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> Unfortunately being first to market is key (I think) No knowing the first thing about your product or market, I'll still go out on a limb and propose that yo

> Unfortunately being first to market is key (I think) No knowing the first thing about your product or market, I'll still go out on a limb and propose that you're most likely wrong. If I had a nickel for every time I thought something was absolutely key, and it turned out to be a wrong assumption - well, I could probably buy a Starbucks latte. Hey, by all means, work hard, push forward and do awesome stuff and win, I'm all for that - but don't lie to yourself, especially not if it's impacting your health and your family.

iqonik 12y ago
The market is recruitment (in house and agencies) - and knowing the types of products they still use because it "works for them" and how hard it is to get them to change workflows etc; I believe early adoption will be key. Only time will tell I guess, I'll be sure to do a "Show HN" when I am done!
- pjc50 12y ago
  Recruitment has been around for years, including over the internet. Given that you're talking about workflow it sounds more like a regular LOB application; that's far more likely to be a question of getting sales one-by-one in a high-touch way rather than the first person to launch something getting millions of users.
- mseebach 12y ago
  Ok, so I'm confident in declaring your assumption false. This isn't a green-field market where the first credible entrant has a reasonable chance of capturing a large part in one go, it's a mature, slow and conservative market. They are extremely unlikely to read about a new shiny thing on a blog, decide that afternoon to start using it, and in that decision cut out the superior product that launches two months later. Sure, by the time they've decided to use a new thing, they are unlikely to change again soon, and if, at the time some team is evaluating a new system yours isn't on the market, you wont be considered. So take a deep breath, stop sweating "first to market" startup tropes, build a good product and start thinking about how you're going to sell into this market instead that's probably a much bigger challenge than building the product in the first place.
  - mtrimpe 12y ago
    Having sold a product to the recruitment market for a while I can wholeheartedly confirm this. There's no first mover advantage here; there's only a "most able to convince people to switch from 90's tech to 00's tech"-advantage. FWIW We sold video interviewing software and decided to abandon recruitment because the market had low requirements for software quality / innovativeness and high requirements for stability and track records; which was the polar opposite of what we offered. Additionally; ATS integration was paramount for all large players. ATS providers knew that and charged for it at levels only heavily funded companies could afford.

iqonik 12y ago

The market is recruitment (in house and agencies) - and knowing the types of products they still use because it "works for them" and how hard it is to get them to change workflows etc; I believe early adoption will be key. Only time will tell I guess, I'll be sure to do a "Show HN" when I am done!

pjc50 12y ago
Recruitment has been around for years, including over the internet. Given that you're talking about workflow it sounds more like a regular LOB application; that's far more likely to be a question of getting sales one-by-one in a high-touch way rather than the first person to launch something getting millions of users.
mseebach 12y ago
Ok, so I'm confident in declaring your assumption false. This isn't a green-field market where the first credible entrant has a reasonable chance of capturing a large part in one go, it's a mature, slow and conservative market. They are extremely unlikely to read about a new shiny thing on a blog, decide that afternoon to start using it, and in that decision cut out the superior product that launches two months later. Sure, by the time they've decided to use a new thing, they are unlikely to change again soon, and if, at the time some team is evaluating a new system yours isn't on the market, you wont be considered. So take a deep breath, stop sweating "first to market" startup tropes, build a good product and start thinking about how you're going to sell into this market instead that's probably a much bigger challenge than building the product in the first place.
- mtrimpe 12y ago
  Having sold a product to the recruitment market for a while I can wholeheartedly confirm this. There's no first mover advantage here; there's only a "most able to convince people to switch from 90's tech to 00's tech"-advantage. FWIW We sold video interviewing software and decided to abandon recruitment because the market had low requirements for software quality / innovativeness and high requirements for stability and track records; which was the polar opposite of what we offered. Additionally; ATS integration was paramount for all large players. ATS providers knew that and charged for it at levels only heavily funded companies could afford.