

Ask YC: Can a single person develop a  website? - yearsinrock

I am currently finding it  difficult to find a partner to work on a small idea that have .So what is the feasibility of developing a project in such circumstances.Has anybody done ever tried this?
I am mainly doing this project to improve my php and javascript coding.
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ScottWhigham
of course. Start with a piece of paper and do a high level plan of the main
goals/sections of the site. I find it helpful to use persona/role-driven
design here. Once i have the main goals, then I develop the home page for a
role inside Photoshop. I then develop an inner page. Once i have that, I move
on to [web language of choice (i.e. php/asp.net)] and develop a few templates.
Then I develop the home page and the inner pages using pure html (no
database). Once I'm happy there, I move on to DB stuff nad oo-level stuff to
support it.

I did all of <http://www.learnsqlserver.com/>, <http://www.learnitfirst.com/>
and <http://www.videobooks.com/> sites by myself. It took a while but so what?
I'm proud of the fact that I did it and I learned so much along the way.

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symbiotic
It kind of depends on the complexity and size of the site. You want to make
sure you can have it done in a reasonable timeframe.

I'm doing all of the development on my site <http://collegeacb.com> but its a
really simple concept (basically just a forum). One thing I have found really
helpful though is having a cheerleader. Nominate someone to keep you focused
(even if they don't do anything else) so that you don't give up half way
through.

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SwellJoe
Having a prototype makes everything easier, including finding partners. Build
your prototype, and then while you're out socializing with other startup
founders, and/or beating the bushes for customers, investors, business
development opportunities, and press, you can also mention "I'm also looking
for another developer to join the company in a partnership role". Somebody
will know somebody, and if you're selling the dream effectively they'll be
inclined to make that introduction.

The problem with people looking for business partners is often that they
imagine that an idea is enough to persuade someone to get involved. It rarely
is. An existing friendship might be enough, but a stranger with a new idea
(and nothing else) is just annoying. So, building a prototype proves you're
dedicated enough to put some of your own skin in the game before asking anyone
else to do so. That's a big win.

And, of course, there _have_ been single-founder success stories. More than a
few, in fact. So, if you never find a co-founder, if you can deliver a
valuable product, you might still build a successful business. But it's
obviously a harder row to hoe.

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Hates_
Yes they can :) Plenty of highly successful websites started their lives as
one man bands.

~~~
yearsinrock
Like?

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brent
Someone has got to say it, but if I recall correctly the hugely successful
plentyoffish was not only developed by one, but also maintained by one.

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notauser
I built my proof-of-concept on my own.

Lessons learned:

\- Working on your own rocks because - you can do what you want, when you want
to.

\- Working on your own sucks because - you do what you want, when you want to.

It isn't a route for the unmotivated. You also lack a feedback loop, so you
can't be sure you are producing high quality stuff as there is no local sanity
check.

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ejs
I developed <http://zerodaydeals.com> (there is a good amount of back-end to
it) as a one-person show and am developing <http://overtrainer.com> in the
same way

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lsemel
By starting to develop the project, it'll probably be easier to find a partner
because you'll have something to show them, and it demonstrates that you are
the kind of person who actually does something about his ideas other than just
talk about them.

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CaptainMorgan
"Can a single person develop a website?"

Absolutely! Personally, I've lost track of the number of trivial websites I've
created... sites of some value, exactly three.

It can be done.

