

New Website Builds Minimum Viable Products for Startups - rcavezza
http://ibuildmvps.com

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fierarul
_The idea is really nice_ ( _IF_ you can actually execute)!

I don't like the website though:

* all the toplevel links take you to another website. I usually expect those to take you to pages that are at least consistent with the top domain I'm coming from.

* FOUNDER'S BLOCK is listed twice.

* There is a list of people with a small blurb, that initially made me think they work for this website: Eric Ries, Steve Blank, Brant & Peter. Now I think it's just a list of people that "inspire" the author. Anyhow, it looks like a way to use the "celebrity" of these guys a bit.

* "rcavezza [atttt] gmail {dddottt} com." Bite the bullet, make actual mailto: links or at least some form. Don't make me hand-edit your email, it's an artificial barrier to getting new customers.

* "ANOTHER WEBSITE CREATED BY BOB CAVEZZA." Not to be rude, but it sounds puerile: "another website"?

* "Designed by STUDIO7DESIGNS": This is too prominent.

~~~
desigooner
Nice concept overall .. but i agree with fierarul... those links to Eric Ries,
etc. almost felt as if they had some sort of an association with this project
or had their blessings.

the website footnotes are wayyy too prominent .. and borderline boastful ..

and the "Yes, Build my MVP" link looks out of place as compared to the rest of
the site. you might want to change the font style.

maybe you should spend some more time on it vs. using the "created in less
than x hours" line.

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tonystubblebine
I love this idea for a service. I could see using it a lot even though I'm a
programmer.

Ok, here's an MVP I want. What do you think of this:

I already have a twitter account where users submit quotes. It picks up 20k
new followers a month and most quotes gets 200+ retweets. I'm starting to
think it could be a "big" deal.

I want to test a leader board for submitters to see if that encourages even
more participation and also test the top quotes put onto mugs and t-shirts to
see if there's revenue potential.

I think the MVP is: \- a static web page of the top quotes from the past week
(pulled manually based on retweets) \- the static page should have # of
retweets and the profile photo and twitter name of the person submitted it \-
the top quote should be tied to a cafe press store \- a few tweets announcing
the leaderboard to my followers

I'm expecting you to be the master of best practices. What details am I
missing? Do you have feedback on the MVP?

I'll check the comments here, but I'm willing to pay, so you can also email
me: tony@tonystubblebine.com

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danshapiro
I love this idea. But I'm not seeing the thing on your site that makes me
believe you can do this (e.g. the big PORTFOLIO button). How do I get that
confidence?

~~~
dpritchett
If you can really crank these out this quickly you should be able to get 5
things in your portfolio within a week. If there's a startup scene where you
live you could make some friends by offering them your services at a heavily
discounted rate.

Putting up a nice portfolio will allow you to get customers online. Getting
local customers only requires a good pitch.

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jordanmessina
Like everyone else has said, the idea is cool. Other than that, and this might
be harsh, but I don't think you could execute 99% of people's ideas and make a
MVP. That's just how I feel after exploring this site for 3 minutes. The blog
post about this website is a joke:

"I built my MVP (ibuildmvps.com) in less than two hours. Most of the time was
spent waiting for godaddy to process my domain name and email address, and set
up the hosting. Besides that, I found a free template online, built a button
from a free form generator, created a Google Form, and tweaked the hell out of
it. I also added links to many lean startup/customer develop icons who I
admire."

This is cute, but it only makes me have less faith in you because none of it
is impressive, so how would you implement my idea if it requires a little bit
more than using google forms and pre-made templates? The description of the
blog on the right hand side rubbed me the wrong way as well. My father has
been programming since 1999, or so he would tell people, so the fact that
you've been coding since 2002 does nothing for me. You don't have a portfolio
anywhere to prove you know what you're actually doing. And if you're going to
put your college and state that you received a Bachelors of Science degree at
least put what the hell you got it in...

------
grg
This is a great idea, and I'm likely to use it in the near future.

One potential barrier to entry for users of this site:

What's stopping ibuildmvps.com from building an MVP for someone, and then (if
the idea works well) taking that idea and developing it to the next level
without them?

I'm not trying to say or imply that this is the intention of ibuildmvps.com.
But (in America at least), you can't copyright an idea. Therefore, any of your
clients would be opening themselves up to that risk.

Perhaps you should have a page on the site saying you'd be willing to sign a
non-compete contract, in order to ease that concern (which may lower the
barrier to entry for your service). Even better, maybe that non-compete
agreement could be part of your TOS?

