I know the founder of this site, so I trust him pretty highly, and in my past experience with FairSoftware, where people would meet for ideas but struggle to find someone to implement even an MVP, I think this site is a great concept!
The price sounds right to separate the fakes from the serious customers.
I want to publicly say thanks for the quick email you sent me to let me know that you replied and that the form was back up. I appreciate the responsiveness.
I'm curious, on what do you base your price? It seems impossible to me to realistically provide a fixed price on unknown specifications or are there any conditions (ex. max 40 hours of work)?
Great question. There aren't any defined conditions, as this what I've put up is a MVP itself heh. As long as it's reasonable and can be built in rails3 is the initial condition;
Of course, after I get a certain number of applications I'll have to review them and contact each individually and a lot of people are obviously going to look at what they need and whether I can deliver that in a reasonable time frame.
Short answer: (and I hate to say this) It's relative, tho I won't spend more than 33 hours on a project.
Random quick first-sight design feedback, how I would do it or at least what I would give a try:
"Based on your specifications, I'll personally make you a MVP and design it within a couple of days for only $999." looks blotchy in my Opera 11. Get rid of the shadow. Minor.
"Order now" button looks absolutely awful. The text beneath is unreadable on my screen, almost invisible. Major.
Text | Image and in the next line Text | Text. There is a shift to the left and it looks weird. Screenshot has a light blur line around the border.
"— HURRY UP, I'M ACCEPTING ORDERS UNTIL JANUARY 10TH. —" -> "- Quick, I am accepting <other color and link to order>orders until January 10th</> -"
I would also move that line to the bottom. The user reads the page and then he might be interested. Also use a different link color, maybe green like the order button.
"Get a minimal viable product out there for only $999" -> "A Minimal Viable Product\nOnly $999"
Spaces before parenthesis in the "How does it work?" list.
Bottom lists need a different background. Something grey would work. Subtle texture.
Thanks for the comment. I agree, the design is horrible, heh, I even put that in the footer indicating that the site was a result of an idea and a couple of hours in photoshop + xhtml/css.
That being said, I'm going to shift the design, as I totally agree with your comments as soon as I'm done with monitoring over HackerNews for questions/concerns/etc... :)
Great marketing, although I'd argue that's not an MVP. MVP is a Minimum Viable Product. This is some kind of minimum proof of concept prototype. Whether it's viable or not is really up to how good a guess your client made as to the user's needs.
Also, the MVP for getting useful in one industry can be very different than in another industry. $999 is too much for some industries and way, way too little for others.
That said, cool idea, I hope it works out for you!
I don't want to rad on your idea, as I see what you're saying but MVP's should be, by their nature, a minimalistic approach to your product which you plan on extending down the road as you gather feedback and validate your ideas through your customers. That being said, when you have a vision of your MVP in your head, as it's minimal you can clearly go in depth with who you want certain parts of the app to work; For instance, if you strip down a lot of features(like you would with an MVP) you're left with a few core features with which you can specifically jot down how you want them to work to the point where you can say(for instance, for upvoting articles) I want it to send an AJAX request, etc. I hope that clarify's the point I'm trying to make.
A nice idea, but you're going to find yourself in support hell faster than you can say "but I said no iterations". As soon as you develop anything for anyone you become their perpetual unpaid technology bitch, phoned at 4:30 AM to be asked how to reprogram the VCR or why minesweeper won't start up.
But seriously - whatever you do, make very, very, very sure that you have, in writing, a contract which explicitly states that once you deliver, you're done, or you'll end up in hell.
haha, I love HN; One person saying how US$1k is toooo much and one going 10k is more realistic. I have already-built platforms which I build all my apps so it's relatively quick. Shifting my pricing to 10k would be kind of complicated, I'd have to buy a domain and tie in the hosting, resubmit to HN(afterwhich you guys would go..AH, this guy again!) so I'll just stick with 1k and see how it goes.
