2 ms·

I haven't put anything on the web because I don't have a web dev. I certainly would like to have something up on the web, but I can't afford to at this stage of

I haven't put anything on the web because I don't have a web dev. I certainly would like to have something up on the web, but I can't afford to at this stage of the game. I can barely afford the server #1 I need to get off the ground renting. I don't know if that means I need access to more capital but I like to think I can do this without more than $5k. If I had a web developer onboard with me, I envision there being a permission marketing campaign collecting email addresses of interested parties & delivering relevant content to them in anticipated doses to keep them interested. Being that we only have so many servers to rent & are just starting I would like to see a waiting list implemented, too. I can do some stuff in plain text on the website, but I think its better off not drawing customers to it while it looks that way because they'll think it looks unprofessional.

ryanSrich 13y ago
> I haven't put anything on the web because I don't have a web dev. Well you certainly don't need to be a web dev to get a site up and running[1,2,3,4]. To me it seems you're still in the customer discovery phase. How many interviews with clients have you had? 50? 150? I'd be willing to guess that you've still got a lot of work to do before you go looking for a web dev/technical co-founder. Without a thoroughly validated market I doubt anyone worth your time is going to bite. Here's what I would do. It'll help you validate your hypothesis and attract co-founding candidates: + Interview 50 customers per week. No exceptions. + Build out a business model canvas and test each assumption against customer interaction. + Learn some basic web development. This will show a potential co-founder that you're invested. You need to hustle and show them that. 1.) http://launchrock.co/ http://launchrock.co/ 2.) http://wordpress.org/ http://wordpress.org/ 3.) http://www.weebly.com/ http://www.weebly.com/ 4.) http://www.squarespace.com/ http://www.squarespace.com/
- cdvonstinkpot 13y ago
  I wouldn't know where to begin to find the right customers to interview right now. At the moment I'm having second thoughts as to whether I can rightfully market myself to big data customers with just 1 server, no matter how fast it is. Apparently I need at least 20 servers to run small big data workloads, I have a bit to learn obviously. I could try a Google AdWords campaign to ask some questions in a poll maybe, but that's all that comes to mind when I think of getting customer opinions- I'm really at a loss in that respect.
ricardobeat 13y ago
Use wix.com[1], learn to code[2]. In your description you say you have set up an OpenStack install at home, HTML/CSS is a walk in the park compared to that. Use launchrock[3] or mailchimp[4] to collect e-mails. "big data" really means big - as in millions of dollars big, tera/petabyte scale. Not going to happen with $5k. You will suffer to get anything close to AWS prices[5]. You could brand the service as "fat" servers or something similar until you can really tackle that kind of scale. And, honestly, you should omit the thing about meeting Calvin Klein and DJs, it doesn't leave a good impression. Tell us what you have to offer as a founder, and get to work on a business plan with real cost figures. [1] http://wix.com http://wix.com [2] http://www.codecademy.com/courses/html-one-o-one http://www.codecademy.com/courses/html-one-o-one [3] http://launchrock.co http://launchrock.co [4] http://mailchimp.com http://mailchimp.com [5] http://blog.aggregateknowledge.com/2013/05/16/aws-redshift-how-amazon-changed-the-game/ http://blog.aggregateknowledge.com/2013/05/16/aws-redshift-h...
- cdvonstinkpot 13y ago
  Ok, feedback well received, thank you.

ryanSrich 13y ago

> I haven't put anything on the web because I don't have a web dev. Well you certainly don't need to be a web dev to get a site up and running[1,2,3,4]. To me it seems you're still in the customer discovery phase. How many interviews with clients have you had? 50? 150? I'd be willing to guess that you've still got a lot of work to do before you go looking for a web dev/technical co-founder. Without a thoroughly validated market I doubt anyone worth your time is going to bite. Here's what I would do. It'll help you validate your hypothesis and attract co-founding candidates: + Interview 50 customers per week. No exceptions. + Build out a business model canvas and test each assumption against customer interaction. + Learn some basic web development. This will show a potential co-founder that you're invested. You need to hustle and show them that. 1.) http://launchrock.co/ http://launchrock.co/ 2.) http://wordpress.org/ http://wordpress.org/ 3.) http://www.weebly.com/ http://www.weebly.com/ 4.) http://www.squarespace.com/ http://www.squarespace.com/

cdvonstinkpot 13y ago
I wouldn't know where to begin to find the right customers to interview right now. At the moment I'm having second thoughts as to whether I can rightfully market myself to big data customers with just 1 server, no matter how fast it is. Apparently I need at least 20 servers to run small big data workloads, I have a bit to learn obviously. I could try a Google AdWords campaign to ask some questions in a poll maybe, but that's all that comes to mind when I think of getting customer opinions- I'm really at a loss in that respect.

ricardobeat 13y ago

Use wix.com[1], learn to code[2]. In your description you say you have set up an OpenStack install at home, HTML/CSS is a walk in the park compared to that. Use launchrock[3] or mailchimp[4] to collect e-mails. "big data" really means big - as in millions of dollars big, tera/petabyte scale. Not going to happen with $5k. You will suffer to get anything close to AWS prices[5]. You could brand the service as "fat" servers or something similar until you can really tackle that kind of scale. And, honestly, you should omit the thing about meeting Calvin Klein and DJs, it doesn't leave a good impression. Tell us what you have to offer as a founder, and get to work on a business plan with real cost figures. [1] http://wix.com http://wix.com [2] http://www.codecademy.com/courses/html-one-o-one http://www.codecademy.com/courses/html-one-o-one [3] http://launchrock.co http://launchrock.co [4] http://mailchimp.com http://mailchimp.com [5] http://blog.aggregateknowledge.com/2013/05/16/aws-redshift-how-amazon-changed-the-game/ http://blog.aggregateknowledge.com/2013/05/16/aws-redshift-h...

cdvonstinkpot 13y ago
Ok, feedback well received, thank you.