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Ask HN: I built a programming language for contracts; I’m out of options; help?

7 points by tastefulwords ↗ HN
Ok, Ok, Done — Making contracts simple, for both humans and machines.

  - Demo: http://okokdone.com/demo/ 
  - Deck: http://okokdone.com/deck/ 
  - FAQ:  http://okokdone.com/faq/
Specifically, the tech is a custom markup language that allows not just for definitions but also allows for embedding logic.

I’ve worked on this for almost a year, and I need 500k to run with it for another year: 4/6m to design & build; 6m+ to launch & grow.

I’ve pitched this to 6 VCs in the US; 2 were a waste of time, and 4 went well; of those, I think 2 were very close to signing a check. I’m nearly certain that, if my US network were larger and I’d have gotten more intros, I would’ve succeeded in raising.

I’ve pitched this to 14 VCs in the EU; most went well, and I think 3 of them were close to signing a check. I think the problem, in the EU, is this: (1) many VCs want to put ~100k into a good founder/idea, for ~10%; (2) many VCs want to put ~1.5m into a product with some traction; (3) I find myself in the chasm in-between.

I have 20 years of engineering experience and 10 years of product experience; I also have a previous (small) exit as a solo-founder.

I’m a solo-founder on this too. I had a co-founder, for a bit; we met after I built-out the idea, and he quit as we failed to raise money in the US. In the short time we worked together, I realized that we weren’t a good match and that very bad things might have happened in the future; so, though he had a perfect profile for this (lawyer; smart; techy), I didn’t try to change his mind. I won’t again risk making such a commitment to someone I’m not close to personally or professionally.

My email is in the deck.

P.S. 1/ I immensely appreciate any attempt to help. But, please, don’t dish out generic advice; I know all of the generic advice.

P.S. 2/ If you can’t think of a way to help but you maybe need someone with my skillset, lmk; I'll probably need a job soon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coarna

10 comments

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tastefulwords
P.S. I submitted this yesterday too. My post got hidden/shadow-banned, and I don't know why. Trying again, as this is my very last hail-Mary, before I burn down nearly a year of full-time work on (what I think is) a great idea.
yorwba
Your post wasn't hidden or shadow-banned, it's here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26715817
tastefulwords
I should've been more explicit.

My post was on the Ask HN page, near the top; then it suddenly disappeared, from one moment to the next. My guess is that would only happen if either too many people clicked "hide", or because of some other moderation-type decision.

Thank you, though, for taking the time to try and help. If I may ask, how did you find my previous post?

enjoyyourlife
It looks like a simple form. I don't know why you expect to get VC funding for it
tastefulwords
If, looking at the demo, what you saw was "a simple form" then our perspectives are far enough apart that I don't see how they could ever meet.

Nonetheless, I thank you for taking the time to write.

geoffbrown2014
Your idea is interesting. Non-generic advice would be that you did not spend enough time in your deck quantifying the financial opportunity, addressing the risks of writing legal contracts or as you put it 'setting the standard' and describing the business model. What is the current state of the application, demo, beta? Who is your competition? Basically you stated that you wouldn't have any, this is very unlikely. How are people solving this 'problem' now. If people aren't getting contracts for a photography session etc. now, then who would pay for this? I would like to see a target customer.

Also, you have not included much product validation or market fit research in your deck. My sense of your presentations appear to me like a very tech oriented idea more than a product at this point. Not unusual for early stage, but that image could be changed by including a productization road map in your deck.

TLDR: Focus more on communicating customer validation, monetary size of opportunity and your business model. Good luck!

tastefulwords
Thank you very much for taking the time to think about this -- and even more for taking the time to also write.

I agree with your feedback. On the one hand, the deck is meant to be short and to invite conversation -- which it has done. On the other, it is hard to come up with stuff like "customer validation" and "monetary size of opportunity" in this particular case.

What I want to tackle is contracts in general, not any one particular type of contract. I know that this goes slightly against the general product mindset of focusing on a niche. But, to me, in this case, the niche is contracts -- agreements made formal. And, in my mind, the solution is fundamentally the same across the board, and should be approached as such.

There are many products trying to make contracts "easier". Large B2B contract management players like Ironclad; small Freelance-dashboards like HelloBonsai. All of them are using templates, basically, that you edit through some sort of classic WYSIWYG editor -- which is very far away from what I'm trying to do.

With regards to customer validation in particular: I have put this in front of people and asked if it makes sense; and I've gotten very positive responses. I have not, however, done any formal user interviews: to me, the problem seems clear; and whether or not this is truly a solution isn't something that you can find out from just a few interviews -- especially not when what you can show is far from the finished/polished experience.

In conclusion: yes, this is still a tech oriented idea; turning into a usable product is why I'm trying to do -- but, to do it well, I need to raise money.

throwawayffffas
I am going to disclaim this, by stating upfront that I have no fundraising experience. I think what I would do if I were in your shoes, would be to squeeze the roadmap, I do not think anyone would be willing to put down 500k and then wait 4/6 months before the product is even launched.

I would look for a launch in the next month.

To draw on a successful example I seem to remember twitch raised a similar sized seed, but launched 3 products in the first year before launching twitch.

throwawayffffas
Actually, I would tweak this advice a bit. Launch now as in today if that's feasible.
tastefulwords
Thank you for thinking about this and trying to help.

I wholeheartedly agree with you in spirit. If I could launch today, I would. If I could build a launch-able version of this, by myself, in a month, I would. Sadly, though, neither of those situations are the situation I'm actually in.