But of course, I wouldn't mind charging 10k, believe me ;)
The problem is see with this is the people who are not familiar w/ the concept of an MVP. There are people who's idea of MVP is vastly different than your own. They basically will push for more and more and cannot imagine releasing a product w/o X feature and you will get scope creep. For some projects I think just sitting down and getting to the MVP feature doc will cost $1K.
I've built projects for people where they 'ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE' this feature and I try to tell them. They never listen, I do it, we launch and nobody cares. A huge part of this business I think will be education on the whole lean startup etc etc.
Do you also sign any NDA or anything that would protect your client's "IP"?
What if a client had a great idea, shares it with you, you say "NO" and then [conveniently] after a short while, the same idea is seen implemented elsewhere? I'm sure you are not into such things seeing what some people have to say about you, but I'm just curious how you go about protecting your clients' "ideas".
I had the opportunity to work with the founder (he gave me some ideas about the startup im running) and would recommend him as a very enthusiastic and talented young man. Thumbs up!
Design needs a final touch - the picture is too shadowy + cant read the letters under the order button.
33 comments
[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 69.8 ms ] threadThe price sounds right to separate the fakes from the serious customers.
The site form don't even work, yet you are all over this post with a +++++ reco
You just lost our business...
Of course, after I get a certain number of applications I'll have to review them and contact each individually and a lot of people are obviously going to look at what they need and whether I can deliver that in a reasonable time frame.
Short answer: (and I hate to say this) It's relative, tho I won't spend more than 33 hours on a project.
You only fixed the prob but before that you had +++++ comments voting mine down?????????????
WTF?
Gamer????????????
"Based on your specifications, I'll personally make you a MVP and design it within a couple of days for only $999." looks blotchy in my Opera 11. Get rid of the shadow. Minor.
"Order now" button looks absolutely awful. The text beneath is unreadable on my screen, almost invisible. Major.
Text | Image and in the next line Text | Text. There is a shift to the left and it looks weird. Screenshot has a light blur line around the border.
"— HURRY UP, I'M ACCEPTING ORDERS UNTIL JANUARY 10TH. —" -> "- Quick, I am accepting <other color and link to order>orders until January 10th</> -" I would also move that line to the bottom. The user reads the page and then he might be interested. Also use a different link color, maybe green like the order button.
"Get a minimal viable product out there for only $999" -> "A Minimal Viable Product\nOnly $999"
Spaces before parenthesis in the "How does it work?" list.
Bottom lists need a different background. Something grey would work. Subtle texture.
That being said, I'm going to shift the design, as I totally agree with your comments as soon as I'm done with monitoring over HackerNews for questions/concerns/etc... :)
Great idea though!
Also, the MVP for getting useful in one industry can be very different than in another industry. $999 is too much for some industries and way, way too little for others.
That said, cool idea, I hope it works out for you!
I code you an MVP specifically based on the specs(without any iterations)
and then
Once I'm done and you're happy you pay me the rest($700)
Are there actually customers out their who are happy with the product after a single iteration (no matter how good the specs are)?
Seems to me the choices are either: Built to spec, pay me when done
or
Pay me when you're happy. Multiple iterations may be required.
Watch how HN gets gamed by ted and his new buddies voting negatives down and positives up on a SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But seriously - whatever you do, make very, very, very sure that you have, in writing, a contract which explicitly states that once you deliver, you're done, or you'll end up in hell.
But of course, I wouldn't mind charging 10k, believe me ;)
I've built projects for people where they 'ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE' this feature and I try to tell them. They never listen, I do it, we launch and nobody cares. A huge part of this business I think will be education on the whole lean startup etc etc.
What if a client had a great idea, shares it with you, you say "NO" and then [conveniently] after a short while, the same idea is seen implemented elsewhere? I'm sure you are not into such things seeing what some people have to say about you, but I'm just curious how you go about protecting your clients' "ideas".
Design needs a final touch - the picture is too shadowy + cant read the letters under the order button.
ps. keep us informed about your progress