

Ask HN: Torn between product and by-product. What to do? - sagacity

We've been rather busy since early 2010 working on a technology (project) requiring significant amounts of R&#38;D effort.<p>Of late, it reached a (<i>very interesting</i>) stage where it started spinning-off small (and some not-so-small) by-products, like there's no tomorrow!<p>(Those who're interested can seen some of the by-products below:<p>http://www.RapiDefs.com<p>http://IPLoc.info and http://IPLoc.info/api)<p>A recent off-shoot of this work <i>gifted</i> us with an idea the commercial potential (and the Whoa! or Golly! factor) of which can easily make the primary project pale into insignificance.<p>If we move forward with this (the latest by-product), we'd almost certainly have to sort of ditch the original one or, at least, put it on a back burner for a long/ish time.<p>As the sole owner of the company, I have pretty much a totally free hand in making decisions but I'm not really able to make up my mind on this one.<p>I'm turning to you all for your opinions/suggestions. What would <i>you</i> do in a similar situation? Please let me know.<p>ps. I've not mentioned specifics of either project for the sake of brevity. If you need more info in order to opine, please ask. :-)
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mrphoebs
Hi, checkout <http://spencerfry.com/on-focus>

Besids that article, what to do in this situation obviously depends on your
context of-course. Make sure you a 360 degree view of the situation, the pros
and cons of either decisions. The regrets that either decision might bring. I
always advice people to think about the regret minimization framework when
making major life decisions.

Also the hypothesis is success could come by either route but the "by-product"
has higher probability and a shorter road to product. Please try and validate
this assumption as soon as possible, just so your not building castles in the
air and taking a decision on unfounded hunches.

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selectnull
Hi, this is not a "what would you do" type of answer, but rather a quick
observation. I like your site rapidefs.com (btw, you're missing a dot between
www and r in your post). It's fast, it's useful, it looks good. But it's not
really anything new. It's a dictionary just like many others. Or have I missed
something?

Also, I have clicked on fb like, and then noticed "US patent pending" in
footer. Nothing personal, but I immediately unliked your site. I do not claim
I know what the patent is about, nor do I care. I'm just, in general, against
patents. Too many ridiculous ones out there, wouldn't you agree?

~~~
sagacity
> It's a dictionary just like many others. Or have I missed something?

Perhaps, you're a _very_ fast typist and typed the whole word before RapiDefs
had had a chance to show its _thing_. :-) Please try typing only a few
(beginning) letters of any word to really see it _in action_.

~~~
selectnull
Yes, I've seen it the first time. You type a few characters and get a list of
matching word/phrases/definitions in your database. My question is still: so
what? (or am I still missing it? :) )

Please understand, I like it. I'm trying to give you a feedback in light of
your original question, and that's whether you should quit (or slow down) work
on your main product, and focus on by-products, of which this is one example.
In that light, I really do not see anything worth pursuing.

Or, ask yourself this question: can you make money of it? is that money
greater that your main product?

If those kind of answers are yes, than and only than would I ever consider
changing my focus.

~~~
sagacity
> Please understand, I like it. I'm trying to give you a feedback in light of
> your original question

Thank you, and never suspected any _hostility_ or _ill-will_ in your posts.
:-)

As a matter of face, RapiDefs is one of the _minor_ by-products, done and put
away already. (We _will_ keep expanding it from time to time, but that's about
it.)

The major by-product that is causing my indecision is not out yet but it (is
_totally_ different from RapiDefs or IPLoc and) has a _great deal_ higher
potential as compared to these. Actually, we've assessed its potential to be a
lot higher than even the primary project; and hence the indecision.

~~~
selectnull
> Actually, we've assessed its potential to be a lot higher than even the
> primary project; and hence the indecision.

If you have assessed the potential to be higher than your primary project, why
the indecision? Does your primary project already have customers that you
don't want to lose?

~~~
sagacity
No, nothing like that.

However, it (the primary) project is a technology that can take the current
state of the art of information retrieval methodologies just a notch further;
something that can have a compelling value proposition for search players to
acquire.

By contrast, the major off-shoot (by-product) is in the SN sector, with some
unique twists. It will (probably) create a new segment/category in the SN
space, _without_ actually competing with any existing player and has a high
probability of going viral.

And so the dilemma continues - which way to go?

~~~
trevelyan
You're not giving anyone any useful information. And when anyone gives you
advice you just throw out a few empty statements ("current state of the art of
information retrieval..."). If you really want useful feedback stop wasting
people's time and just put both products out there so others can give you
informed opinions.

Otherwise just work on whichever you prefer. You can build up anything in your
mind until it seems like the next big thing but the reality is you won't be
acquired and will have to figure out a way to make money with whatever you do
if you want it to turn into a business. If you like the work you're more
likely to put in the hard time necessary to create something wonderful that
attracts and deserves others' attention. So do what you enjoy.

