

Why you should build an application (even if it already exists) - ajv
http://vaynermedia.com/2009/11/build-an-application-even-if-it-already-exists/

======
jasonlbaptiste
Well done post. You could find a reason not to do anything. Google? Check out
the search engines that already exist and own the space. Apple? No one wants a
computer for personal use. Dropbox? File storage has been done and no margins.
Twitter? 140 characters is worthless. Vizio? Enough TVs exist. YCombinator?
WTF are you going to do with $15k. I could go on and on and on. Seriously,
just fucking build it. If for some odd reason NOTHING at all exists like what
you're doing, a competitor will come along that does. There is nothing and I
mean nothing that a smart team of 20 somethings can't build nowadays. At
worst, you'll have something that you, yourself love. That's the key to all of
this: Build something YOU want, then adapt it so it works for a broader range
of people if need be. If the tshirt for getting accepted to ycombinator is:
build something people want and the tshirt for getting acquired is: i built
something people want, the tshirt for getting asked to interview/demo should
be: i built something I wanted.

~~~
patio11
_i built something I wanted_

This contributes to the perpetual oversupply of solutions from problems
suffered by technically-inclined male twenty-somethings. Then you get to try
shouting louder than all the other startups so that instead of the
technically-inclined male twenty-somethings not paying for the thing the other
guy makes they're not paying for the thing you make.

I built something I wanted: a business. It solves problems which were actually
experienced by Real People. They also actually pay money for things, which is
a nice feature to have in a customer.

~~~
mkramlich
patio's comment made me think of Google Wave.

from everything I've heard about it, I still don't understand what problem it
solves that isn't already solved. It feels like a really esoteric use case for
hyper-geeky people who for some reason aren't smart enough to use one of the
1000 other hyper-geeky fluffy techno-web-gizmos to do the same thing with
already.

Now that I've said this, I'm sure in a year I'll be wave-ified. :)

~~~
derefr
Think of it this way: pretend email, wikis, and IM clients don't exist. Now,
given you can pick between any one of those, or Wave as well, which one thing
would you rather come into existence to best solve each of the otherwise-
already-solved problems you actually have each day?

------
nico
I have also realized one thing: there is always room for one more. Unless the
market your are aiming at is incredibly small, chances are it will never be
covered 100%, hence you'll always have at least some room to get in.

It's really incredible that us techies are always looking for something
completely different to do, when instead we could just do something that is
already proven and make money out of it, and even more money if we do it
really well. Think car dealerships for example, it doesn't matter that someone
already invented them and that there are thousands of them, people still want
to buy cars and try new stuff, same with restaurants, supermarkets,
electronics..... you get the idea.

~~~
Psyonic
Yes, but part of the draw of software in general is that one vendor can
theoretically serve the entire market, whereas a car dealership can only serve
a given area.

~~~
tjr
A better example might be book publishers; do we really _need_ any C books
beyond K&R, or at most, K&R plus van der Linden? Maybe not, but there's dozens
of them anyway. Different books on the same topic might be selected based on
anything from number of pages to familiarity with the publisher and/or author
to typesetting to cover graphics to thoroughness of the index to reviews on
Amazon.com to addressing niche needs (or perceived needs) of a particular
target audience to ...

Even today, with lots of programmers wishing C would just die forever, I
suspect a publisher could put out a new book on C and make it profitable if
they found the right criteria.

------
dimarco
I'm trying hard not to fall for the obvious trap of buying the Browser Sketch
Pad linked in his post, but I want it so bad.

~~~
icey
Assuming you have a printer, just download the zip from the upper left hand
corner here: <http://960.gs/>

There is a PDF in it that has basically the same thing for free, and you can
print as many pages as you want.

(Direct zip link: <http://960.gs/files/960_download.zip> \- The PDF is in a
folder called "sketch_sheets")

Those stencils do look cool though ;)

~~~
marcamillion
Thanks very much for this. I just bought a monochrome B&W laser printer from
Newegg, and have a case of blank paper and really didn't want to have order
anything new. This download made my night. Wish I could upvote you twice :)

------
TrevorBramble
This thinking has led me to start (and continue) two projects so far: a
Twitter client and a Google Reader replacement.

I'm constantly questioning the value of my efforts when solutions already
exist, but it turns out that irritation is a pretty solid motivator. =^)

