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Ask HN: Customising a WordPress Theme to Launch My MVP, Bad Idea?

12 points by Goldar ↗ HN
As a founder with 0 coding chops, I've been exploring my options to get my MVP out the door.

One idea is to modify an off the shelf WP theme to produce a workable product. My goal would be to get an off the shelf theme like this:

https://www.appthemes.com/themes/clipper/

In the ball park of:

https://www.hotukdeals.com/

In terms of UI/UX; the needed features would be ability for a user to upload content, upvotes, plus some basic forum functionality, comments profiles etc.

How viable is this approach?

11 comments

[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 56.4 ms ] thread
nu11p0inter
I would give this approach 3 out of 5 stars on yelp
yurishimo
BBPress will be your friend. It’s the most robust forum software for WP and has a lot of additional Add-ons that can be used to get the other stuff you need.

It’s a lot of customization though if you don’t like the look.

mooreds
Why are you worried it might be a bad idea? I think whatever the shortest path to a functioning product is the best psth forward, and there are plenty of successful sites on WordPress.

After you validate the idea you may need to shift platforms (or not). So be prepared for that possiblity.

justhw
It's a great idea for an MVP. It's amazing what you can do with WordPress sometimes. You do not want to be writing custom code for months just to validate the idea. You can ship quick and get feedback.
zhte415
No need to reinvent the wheel, especially as you're one man band. A plus for starting on Wordpress is should you get traction and need ultrafeature there is an army of developers that can give you ultrafeature, given you specify it well.
Goldar
Thanks for the feedback. Looks like there aren't any gaping holes in the approach. So, I'm off to build something. I'll keep you posted
CM30
Eh, it's perfectly viable. The average user doesn't give a toss about what 'powers' a website or app, they only care it does what it needs to. If a customised WordPress theme is the fastest/most convenient way to get your MVP out the door, go with that. Go with whatever you're most comfortable with.
codegeek
Very Viable. Time to market is the key. If you can get an MVP quickly using WordPress, then do that. Once you have paying customers, you can always improve/enhance as needed. You are thinking about this correctly. Build it quickly, get customers, do validation etc. Everything comes later.
wprapido
Highly recommended. After all, your customers / clients, don't care about tech, as long as you solve their problems.