Invalidate this startup idea - 500 dollar prototype
I've lost track of the amount of times I've put palm to forehead when I listen to a non-techie tell me how they spent thousands building their idea from scratch, when they could have used using that was already build - like a wordpress plugin, a rails or django clone with some extra work, or goodness knows what else. But they never even thought to ask around about other avenues.
So here is the idea - A proposer (a non techie type) posts their idea, and a bunch of technically savvy hacker news types propose ways to build the prototype for 500 or less, and people up/down vote stuff like stackexchange. Perhaps use crowdsourcing for others to up/down vote the proposals. The winning proposal wins and builds it for 500, minus a nominal fee that goes to the company.
The proposer can always continue using the builder of the prototype after the prototype is built, or they could take it to someone else. And 500 bucks is not chump change but it isn't a huge investment on the part of the proposer.
Just upvote this post if you would consider putting your hat in the ring to build a prototype for $500, or at least vote in other proposals.
32 comments
[ 5.2 ms ] story [ 78.2 ms ] threadI think its unlikely you'd ever have a problem with too many builders and not enough ideas. I think the challenge will be attracting builders (i.e. developers) who are willing to build these prototypes.
As you've probably heard, developers are in high demand right now. A hacker worth his salt is probably charging at least $100/hr, so $500 for a prototype doesn't sound that attractive.
Here are a couple of questions. These aren't meant to be bashing or knocking! Sorry if they sound that way.
* How will you cope if an idiot claims to be able to do something, and wins, and then makes an awful mess of things?
* How does licensing work? If Ann writes some code for Bob who owns the code? (And if Ann is working at some place that claims ownership of all her code, do they own this?)
Which that is a whole other bag of worms, if enough hackers are vindictive enough to vote a working idea down. I'm making this up as I go along. I'm willing to be swayed in a different direction.
What I don't like is the "500 or less" part, at that point it becomes a bidding war and will inevitably be taken over by India-based devs just like every other coder for hire site.
What if your idea amounts to the guy who snipped the cocoon to make things easier on the emerging butterfly, thereby tragically crippling it and permanently denying it the ability to ever fly?
And you are not the typical non-technical founder. If you have any interest in learning by all means do it! This is not for you.
AND EVEN SO! This could be the thing that gets you or someone else on the right track to decide what to do. You might be tempted to build the thing from scratch when you should have bought a plugin for wordpress/joomla and then learned PHP and the framework where the plugin is built. It will help you make the most pragmatic decision, which might not be build it from scratch.
But my personal situation is neither here nor there. You asked for invalidation. That is my thought: That in spite of the number of times that the value of the "idea" gets pissed on here, there is some internal process that goes on in the founders. Y-combinator is more interested in funding the tight people, not the right initial conceptualization. Building the thing is often part of the growth process for the founders, a process I struggle to articulate adequately. Perhaps you would be killing that process, throwing the baby out with the bath water, so to speak.
I would still love the ability to know if someone could make it right now right now for $500.
If you snip the cocoon by putting it on doitfor500.com, that's on you, right?
Where there's a want, there's a product. I'd post my thingamawhop.
While I have you engaged, I feel like I posted this in the wrong way - should I have put this on Ask HN?
But, there you are on the front page. I'm sure someone building a filter somewhere is insignificantly bothered.
7 points is not compelling enough for me to build this thing.
If I were trying to validate this idea, I would probably look to local meetups for co-founders and non-tech founders, LinkedIn groups for tech-business people, and tech-business students. They're your market, so ask them.
How long do you think it would take? Are there any substantial costs involved?
Still there is potential. I do feel like it may be worth exploring. The source of the idea was going to bootstrapper breakfast in Chicago and hearing a lot of non-technies asking technies what they should do. That was arguably my favorite part, helping those who were not technical figure out the best way to build out their technical needs. Anybody can hire a offshore developer or get a local student to help them out, but there is no guarantee what that person offers to develop is what you should develop.
Building out the MVP? I could build it in Rails in under a month as I work full time and can only code after hours. Costs could be close to none if I do the work. Maybe I would buy a bootstrap template so it looks decent.
What I really want is what stackexchange already has, with a bit more functionality as it relates to the payment part. I like the upvoting of answers to questions, the way it tracks reputation of users.
I'm going to send you an direct email, this idea is worth discussing. Thanks for not abandoning this post.
Perhaps he doesn't appreciate being given what he asked for. Perhaps like everyone else on planet earth, he will not take my feedback seriously and will merely be defensive like it is a personal attack and not a well meaning, honest critique. And, gee, that's on him what he does with it. But he did ask for people to try to poke holes in his idea, presumably on the theory that it would help him uncover weaknesses and thereby improve the darn thing. But maybe it was just pc bs, like most of the blather on the face of the planet.
I want to hear what your thingamawop is - please share. Maybe this is the start of doitfor500, and you get the first version for free. Or at least we put you on the right path if you do it yourself. I'm really curious now what it is.
My thingamawhop: I nearly died just about twelve years ago. Then I was diagnosed with "atypical cystic fibrosis". I have spent the last twelvish years getting well when the entire world thinks that is impossible. I would like to write a simulation -- aka "game" -- to more effectively share my mental model. But it might never happen. I get accused of having Munchhausen Syndrome rather than cf. Most people with cf have made it abundantly clear that they would rather die a slow torturous death than speak to me at all. And I have been lovingly called a "troll" by the good people of hn for trying to get feedback to resolve my problems.
Sorry if I am a tad raw over the whole thing. This kind of bullshit has gone on for years. It likely won't end. Ever.
Best of luck with your idea.
I was compelled by padseeker's idea, and honestly my similarity to your non-techie, want-to-learn-to-build position. I just wanted to point out that want-to-learn or not, it's on you to post a project to a public forum like that.
I appreciate your comment, just another POV.
"Hey, WTF are you doing quoting me £5000 for a full build of this app? I had the prototype done for $500 and it does almost as much as the real one I want."
Having said that, there was a pretty successful version of this idea implemented for designers a while back.
The funniest part is to see the comments coming from each end, the Dev person saying "I can get $100 per hour, why would I do it" versus the business person who counters "I can get it built for less than $20 per hour on ODesk". I think there is an opportunity here. It's not easy to find and manage an offshore resource, and there are not that many people who can justify paying $100 an hour.
On my first try, my value proposition wasn't clear enough and I clearly needed to spend more time on the whole presentation. However, I think the idea still has merit, and its something I'll try again.