Ask HN: How would you use 50k to move idea forward?

1 points by teem 14y ago ↗ HN

Going to take a leap... Have an idea that has been causing me to lose sleep for a while now. Zero coding skills (started CodeYear recently) Every time I discover and learn something new from reading HN posts I apply it and feel a sense of accomplishment as my idea is coming to life. I went from Balsamiq wireframe to a fireworks click-through prototype in the past 3 weeks. Although I will be using my own money to start, I lack the technical savvy to avoid having a potential setback from hiring the wrong freelancers or company to build my idea. My thinking is that I will have a better chance at finding a technical co-founder from this initial build. If not, I would still have made progress to hopefully lead to finding a technical partner. Not looking for advice in regards to incorporation or vesting, as I already have a grasp of this and a competent attorney will be involved. I'm hopeful and looking for any advice about having it built. Must do's, Don't do's, pros, cons, recommendations Thanks! What would you suggest?

2 comments

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dmils4 14y ago ↗

Don't spend money. $50k is a hell of a lot of money to spend to build a prototype. Depending on what you're trying to do, it should not cost that much. Just get your minimum viable product built, whether you're building it yourself after spending a few months learning enough code, or if you pay a contractor to do it now (get someone to work for equity or just remove features until it's affordable to have them do it).

One way or another the experience will be valuable (learning to manage/work with engineers is just as valuable as coding IMHO), but again - don't spend that much to do it. You could build the prototype, only to find that it's not a service people are interested in using. That would suck, but not as much as losing your entire savings to learn the same thing.

teem 14y ago ↗

Thanks for the feedback. I'm just ready to get it going and discouraged that it will take some time for me to be able to code. Not my goal to be wasteful and burn through my budget. Just want to know the do's and dont's of hiring someone to build my prototype.