

Assembly - Quirky for Software - sinak
https://assemblymade.com/ideas

======
NKCSS
I love it, but I'm a bit worried about how it will fare, how stake will be
distributed, etc.

They barely started, and some projects already have 86 people registered to
work on them... how would that work? If this works out; you'd see projects
with 8000 people 'working' on it; I wonder if that would make it worth your
while (besides being fun).

It isn't discussed, but I think there should be some management where you can
steer the project/members a bit.

~~~
epayne
8000 people 'working' on it most definitely helps get initial usage off the
ground for apps that require a network effect. But you are right, this was my
initial concern as well. People and product management seems as though it will
be the major challenge for Assembly. However this is an enormous opportunity
to go meta and dog food new distributed labor management systems and
structures. Valve Software + "The Cloud".

------
Axsuul
Some of these ideas are pretty good. I'll be visiting this site often for
inspiration. Or maybe even to steal. I wonder how agile the process is vs. an
independent team also building the same thing while having the benefit of
monitoring the project's progress, ideas, discussion, etc. However, Assembly
does have the advantage of getting their first customers.

~~~
bitsweet
Thanks.

I believe Assembly has a competitive advantage as the first mover _and_ more
importantly the open development approach where anyone in the world can
participate...for example in only the last 40 hours, already over 83 people
have signed-up to build support-foo...a not-perfect but relevant comparison:
Zendesk (largest competitor to product) has an engineering team of only ~50
including designers, QA, & devops.

~~~
klaustopher
Well, quantity isn't everything ... See Brooks's law

------
znowi
This will be a hit if it comes to fruition.

 _A hassle-free hacker-friendly alternative to GMail. Simple freemium model,
no ads, and complete privacy. Even use your own domain._

[https://assemblymade.com/amail](https://assemblymade.com/amail)

------
britta
Some discussion from earlier today here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6606423](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6606423)

------
fbnt
Ok, so I had a closer look at it and now I have a question: on the homepage
you have 121 ideas atm, but I don't see where I can browse them, except for
the top 10. The hello page states "Every month the Assembly community picks an
amazing idea for an app". I signed up and logged in, still can't see anything
past the top 10. Am I not 'community' enough or are you openly 'faking till
you make it'?

------
saejox
%5 goes to idea maker, i get it. What happens to other %95 ? Is it evenly
distributed, or assemblymade takes a percentage?

I am interested in contributing to projects if it's evenly distrubuted among
developers or assemblymade gets a cut no more than %5. Please be clear about
it.

~~~
bitsweet
You can see how proceeds are split in the "How do I get paid" FAQ answer:
[https://assemblymade.com/help/profits#profits-1](https://assemblymade.com/help/profits#profits-1)

------
arbuge
Interesting idea. Since they mention Quirky, it's ironic that the Quirky
founder is on record (this month's Inc magazine) as saying that one of his
motivations is to create real physical products, and that too many people are
creating "mobile apps and social things".

------
read
I'd like to see this model work but I predict it won't. For the same reason
you don't see 83 collaborators in a painting.

~~~
bitsweet
Interesting analogy. I'm not sure the process to create a software product and
to create paintings share much though...building a successful software product
is inherently a team effort. You may have a few leaders influencing the
direction but every successful product I've worked on depended on good
decisions made by the whole team.

~~~
read
A more relaxed analogy to a music band has often come to mind. There's
certainly a place in the world for a successful 83-piece orchestra but the
piece is mostly written by a single composer. Plus, concerts most people go to
today are to see smaller bands.

I did notice a strange thing about my earlier comment though. When I read an
HN article in the morning I'm much more apt to write a comment or response. An
argument seems to be quickly evaluated based on its feasibility rather than
how rewarding it is. It's the opposite in the evenings.

As a model at least, it kind of explains why I'm writing such a thoughtful
explanation tonight, after having been downvoted without an explanation that
morning.