Again, I really do like this idea. I just wanted to add my two cents, in an
effort to help your site become even better. Best of luck with this venture!

~~~
dpritchett
This sounds exactly like the Facebook origin stories, both the ConnectU one
and the "Paul Ceglia owns 84%" one.

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tomh-
Why are the names of Eric Reis and Steve Blank there? Are they involved? If
not, make that more clear, else it looks to me like you are trying to sell
your services by using their names to promote it..

~~~
klochner
He's using their names to promote it either way, it's just unethical if
they're not involved.

~~~
rcavezza
False. Linking to people I admire. I considered changing this (as I changed
many parts of the site based on HN comments), but I like the links as a
tribute to them.

~~~
dpritchett
The links are fine but to make it kosher you need to put up some sort of
description like "These fine folks inspired me. They are not affiliated with
this service."

~~~
rcavezza
Implemented this change after a little more thought. Sorry if I offended
anyone.

~~~
desigooner
it's all a learning process ..

you might want to change case for the footer .. the caps don't help :)

i see you're a RU grad .. i'm an RU alum, now in Boston.

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troels
Sorry in advance for being harsh, but ...

You state that you can build a functional product in 2-3 hours? I call
bullshit.

I mean - I know programmers are notoriously optimistic, but that's just
getting ridiculous.

Unless you mean that you can throw together a mock-up, but that's not an MVP
in my book.

~~~
rmc
A mockup can be a MVP. A MVP is just there to attract potential customers and
make them 'sign up' (e.g. an 'I'm interested' email)

~~~
dpritchett
I like it. I'm guessing you're going to crank out quick Rails skeleton sites
to Heroku? This is a good service and i see nothing wrong with people using
your sketched out web apps to begin the customer validation process.

If Tim Ferriss can test an idea with a non-functional landing page and a few
hundred dollars in adwords, surely your service is at least as viable.

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bconway
I clicked on the link hoping there was some interesting technology involved,
but it appears to be just someone offering contract work. Best of luck to him,
but I'm not sure it's a very novel idea (I do it frequently, I imagine _you_
do, too).

~~~
dpritchett
The technology isn't noteworthy but the marketing effort is. Surely there are
tons of would-be non-technical-cofounders on Twitter drinking the Lean Startup
/ MVP koolaid who would jump at the chance to get their idea online overnight.

Maybe they could get it done by calling your or going on elance, but the copy
and presentation of this site gets them closer to yes by speaking in today's
startup lingo.

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zeemonkee
Great idea ! However a few points:

* How do I know you won't steal/sell my idea ? How do you handle NDAs etc ?

* What will the "MVP" buy me ? Do you do any design ? Sure it may take "2-3 hours" but what exactly does that entail for my money ?

* What about hosting ? Do you provide source code, or just host a demo for me ? How long is it hosted for ? Is it password protected or otherwise restricted from general use ?

* External links that look like internal links are confusing. Have them clearly designated as such.

------
rcavezza
Thanks for the comments everyone:

Here are some replies...

1.) This website took 90 minutes to create from idea to publishing.

2.) Eric, Steve, Brant, and Peter are in no way affiliated with this except
they are awesome and helped inspire it.

3.) An MVP can mean many things to many people. I think you should do the
least amount of work in order to validate/invalidate the most assumptions.
"Get out of the building", show people sketches, create site mockups with
buttons that don't work and calculate the number of people who pressed
them,etc. Here's an article from Venture Hacks.

[http://venturehacks.com/articles/minimum-viable-product-
exam...](http://venturehacks.com/articles/minimum-viable-product-examples)

4.) Interesting thought about NDAs. I think I would take the same route as
VCs. Don't sign them because they may inadvertently affect other projects
you're working on. I probably won't be able to offer assurance except not
doing it - also like VCs.

5.) What do I provide. Depends on the project, I think smaller is better to
validate assumptions with the least effort. This way, you don't waste time
building something people don't want.

~~~
danshapiro
VCs get away with it because: 1) They have reputations; 2) They have the money
3) It's a practical necessity for someone who looks at a dozen pieces of IP
daily.

None of those cases apply to you, and as a general rule, no competent
entrepreneur will pay a contractor who won't sign an NDA.

