

What do I do with a good idea? - eglover

I have an idea that takes a new approach to teaching programming and development online. I&#x27;ve never seen anything anywhere similar to it (and I do know of a lot of these sites http:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;W0UQNq )<p>I&#x27;ve been sitting on this idea for over a year now  and occasionally add a few notes to my overall vision.<p>I&#x27;ve built two websites, but nothing to the dynamic level that I&#x27;m thinking of. This would be something that would require a few people working together even at its basic level. I once tried to outsource getting something in place, but my $5,000 budget was outbidded. (I now have a $7,000 budget but I don&#x27;t think that&#x27;s big enough.)<p>What I&#x27;d like to know from HN is how I can find either people willing to help with this, where to find investors or anything that could help me get started.
======
subrat_rout
I believe 7k is good enough money to put together a MVP if you know little bit
of programming. Or talk to a programmer and convince him to work on this
project on a 50% partnership along with 5k monetary compensation. I believe if
you contact few programmers and clearly express your idea and where will it go
in long term then somebody is going to help you. At least to build a MVP which
you can test to see if it has any potential to go anywhere.

~~~
eglover
Do you know of a good source to seek people? I'm skeptical of most freelance
sites because they're generalized and used by a lot of people who just want to
"make money online".

If you were seeking a programmer, where would you go to?

~~~
subrat_rout
Yes there are good programmers in those freelance sites. You need to find the
needle in those haystacks.

1\. Post a project on Elance or Guru or other freelance sites where you
specifically ask them for their Github and stackoverflow profile. I believe
every good programmers do not maintain regular Github profile. But most of
them do and from their Github profile you can have an idea on quality of code
they can deliver.

I found a programmer from Russia who had a very high reputation score on
Stackoverflow and arguable he came out as a proficient one. But convincing a
programmer to work on your project is another challenge. They have enough
projects under their belt. So your projects need to challenge/thrill them to
work on. Else they will not stick for long.

------
siquick
Have you validated your idea by asking your peers if they would be willing to
pay for your service?

This would be my first step before committing several thousands of dollars to
an idea.

~~~
eglover
Good point. I've validated it with two professors who think it's worth
pursuing (which also led to a couple lengthy discussions on educational
theory).

~~~
siquick
How will your service be funded?

Without wanting to put you off, most people will say that its a good idea if
the service is free. It's a different story if they have to pay for it.

Are the professors your target market? If not, find your target market and
validate with them.

Its so important that you validate the idea before spending all your time,
energy and money on it.

Good luck with this, sounds like you're passionate which is a great start.

~~~
eglover
In one word, freemium. I think there are some things worth paying for and
others not. The first things I want to implement are the things that would
require payment.

And you're right about finding a target market, the initial target would be
others which I'll have to talk to.

------
Rainymood
Hack together an MVP, share it, iterate iterate iterate, who knows ...

------
hashtag
I'm curious, what is your take and how does it differ from everyone else?

~~~
eglover
I'm not a fan of any sites that teach programming. They're too passive, don't
take things seriously, or are meant for children (like the Head First series).

I'm not absolutely opposed to dumping all the unique features of what I've got
so far on the interwebs, but not just yet.

The biggest feature that the company I was bidding for liked is a way of
submitting programs and finding if they're correct or not (grading).

I've implemented a few thoughts from Salman Khan's book. The plans cover a
much larger demographic and the site can be easily used for a lifetime rather
than to just get a start.

But that's all I'll say for now. :p

~~~
rudimental
I agree with the advice of validating your idea by asking the target users if
they would be willing to pay for the service.

Maybe start making a prototype (Balsamiq/Prototype of Paper rather than code
based).

As to keep it hush-hush:

"An idea for a startup, however, is only a beginning. A lot of would-be
startup founders think the key to the whole process is the initial idea, and
from that point all you have to do is execute. Venture capitalists know
better. If you go to VC firms with a brilliant idea that you'll tell them
about if they sign a nondisclosure agreement, most will tell you to get lost.
That shows how much a mere idea is worth. The market price is less than the
inconvenience of signing an NDA."

[http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html)

Just start. Good luck!

~~~
eglover
While quotes are sometimes nice, there are a few assumptions you've made that
don't match this post at all.

1\. I have extensive plans on paper to include visual design.

2\. I have a little bit of code and I'm working project by project to get to
the level required to build this site. (The whole reason for me building the
other two from scratch.)

3\. Again, hush-hush isn't the issue. But throwing everything out every time I
ask a question? That's not good. I'm not pitching, I'm asking for general
advice. (When I bid for a design company they had the full plans with no
disclosure agreements and I did that knowing the people I was competing with
were doing a similar style site. I don't believe in IP, but I do believe in
common sense.)

I thank you for your response though.

~~~
seekingcharlie
Personally, I think you took his comment the wrong way & it's actually one of
the most accurate comments on here.

So you have some designs on paper, great! Show these designs to anyone,
everyone & gauge their interest. Remember, what a user says is very different
to what a user does. Just because they say they WOULD sign up for something,
doesn't mean they WILL sign up for something. Friends, family (& professors)
are likely to be biased out of love, widen your reach.

I wouldn't code anything until you have done the above. The PG quote is
basically reaffirming that your idea is worthless right now. Millions of
developers are out there with ideas. Thousands are even out there with an MVP.
Get user feedback from day one & make sure you're idea is actually worth
something (& remember that 90% of good ideas aren't).

~~~
eglover
I haven't made any claims to worth.

In the same way that I asked someone to send an e-mail via my website instead
of simply posting my e-mail, I've no interest in the passively curious. I'm
not cautious in talking about the project, but I am cautious in blabbering off
to anyone who doesn't care or just wants to look at something shiny.

This is something that comes up in conversation with friends often. The
question here is where can I go to find help. Not how do I validate the idea.
That's taken care of.

------
closavia
What is your e-mail? Let's chat.

~~~
eglover
Would you mind going to
[http://www.ethanglover.biz/](http://www.ethanglover.biz/) and clicking the
"E-mail Me" button at the bottom left? I trust HN users, but I think it's bad
practice posting my e-mail address on a public forum. :)

