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Ask HN: product first or team first?

4 points by wickedchicken ↗ HN
I recently decided to leave my job to pursue an idea I had with respect to statistical analysis of code. I'm running off savings for now and can't really pay anyone with cash. Where should I be focusing my energy: developing a prototype that I can use to attract willing developers/business people, or attracting people to work with me on building the damn thing? Convincing people to work with me is easier if I have something up, but building something up gets easier with people working with me! This seems like a chicken-and-egg situation and I'm curious what fellow HNers have tried.

10 comments

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scottkrager
Build it on your own first, that is your best chance to attract people.
brudgers
The first question is, how much runway do you have?

The second is, how long will it take you to develop the prototype on your own?

The third is, do you have a potential partner in the pipeline?

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[dead] wickedchicken
I'll combine the first two and say that I estimate I can complete a prototype in about 2/3 of my runway. I do not have anyone specific in mind for partners (which is why part of me wants to get working on that early).
gregschlom
One way to solve the problem is to proceed in two steps.

First you hire a bootstrapping team that will help you build the prototype. At this stage, you're looking for people that will accept low salaries, because that's all you can afford (interships, outsourcing, etc...).

Then, with a prototype in hand, you hire a team of A-people that will take it to the next level.

Also, moving to a foreign country can be a good way to cut your spendings, I write a post about that recently: http://gregschlom.com/post/2300487726/geographic-arbitrage-h...)

wickedchicken
The problem with this approach is the domain is specialized enough that a 'throwaway' team may not be able to make contributions to begin with. I plan to grow this company into something longer term so the quicker I can recruit good people the better.
jayzee
prototype. Absolutely.

If you knew people already who wanted to join you that would be great but if you are going to start looking around now then you will burn all your savings in meetings etc and will have nothing to show for it.

Get the honey and the bees will find their way.

wickedchicken
This was my gut feeling: not only is building a product first the easier thing to do (in my case), it helps me in the secondary step. I guess the true skill is ascertaining once you have a 'minimum viable prototype' to show to prospective coworkers.
amorphid
Pick the shortest path to revenue.