My recommendation would be to sign enthusiastically, because it means you got
a job.

~~~
rcavezza
Couldn't disagree more.

1.) This isn't about getting a job, it's about helping entrepreneurs start
companies.

2.) I already had two queries that rubbed me the wrong way because they are
similar to project I have in the works. Signing an NDA would probably
jeopardize the work I've already done.

------
Tichy
Frankly, this seems like complete bullshit to me. It is simply the contact
form for a normal, run off the mill PHP developer. Nothing against PHP
developers having web sites, but it is not HN stuff.

Also, I strongly dislike that the site evokes the impression of being
associated with Eric Ries, Steve Blank and Brant & Patrick - I am guessing
that is not really the case.

------
PaulJoslin
An excellent concept. The reality is, most 'ideas' can be tried out in it's
minimum form fairly quickly - with the added benefit that from day one, you
are getting ranked in google, getting feedback, collecting email addresses and
taking sign ups.

My personal approach, is to use word press on cheap hosting. I know how to
customize word press to do almost anything I want and can get something up in
a few hours to test the market (check for validity of my keyword analysis).
Obviously not everyone knows php / how to customise word press, so your
solution is ideal for those founders with the idea but no technical knowledge.

Once the idea has been tested, I'll then spend longer building the better
product (if needed), knowing that the initial feedback I got from launching
early will save me from building the wrong thing.

------
dpritchett
I recommend you focus your copy on the type of people you'd expect to buy your
service and not the programmers here at HN that are offended by the boldness
of your claims.

You're contracting a high hourly rate to non-technical would-be founders on
the understanding that they can get to the validation stage after a few hours
of your time without having to line up a co-founder/CTO. This is gold!

Hopefully patio11 will review you - I think this sort of marketing is his
specialty.

I'd also recommend you downplay your fresh-out-of-college status to avoid
scaring off potential customers. Being a bright young 20-something is fine,
but the "MY COLLEGE CAREER" link has a "just fell off the turnip truck" feel
to it.

~~~
notahacker
I agree. First point on the copy is that people that are most likely to
benefit from your services are the people that need someone to explain what a
MVP actually is, and why they want one

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dpritchett
Point of protocol here - submitting your own startup idea for critique on HN
is a respected tradition but the slightly misleading headline reads like a 3rd
party submission.

Most of the ones I see are more like " _Show HN: Rate my new MVP building
service_ ".

~~~
rcavezza
Apologies. The original headline said something to the tune of "I built this
website in less than 2 hours" and I made this change. I don't think I'm
allowed to change it again. Maybe an admin can make this change.

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JangoSteve
I like the idea of using this niche to market your contracting services.
However, I have one small nag. Building an MVP is not simply about cranking
something out as quickly as possible. It's about not wasting time where it's
not needed. But that means if your MVP proves successful, you better be ready
to continue building it. And I'm guessing a lot of people won't want their MVP
to be some 3-hour one-off built in PHP. I hope you have more than that to
offer.

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csomar
Only in 2-3 hours? A small web app takes at least 5 hours (if you consider
design, JavaScript, PHP, Databases).

A startup should have a problem. The solution can take weeks. How are you
going to do about it? Also if the founder is non-techie, you'll need to
install the website yourself and that alone can take 2-3 hours if you are
setting up a dedicated server.

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floozyspeak
this site reeks lame sauce, total poser hopin to snipe some startup noob
traffic, good luck with that, toting the blank man and ries is additional
lameage and to follow up with a web entry form where you say "2-3hrs" time =
mvp, is flat out incorrect..

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syaz1
How is the title relevant? If anything it only makes me want to stay away.

~~~
rcavezza
I thought it was relevant because I built the site in less than 90 minutes. I
could be wrong, ideas for an edit?

~~~
Jun8
90 minutes? What tool(s) did you use? Looks good.

~~~
rcavezza
I tried to build this website in the form of a minimum viable product the same
as I would try to help others implement their idea. Found a free online
template, built a web 2.0 button, tweaked the hell out of the template, and
added a link to a Google Form. This is a true "minimum viable product" that I
would like to create for others.

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rcavezza
If you were me, much would you charge for this service?

~~~
dpritchett
I would peg your fee against the quality of your portfolio.

For a ballpark estimate, try charging an hourly rate pegged at the yearly
salary you want to make divided by 1000. My reasoning behind this is the other
thread suggesting that contractors need 2x an employee's salary to cover for a
lack of benefits balanced against the idea that a standard 40 hours x 52 weeks
work year has 2000 hours.

    
    
      Example:  $50,000 * 2 / 2000 = $50/hr.

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Martin2010
You gotta remember to A/B split test your MVP before reaching P/M fit yo

