

I've coded a product.. now what? - sam_in_nyc

Hello, HN.<p>I've had tons of start-up ideas in the past and just never executed them, because, well, I had to pay the bills.  But after saving money from my prior job I was able to quit and work my own things.<p>Despite getting off to a slow start, meaning, I went skydiving and pursued hobbies, and little interesting technical problems, I've finally managed to have a lot to show for myself.  I've been working an unhealthy 12 hours a day for 2 months straight.  I'm nearly ready for a Beta release of something that will definitely make waves.  No point going into how hyped I am, because, well, that's part of the deal being in this business... EVERYONE's got the greatest idea.<p>Up to now, I provided my own seed money and essentially all of the ideas and technology are home-brewed.  Now that I have something to show, I do not know who to show it to, or really what steps to take.<p>There's the entire other side of the business besides technical.  How do I market it?  How do I keep this afloat if/when it gets too large for me to handle myself?  How can I get funding, very soon, so that I can have a team of people churning away at the larger scale ideas behind this?<p>I'm hoping you all can offer some guidance.<p>A few things about my product:
- It's a discussion system compatible with all websites.
- It's not a browser plug-in (eg: no barrier to entry).
- It does everything most discussions systems do (this one, reddit, etc), except better.  You can follow people and see what comments they're posting on what websites, get notified when people reply to your comments, watch specific posts for replies... all of this across the entire web.
- Super slick and fast-loading UI
- It will destroy Disqus, not only because it is better, but because of point #1.
- And, soon, it will connect with facebook so that what you post goes to your news feed, and you can invite and follow your friends.<p>So, I ask:
- What should I do next?
- Do I even need funding?
- How do I market this?
- Do you see this product as being valuable, based on its description?<p>Thanks.
======
nreece
>> I do not know who to show it to, or really what steps to take.

Post your product here. We are not that bad a bunch. You can also submit an
exclusive beta launch to TechCrunch or ReadWriteWeb.

>> How do I keep this afloat if/when it gets too large for me to handle
myself?

That's just pre-mature stress. Don't worry about breathing problems standing
at the base of the mountain. Start by taking small steps, grow organically,
and think about "scaling" later.

>> How can I get funding, very soon, so that I can have a team of people
churning away at the larger scale ideas behind this?

I'd say, wait, till you have a stable product. Hence, release early.

>> What should I do next?

Share your product with potential users/testers. Write about it, as often, and
where-ever you can.

Good luck!

~~~
sam_in_nyc
Ok, you're right. There's no need to worry about scaling or maintenance for
now, and I should be looking forward to those problems.

One problem with submitting here, at least without funding and any sort of
assurance of future growth, is that I feel a bit vulnerable. The product
contains some new browser-based technologies that I'd rather not share just
yet, at least until I'm sure that I'll be the one implementing them to their
fullest.

~~~
skmurphy
If you would like private advice put your contact info into your profile.

~~~
sam_in_nyc
sam.from.hackernews@gmail.com

------
sam_in_nyc
Why is the formatting all screwed up? What happened to my precious line
breaks?

------
arjunb
Ship it. Share it. Iterate.

------
pclark
Why will it destory Disqus?

~~~
sam_in_nyc
Can Disqus allow me to comment on websites that don't have Disqus installed?

~~~
pclark
can I have a demo or sommat? I'm interested. I've also just implemented Disqus
in my site, so am keen to see competitors. :)

~~~
sam_in_nyc
I'll send you an invite to private beta in a few days.

Right now the discussion system is independent of websites -- it's not
something you'll "implement" on your website until it's widely adopted enough
to make sense.

With Disqus, I believe this won't ever occur... only some websites are in the
business of having comments on their pages, and of those, only some will use
Disqus. As a user of Disqus you can track my comments across all Disqus-
enabled websites, which is nice but is not ever going to encompass all the
sites I wish to discuss.

With my product, all websites are up for discussion... and once I have enough
users discussing enough sites, it'll make sense to offer publishers to embed
these discussions right onto their site.

~~~
pclark
so you essentially comment on the URL? That is, any URL can have comments?

~~~
sam_in_nyc
Comments, as well as discussions.

------
eli_s
sounds great. how will your service make money?

