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I appreciate the positive comments and suggestions from everyone. I would say I'm really beyond the stage where I need a 'push' or motivating articles. I've bee

by cadalac 14y ago

I appreciate the positive comments and suggestions from everyone. I would say I'm really beyond the stage where I need a 'push' or motivating articles. I've been following YC for many years. I've read probably every one of PGs essays. The questions I'm asking myself are more like this: Should I set up a server in my basement or use a service? Will my personal internet provider have sufficient bandwith? (media is involved.) Will I need a lawyer to write the user licence agreement? How much will it cost? Which business type should I use? (I need to balance the liability issue with simplicity.) How will should I set up the payment methods? What potential legal issues could happen? how could they be avoided. These are the hard questions that I feel I need to work on. Most podcast / articles / essays etc don't go into these technical details.

chatmasta 14y ago
The articles you read do not include technical implementation details because those details are prohibitively complex without reading and comprehending a significant amount of technical documentation. You can learn this stuff on your own, but it's going to take a while. I would recommend comprehending some basic technical overviews and hiring a technical consultant to help you with all of your questions. There's nothing inherently wrong with weak technical knowledge. A lack of technical knowledge simply indicates a lack of domain experience. Unfortunately, you're asking these questions on Hackernews, where many (most?) readers are technical domain experts. Most of your questions indicate that you have weak technical domain expertise. Specifically, "Should I set up a server in my basement or use a service?" is a question that indicates a lack of exposure to the wide technical field of infrastructure. For that reason, I recommend hiring a technical consultant to help you with initial planning and setup.
- cadalac 14y ago
  Yup, or finding a technical co-founder.
saluki 14y ago
You should consider a technical co-founder . . . or at least a mentor . . . they can point you in the right direction for questions like these . . . Here are some quick answers without knowing too much about what you have in mind . . . Should I set up a server in my basement or use a service? No servers in your basement . . . most ideas can probably be validated with inexpensive shared hosting and you can move up to a VPS and beyond from there as needed. Will my personal internet provider have sufficient bandwith? (media is involved.) You won't want to serve these off your home based server . . . consider Amazon S3 for your media files. Will I need a lawyer to write the user licence agreement? How much will it cost? Consult an attorney but typically you can find a free template that is adequate to use when validating your idea. Which business type should I use? (I need to balance the liability issue with simplicity.) Again consult an attorney but you could start out by forming an LLC or even initially testing your idea without forming a company. How will should I set up the payment methods? Consider Stripe.com for payments. What potential legal issues could happen? Consult an attorney . . . all kinds of things could happen. how could they be avoided? Again, consult an attorney and a mentor. These are the hard questions that I feel I need to work on. Most podcast / articles / essays etc don't go into these technical details. There are some technical gems in podcasts but you are going to need an advisor or technical co-founder. The main thing you'll get from the interview/articles are things like testing your idea, is your niche/product/service viable, building an email list, launch strategy, pricing, selling a product/bundle, marketing, conversion optimization, etc . . . the technical aspects should be one of the easier areas of the startup . . . making the idea happen . . . this would be the responsibility of your technical co-founder and/or developer. Good luck . . .

by cadalac 14y ago

chatmasta 14y ago

The articles you read do not include technical implementation details because those details are prohibitively complex without reading and comprehending a significant amount of technical documentation. You can learn this stuff on your own, but it's going to take a while. I would recommend comprehending some basic technical overviews and hiring a technical consultant to help you with all of your questions. There's nothing inherently wrong with weak technical knowledge. A lack of technical knowledge simply indicates a lack of domain experience. Unfortunately, you're asking these questions on Hackernews, where many (most?) readers are technical domain experts. Most of your questions indicate that you have weak technical domain expertise. Specifically, "Should I set up a server in my basement or use a service?" is a question that indicates a lack of exposure to the wide technical field of infrastructure. For that reason, I recommend hiring a technical consultant to help you with initial planning and setup.

cadalac 14y ago
Yup, or finding a technical co-founder.

saluki 14y ago

You should consider a technical co-founder . . . or at least a mentor . . . they can point you in the right direction for questions like these . . . Here are some quick answers without knowing too much about what you have in mind . . . Should I set up a server in my basement or use a service? No servers in your basement . . . most ideas can probably be validated with inexpensive shared hosting and you can move up to a VPS and beyond from there as needed. Will my personal internet provider have sufficient bandwith? (media is involved.) You won't want to serve these off your home based server . . . consider Amazon S3 for your media files. Will I need a lawyer to write the user licence agreement? How much will it cost? Consult an attorney but typically you can find a free template that is adequate to use when validating your idea. Which business type should I use? (I need to balance the liability issue with simplicity.) Again consult an attorney but you could start out by forming an LLC or even initially testing your idea without forming a company. How will should I set up the payment methods? Consider Stripe.com for payments. What potential legal issues could happen? Consult an attorney . . . all kinds of things could happen. how could they be avoided? Again, consult an attorney and a mentor. These are the hard questions that I feel I need to work on. Most podcast / articles / essays etc don't go into these technical details. There are some technical gems in podcasts but you are going to need an advisor or technical co-founder. The main thing you'll get from the interview/articles are things like testing your idea, is your niche/product/service viable, building an email list, launch strategy, pricing, selling a product/bundle, marketing, conversion optimization, etc . . . the technical aspects should be one of the easier areas of the startup . . . making the idea happen . . . this would be the responsibility of your technical co-founder and/or developer. Good luck . . .