict what a typical app user will really like because I'm not one of them. It's kind of funny because even though I really love developing new technology, I find that I don't use any of the really popular things (Twitter, Instagram, etc.). So instead I have to imagine "if I was a normal person... what problem would I be trying to solve?" A lot of times I guess wrong. (I remember how happy I was when I developed an icon editor when I was young. The feedback I got was very positive but I got very little of it.) Solving my own technical problems isn't going to get me any business at all.

vitovito 14y ago
I should be clear: I've never used Snapchat, and I am not a 10th grader, and the world current 10th graders live in is not the world I grew up in. But I understand the problem it solves. I'm not "imagining" it's a viable solution for a hypothetical problem: I've read the research that explains the problem teens have and their mental models of their social interactions and can see where Snapchat fits in appropriately. That's what research is for. It's why Steve Blank says to get out of the building. You don't have to imagine. Leave your office, get away from your laptop, spend time in other places and discover problems that people have, and then see if there's a market for a solution. Incidentally, the work a founder does in developing a product through customer development is most of the same work a product designer, user experience designer, or interaction designer has to do. If your product already makes sense, it saves us a lot of time and effort. This other link from HN earlier today, about what Amy Hoy taught this person about starting a business, which sums it up pretty well: http://justinjackson.ca/amy-hoy/ http://justinjackson.ca/amy-hoy/ Good luck with your apps in the future.

vitovito 14y ago

I should be clear: I've never used Snapchat, and I am not a 10th grader, and the world current 10th graders live in is not the world I grew up in. But I understand the problem it solves. I'm not "imagining" it's a viable solution for a hypothetical problem: I've read the research that explains the problem teens have and their mental models of their social interactions and can see where Snapchat fits in appropriately. That's what research is for. It's why Steve Blank says to get out of the building. You don't have to imagine. Leave your office, get away from your laptop, spend time in other places and discover problems that people have, and then see if there's a market for a solution. Incidentally, the work a founder does in developing a product through customer development is most of the same work a product designer, user experience designer, or interaction designer has to do. If your product already makes sense, it saves us a lot of time and effort. This other link from HN earlier today, about what Amy Hoy taught this person about starting a business, which sums it up pretty well: http://justinjackson.ca/amy-hoy/ http://justinjackson.ca/amy-hoy/ Good luck with your apps in the future.