

How did I get 38 willing-to-pay customers before writing code? - kylebragger
http://artsyeditor.com/2011/04/how-did-i-get-38-willing-to-pay-customers-before-writing-code/

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ajg1977
38 willing to pay customers isn't quite the same as 38 paying customers.
Instead of spending a week getting ~$400 worth* of obligation-free commitments
it would have been better putting the time towards a working prototype. Then
find a small beta group -> iterate -> release & sell -> iterate & update.

Soliciting opinion on a problem you want to solve can be extremely valuable,
but it sounds like the author already knew more than enough to put together a
1.0 version.

This is a problem I've had for a number of years. While working on personal
projects, commercial or otherwise, I always had a tendency to allow all the
peripheral matters (names, websites, logos, mailing lists, teasers) to take
time away from the only one that was really important - building the thing and
getting it into the hands of testers and users.

Nowadays I make it my number one priority to build a minimally working
prototype of whatever I'm trying to solve. By the time I have that then it's
usually clear whether the idea will go anywhere, and if it does I have a
prototype to iterate on and give to small number of people for further
feedback. If your idea and implementation are good this can generate far more
interest and potential sales than showing around a mockup with a vague release
date.

(*I'm sure that blog post is an attempt to garner interest, much like posting
it on HN, so of course it may have more extrinsic value than just 38 potential
purchases.)

~~~
amjith
Not sure I agree.

I feel that you should get at least 10 people to agree they are willing to pay
for your product in order to validate it. It might not be true for all
scenarios, but it definitely seems valid for the idea that is presented in the
blog post.

This is an excellent article that lists some valid points why you should start
marketing the day you start coding.
[http://www.softwarebyrob.com/2010/10/14/startup-marketing-
pa...](http://www.softwarebyrob.com/2010/10/14/startup-marketing-part-6-why-
you-should-start-marketing-the-day-you-start-coding/)

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rexreed
I find that there's a very big difference between people saying that they'd be
willing to pay something and getting these people to actually pay for that
thing.

The rate of false-positives in people indicating they'd buy something before
being pressed to buy it is very high. This is speaking from first-hand
experience. Sometimes having 0 customers and seeing whether people will
actually buy it is worth more than asking people if they'll buy something
without putting it to a real test. In fact, you might come to different
conclusions about what is important and not if you go based on what people say
they will pay for vs. what they actually pay for.

~~~
theoj
People might initially be excited about your idea, but after 3-6 months of you
building it and not hearing from you, that excitement might die down or be
tempered.

I'd say you need to do a couple of things. First, provide progress updates
while building. Once you're done building and you decide to approach them
again, re-iterate the pain points and benefits and try to build back that
initial excitement. Also, read up on the principle of consistency in sales
(for example pick up the book Influence by Cialdini). The idea is this: if you
initially got a written and public commitment from the prospects, then those
prospects will keep their word. They may also be less willing to flatter you
given that kind of a commitment.

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famousactress
I guess I haven't really used any distraction-free editing tools and honestly
I was pretty skeptical while reading the post about the quality of feedback
and value the product might have.... until I got to the mockup.

If the product looks & works as well as the mockup suggests, I'd buy it at the
price mentioned, and I'm someone who only writes a half dozen or so posts a
year.

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pavel_lishin
> Artsy Editor was a little idea I had 2 weeks ago. 9 days after that, I
> showed 1000+ people my mockup, validated with 109 people personally, and _38
> of them were already ready to pay for it_.

So why didn't you take their money?

~~~
Timothee
While, by default, this would definitely not be my mindset, ("how can I take
money from these people since I don't have anything to give them right now?")
this is a good question.

This is probably a good idea:

\- to validate your idea with real customers,

\- motivate you to actually finish it

\- and get a growing list of people who can give you feedback.

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bretthopper
This is one of the best idea/project timelines I've seen.

Please keep updating as you go. Hopefully this actually gets made since it's a
great idea.

~~~
stephenou
Hi, Stephen here. I wrote the post.

Yes, I'm currently working on it and I'll keep everyone on HN with my
progress.

Meanwhile, you can also join the mailing list: <http://artsyeditor.com>

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hanifvirani
One of the most comprehensive and informative idea development posts I have
read. The hard work that you put into gathering customer feedback as well as
in assembling this post, clearly shows. I look forward to some follow up posts
where we find out how many willing-to-pay customers actually convert. Best of
luck.

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muyuu
This is why I'll probably never be rich.

Something I can get done in a weekend, I'd release it free and Open Source.
Plus, lifetime commitment? (for something supposedly dead simple?).

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jamesjyu
Awesome idea! This is exactly the reason why I made QuietWrite. I also have an
integration with WordPress, but having a plugin is awesome too. I'd definitely
use this.

Also, WordPress is going to be integrating a fullscreen clean editor in an
upcoming release (from what I hear).

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pxlpshr
Slick plugin, I could see this being used to help non-technical marketing
people better contribute to a website.

Hope you're able to make it compatible with <http://wpml.org> as we use this
plugin extensively.

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dot
"Lesson learned: I need to know what people need and what they will pay for"

Yes and no. Sometimes, with something as simple as this just try scratching
your (most urgent) itch.

You can always build on that.

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ookblah
I'd be interested in hearing your approach to it. Sounds something like Aloha
Editor, and it's a PITA problem to solve w/ all the cross-browser
inconstancies.

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h0h0h0
Very well written and clear. I just started to put what you learned into
practice :)

~~~
stephenou
Thank you. I found sharing my own experience can help consolidate what I've
learned.

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hkon
Really interesting title, to bad the site has gone down?

~~~
stephenou
Sorry, didn't expect this much of traffic. WP Super Cache turned on. Should be
fine now!

