Ask HN: Going in circle – no traction, no investors
I am the single developer of a note-taking app. I've reached a point where the app needs a team and some funding to move forward. I would like to apply for seed-investment, but given the fact that investors like to see (among other things) traction, some customer base, etc - I know that chances are slim for me to get any investment. Did my homework and I am able to articulate the key differentiators properly.
Right now I cannot get any traction with the current state of the app (not consumer-ready). So I am stuck in this loop... I am reluctant to apply for seed investment as a single developer - as I know that this does not look good to investors. All I have is a website, screenshots, a blog, a demo and a deck.
I know that's not enough, but I also know that this has some potential. How do you break this loop?
19 comments
[ 5.6 ms ] story [ 56.8 ms ] threadIf you can’t convince people to use the product it might mean that it is not something people want. Try treating your product like a science experiment. Your idea and execution is a hypothesis for what you think people want.
If you’re an engineer then the above doesn’t cost any money and hence doesn’t require investors. If not you have to get good at convincing people to work with you.
And yes, it will cost a considerable amount of money to have the app live - for testing purposes.
"If not you have to get good at convincing people to work with you".
That is actually very good advice. Without money and proper market validation, this is not a bad idea at all.
Thank you.
May I ask where did you see the deck (you can use the email associated with my account)?
IMO you need proof that people actually want this thing.
I wouldn’t write another line of app code.
put up marketing material and get your market to sign up to be notified for when it comes out.
Treat those sign ups as validation of demand. It won’t be as good validation as actual payment, which would validate the business prospect... but those RSVP numbers will indicate that this is something probably worth investing your time in (and other people’s money in). and you can get your beta users from that list.
About a month ago I've put Mailchimp signup forms on my website - to see if there is any interest in the app. This is not ideal however, without a demo of the app (sign up for what?)
Proof that people actually want/need the service - yes, this is a good point, I am still trying to figure out how to validate this without having a finished product... Thanks!
You don't need to develop the app to have a demo of it.
You can put together mockups that look and function the way the finished app is supposed to look and function. You can have someone to put together an animation based on the mockups.
If there's a problem it's addressing that people are trying to address, someone's going to want to be notified when the solution is brought into the world.
It's not a niche, you've got competition that raised a ton of money and is dominating the market and the competition is showing wounds that point at the market being not just saturated but not profitable as much as some investors thought. Don't waste your talents on this.
I agree that the UI is not the best, that's not what's worrying me :) Initially I've started working on this because I needed an app that does this, this and that - and I could not find one.
As it is now, I am actually using it on regular basis. Right now I am trying to figure out if there are any others looking for the same features - and validate that. Thanks for the input.
It is a bit like JavaScript fatigue. I have SaaS fatigue! Especially as a developer using Azure, Dropbox, Travis, GitHub, Keepass, Google, etc. then at home using Netflix etc.
I've smiled at this one. Taking a moment to think about it, it's true.
If you've looked at the presentation, one the things I'm looking at - is to market this as a personal device, for exactly that reason. Thanks for input.
Thank you ezekg.
Crowded market, half-baked product, no sales? Honest answer is stop here, learn from your own post-mortem, add this project to your portfolio and move on. Next time you will do better.