~~~
cschep
Yeah! If not the BEST motivator.

~~~
cema
Irritation makes an oyster grow pearls.

------
SlyShy
And, of course, building applications is useful practice if nothing else. I
recently finished a poor reddit clone which I have no intention of actually
using to test some of these new fangled key-value stores.

------
bcl
The added benefit is that even if your app does eventually fail you have
learned a bunch of new things that you can now apply to work, your next app,
life and the broken plumbing you've been meaning to get to.

This is how I learned CSS and jQuery -- working on
<http://take3.movielandmarks.com> (which is nowhere near complete, and needs a
rewrite in Python to keep me happy).

------
richardburton
I was speaking to a guy today who has a really interesting idea for a project
management tool (yes, another one!). Even though I've tried every tool under
the sun I still thought that his concept sounded awesome. The way he intends
to combine some of the best concepts out there with his own experience in the
project-management space will definitely give him a unique product. Just one
solid USP is all he really needs to differentiate. He won't beat all his
competitors with lots of ticks in a classic competition matrix. What he will
do is scratch an itch that he's had for 6 years and hopefully be able to get
all the people he's met during that time (who have the same itch) to use his
app to scratch it.

The phrase: "it's been done" Makes me shudder. The fact that there are lots of
companies in a given market should invite, rather deter newcomers. The
important point is to be different, unique, or superior in some way and that's
what gives you an advantage.

~~~
asimeqi
Please have your friend try to sell to Verizon. I had the worst kind of
experience when I was switching to FIOS. I put the order on December 21 for a
January 3 installation. As soon as i put the new order, my existing phone line
was cut off. I called them to point out the error and they had to put a new
order for a conventional line. But then my FIOS order was auto cancelled. When
I called back to get my new FIOS order, my installation date was fully booked
and I had to wait until January 10.

In my long and multiple calls with customer support I could sense how
frustrated the customer support people were with their project management
software. I am sure a much better software can be written and probably already
exists.

------
niels
One really important point, that is not mentioned, is that even if a great app
exists, you will not be able to make any money off it. That's why it makes
sense to build and own the app your self.

------
biggitybones
I've been struggling with this one for a while, and finally realized that it's
just an easy way of avoiding getting my hands dirty and a form of
procrastination. There's really nothing bad that can come out of designing and
building an app from start to finish, even if you're the only one whoever uses
it. I finally dove into my first full app and if nothing else it's a great
hobby and gives me something to look forward to after work.

That being said, I'm still of the thought that an identical clone isn't
something worth sinking hundreds of hours into; I think you need at least
SOMETHING that is different (if only just a bit). Example: After a recent 2
week cross country road trip, I created a quick and dirty travel log to track
our adventure on our web comic site. When we got back, I planned to implement
this as a web app, but discovered Everlater, which does EXACTLY what I wanted
to write (even down to the exact target markets and usages..). Reading their
development blog felt like they were stealing the thoughts out of my head, so
when it gets to that point I think finding another idea is best.

Ideas are a dime a dozen - if you need help, just use this list
<http://www.sixmonthmba.com/2009/02/999ideas.html>.

------
kyro
Yes, this is something I always say when others tell me that someone else has
already executed my idea. If I have a problem and am not aware of a product
out there that solves it, then there MUST be others who are no more aware than
me. Those are the potential customers you can grab through great marketing.
Not all business owners are aware of 37signals' products, and there are many
other markets where a portion of them are unaware of even the mainstream and
standard solutions available to them.

That's not to say you shouldn't research your target market for competitors,
but don't be discouraged by pools full of sharks. There's enough prey for
everyone, I think.

------
chrischen
I'd actually say that, if your not inventig some crazy cutting edge new
technology, then whatever web app you're building already exists.

I also thought it is quote obvious to do it anyways. No two apps are the same,
just similar.

------
nathanh
Great post. Whenever I see a product similar to something I'm developing, it
makes me feel better to know that there is a market for what I'm building.

------
spc476
But but but ... we're not _supposed_ to reinvent the wheel! We're supposed to
find some existing product/code base, no matter how marginally related it is
to what we want to do, improve that, and hand it back to the community!

I've been told over and over again, _don't write code that already exists!_
You're wasting your time!

~~~
stevejohnson
You're missing the point of the article. He's talking about products that are
presumably closed-source, and the only way to improve them would be to get a
job at someone else's company. If you want to encourage code sharing, build it
better and make it open.

------
marcamillion
What is so funny about this thread, is that it seems that every other post is
repeating what the previous guy just said, which all say "just build it
already, even if it exists". Seems that you guys took that one step too far
and applied it to comments too ;) ---btw...I liked the article...not hating,
just observing =)

------
rwhitman
Of course the downside to this attitude is that after years of just building
every application you want regardless you end up with a half dozen semi-
adopted apps that you need to manage hahaha...

