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Before quitting your job and writing a single line of code I would recommend you do this: 1. Validate your idea: It's great that YOU believe in your idea, but
by emilioolivares 13y ago
Before quitting your job and writing a single line of code I would recommend you do this:
1. Validate your idea: It's great that YOU believe in your idea, but will others? Test it out, put up a landing page with your concept, see if people sign up to your mailing list. Talk to potential customers, are they willing to pay for your product? Can you get a paying customer before building the product?
Some interesting links:
http://thedannorris.com/is-startup-validation-bullshit/ http://thedannorris.com/is-startup-validation-bullshit/
http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-142-does-startup-validation-work http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-142-d...
2. Network with people who are successful: http://www.microconf.com/ http://www.microconf.com/, tell them your idea and listen to their advice. Learn from all available resources such as: http://startupsfortherestofus.com/ http://startupsfortherestofus.com/.
3. Learn about marketing, SEO and what it really takes to get the word out on your product. This is not trivial and successful founders on HN make it look easy, it's not. If you build it, they WILL NOT COME. Try to build a simple landing page that describes your product and start a blog. Don't start coding until you are able to get a steady stream of visitors to your site who are interested in your product.
Start here:
http://moz.com/learn/seo http://moz.com/learn/seo
http://moz.com/blog/the-noob-guide-to-online-marketing-with-giant-infographic-11928 http://moz.com/blog/the-noob-guide-to-online-marketing-with-...
Don't quit your job until you are absolutely sure you can make this work.
Good luck!
- techiegirl 13y agoThanks a lot! These suggestions are really helpful, and am glad to get some specific direction! About validating my idea, I am not a person who follows the start up news a lot, so, I may be wrong, but is it okay to share a idea before building it? What if someone hears my idea and build it before I do? I am uncomfortable with this, or am I missing something here? Thanks again :)
- emilioolivares 13y agoEveryone has ideas, actually it's very likely your idea already is being worked on or exists in some version. Successful companies are all about execution. Here are some articles that cover this question in detail: -http://cdixon.org/2009/08/22/why-you-shouldnt-keep-your-startup-idea-secret/ http://cdixon.org/2009/08/22/why-you-shouldnt-keep-your-star... -http://blog.foundersguidebook.com/2013/02/why-you-should-share-your-startup-idea-asap.html http://blog.foundersguidebook.com/2013/02/why-you-should-sha... -http://www.natsturner.com/post/20257121566 http://www.natsturner.com/post/20257121566 If you are not comfortable sharing your idea online, I would advise to share it to potential customers, not friends and family. F&F are biased and will tend to give positive feedback. You need feedback from people that are willing to PAY or USE your product, complete strangers.