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Ask HN: What enterprise problems do you face?

• czbond 14y ago
  Some feedback: Scour Linkedin - it's where people mention industry issues. If you're doing CustDev, I would suggest these questions are at too high of a level. "What problems do you have" will get you very broad top of mind issues that aren't actionable. There is a Mixergy interview with Dane Maxwell & or Sam Ovens that goes more into this as well.
  • scotthtaylor 14y ago
    Hey czbond - thanks, yeah I intentionally left it quite high level, just to get a better understanding for myself. Once I get this background I shall get more granular. Going to check out the interview you mention. Thanks again.
• caw 14y ago
  I can tell you from experience that small businesses, and to some extent medium businesses, have nowhere near the same problems as what I would traditionally consider enterprises. Being in an office of 200 people versus 1500 people leads to different problems. I'd probably take a second look at what your target really is.
  • scotthtaylor 14y ago
    Sorry; for clarification, you are correct - I am using the term 'enterprise' loosely.. target is the small/medium companies that (as Helen pointed out in another comment) are too busy running their companies to focus on the 'nice to haves'.
• helen842000 14y ago
  If you're trying to find a valuable niche, anything that helps businesses to get paid quicker or cutting costs (with measurable results) would be an easy sell. Unfortunately small businesses are usually too wrapped up working IN their business to have the time to spend ON their business setting up any new products that are a 'nice to have' Simple core features and implementation is key. If it has got a direct link to making them more money or saving them a LOT of hours then that cuts through a lot of friction when pitching the product. Good questions to ask business owners are :- * What are your main costs * What tasks make up your day * What tasks do you do monthly/annually Why not pick a specific type of business then you can really hone in on the same pain point that is repeated in that industry. Random examples * Ebay power sellers - A tool to find the best shipping provider (lowest cost) * Etsy Sellers - A tool to add up material costs + time taken to work out a sale price * Courier Business - A bare bones utility to configure multi drop routes & find low cost fuel enroute If you don't pick a specific industry it's really tough to reach mass market, have a solid target audience and learn it inside out before you build anything.
  • scotthtaylor 14y ago
    Hey Helen, Thanks for the detailed response - a lot of valuable information in your comment. You're entirely correct about the owners usually being too wrapped up in their business to spend time on their business setting up any new products. Thus whatever the product is - it will have to have obvious savings (time or money) and simple integration. Thanks for the input - I'm hoping some small/medium business owners pitch in :)
• scotthtaylor 14y ago
  Just to perhaps provide some more reference to anyone visiting this thread, I've found quite a helpful question on Quora: http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-biggest-problems-plaguing-small-business-owners-today http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-biggest-problems-plaguing-...
• orangethirty 14y ago
  The warp drive keeps going offline.
  • scotthtaylor 14y ago
    Good news is I think NASA are trying to fix that problem: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/11/what-if-nasa-could-figure-out-the-math-of-a-workable-warp-drive/265655/ http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/11/what-i...
• tectonic 14y ago
  Recruiting.