

Non-Programmer Here - vizual_artist

I've been a lurker in Hacker News for a long time now and never had the courage to post here because I'm not a programmer nor am I working for a start-up. I am however, an avid traveler and I know my passion lies within the tourism industry. I have an idea to improve the way one can research travel information and also help plan trips. I've been sketching out what I want the website to look like, what features it would have and how people would interact. I am constantly researching for websites that are currently available that facilitate this, and to be honest I wasn't able to find any. I know I want to make this, BUT the problem is, I don't have the money to pay someone to do it and coming from an accounting background I don't even know what I need to do to build this. So far my research has lead me to conclude that I need to learn python and use Django to build a web application of this scale.<p>so my question is, would an incubator accept a non-programmer with a decent idea?
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anigbrowl
If you have an accounting background, leverage it - work out really solid
financial projections for 3 different levels of revenue, research startup
costs and budget for contingencies, and generally use your professional
knowledge to create a set of bulletproof financials. On the design side,
install the demo of Balsmiq Mockups and come up with some experimental designs
for your app - even if you don't end up using them, they'll help you focus on
the mechanics of which information you need to gather. You can certainly apply
to YC and they do sometimes take solo founders, but I think there's a bias
towards applicants with tech folks already involved, for obvious reasons (PG
being a programmer, above all else).

With a solid business plan, consider asking on here for someone to help you
hack the tourism industry and have some meetings with people here. If you have
a comprehensive specification, a robust business plan, and flexibility to
modify your ideas in response to other suggestions and emerging circumstances,
I think you have a strong chance of finding a technical co-founder who's
willing to match your sweat equity on getting a prototype or even a basic
production version going on an equal share basis. Lots of programmers hate the
business administration side so they'll be glad to work with someone who's
watching that while they focus on functionality.

Good luck!

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vizual_artist
wow, thank you soo much for your answer!!

I just checked out Balsmiq Mockups, this is brilliant.

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YuriNiyazov
Is there a question in here somewhere?

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vizual_artist
lol, sorry I rambled on too much.

Would an incubator accept a start-up idea coming from a non-programmer?

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YuriNiyazov
unlikely. Since you've been around for quite some time, as you claim, you'll
know that what they are looking for is not just the idea, but also evidence
that you would be able to lead it into fruition, whether by coding it up or by
figuring out how to get your users.

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vizual_artist
So you are saying that I should be working on to convince incubators how my
website would sustain its user base or why would someone sign up to my web
application?

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YuriNiyazov
This is what you need to be working on:

1) Assume that the website is designed and coded, and is available for someone
to get to via www.yourtravelwebsite.com

2) Now what? You now have a new website amongst billions of others. How are
you going to get the first 100 people to use your website? Are you going to
spam them? Are you going to beg your friends? Do you have a lot of traveler
friends that indicate that this is something that they would use (and really
use, not just because they are friends with you)? Do you understand where
current travelers hang out to do their research? Do you understand how you are
going to convince them to switch? Are you going to just leave links on forums?
Are you going to be making deals with other travel agencies? If so, what is it
that you have to offer them - why would they say yes? How would you even find
travel agencies that are interested - would you just march into their office
unanncounced?

I could go on and on, but you get the idea - the "create a website" part to
you seems very challenging, as it should be. But, I have created many, many
websites for my small "business ideas", and I have completely failed in the
"get other people to actually use this thing that I created" department. So,
that by far is your biggest blindspot, and it's the biggest because it will
only appear after you would have invested many hours and/or many dollars into
making the website.

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vizual_artist
Thank you for your feedback, I really appreciate it. You do raise some valid
points, and I think this is something that I thought i would address once the
website is made. But I think working on it from an early stage would be more
beneficial, than working on it after I spend countless hours.

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stray
> would an incubator accept a non-programmer with a decent idea?

Why not ask incubators?

There is no better tactic.

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vizual_artist
haha, true!

