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What do I do with a good idea?
I have an idea that takes a new approach to teaching programming and development online. I've never seen anything anywhere similar to it (and I do know of a lot of these sites http://goo.gl/W0UQNq )
I've been sitting on this idea for over a year now and occasionally add a few notes to my overall vision.
I've built two websites, but nothing to the dynamic level that I'm thinking of. This would be something that would require a few people working together even at its basic level. I once tried to outsource getting something in place, but my $5,000 budget was outbidded. (I now have a $7,000 budget but I don't think that's big enough.)
What I'd like to know from HN is how I can find either people willing to help with this, where to find investors or anything that could help me get started.
- cheery 12y agoYou shove it up your.. heh. no. Start with trying the idea. If you can't implement it in whole, implement it in smaller scale first.
- Rainymood 12y agoHack together an MVP, share it, iterate iterate iterate, who knows ...
- subrat_rout 12y agoI believe 7k is good enough money to put together a MVP if you know little bit of programming. Or talk to a programmer and convince him to work on this project on a 50% partnership along with 5k monetary compensation. I believe if you contact few programmers and clearly express your idea and where will it go in long term then somebody is going to help you. At least to build a MVP which you can test to see if it has any potential to go anywhere.
- eglover 12y agoDo you know of a good source to seek people? I'm skeptical of most freelance sites because they're generalized and used by a lot of people who just want to "make money online". If you were seeking a programmer, where would you go to?
- subrat_rout 12y agoYes there are good programmers in those freelance sites. You need to find the needle in those haystacks. 1. Post a project on Elance or Guru or other freelance sites where you specifically ask them for their Github and stackoverflow profile. I believe every good programmers do not maintain regular Github profile. But most of them do and from their Github profile you can have an idea on quality of code they can deliver. I found a programmer from Russia who had a very high reputation score on Stackoverflow and arguable he came out as a proficient one. But convincing a programmer to work on your project is another challenge. They have enough projects under their belt. So your projects need to challenge/thrill them to work on. Else they will not stick for long.
- hashtag 12y agoI'm curious, what is your take and how does it differ from everyone else?
- eglover 12y agoI'm not a fan of any sites that teach programming. They're too passive, don't take things seriously, or are meant for children (like the Head First series). I'm not absolutely opposed to dumping all the unique features of what I've got so far on the interwebs, but not just yet. The biggest feature that the company I was bidding for liked is a way of submitting programs and finding if they're correct or not (grading). I've implemented a few thoughts from Salman Khan's book. The plans cover a much larger demographic and the site can be easily used for a lifetime rather than to just get a start. But that's all I'll say for now. :p
- rudimental 12y agoI agree with the advice of validating your idea by asking the target users if they would be willing to pay for the service. Maybe start making a prototype (Balsamiq/Prototype of Paper rather than code based). As to keep it hush-hush: "An idea for a startup, however, is only a beginning. A lot of would-be startup founders think the key to the whole process is the initial idea, and from that point all you have to do is execute. Venture capitalists know better. If you go to VC firms with a brilliant idea that you'll tell them about if they sign a nondisclosure agreement, most will tell you to get lost. That shows how much a mere idea is worth. The market price is less than the inconvenience of signing an NDA." http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html Just start. Good luck!
- eglover 12y agoWhile quotes are sometimes nice, there are a few assumptions you've made that don't match this post at all. 1. I have extensive plans on paper to include visual design. 2. I have a little bit of code and I'm working project by project to get to the level required to build this site. (The whole reason for me building the other two from scratch.) 3. Again, hush-hush isn't the issue. But throwing everything out every time I ask a question? That's not good. I'm not pitching, I'm asking for general advice. (When I bid for a design company they had the full plans with no disclosure agreements and I did that knowing the people I was competing with were doing a similar style site. I don't believe in IP, but I do believe in common sense.) I thank you for your response though.
- closavia 12y agoWhat is your e-mail? Let's chat.
- eglover 12y agoWould you mind going to http://www.ethanglover.biz/ http://www.ethanglover.biz/ and clicking the "E-mail Me" button at the bottom left? I trust HN users, but I think it's bad practice posting my e-mail address on a public forum. :)
- siquick 12y agoHave you validated your idea by asking your peers if they would be willing to pay for your service? This would be my first step before committing several thousands of dollars to an idea.
- eglover 12y agoGood point. I've validated it with two professors who think it's worth pursuing (which also led to a couple lengthy discussions on educational theory).
- siquick 12y agoHow will your service be funded? Without wanting to put you off, most people will say that its a good idea if the service is free. It's a different story if they have to pay for it. Are the professors your target market? If not, find your target market and validate with them. Its so important that you validate the idea before spending all your time, energy and money on it. Good luck with this, sounds like you're passionate which is a great start.
- eglover 12y agoIn one word, freemium. I think there are some things worth paying for and others not. The first things I want to implement are the things that would require payment. And you're right about finding a target market, the initial target would be others which I'll have to talk to.