

Ask HN: I am unable to start my startup because of its scale - idea_explorer

Hi all,<p>I just created this temp account so I will not be exposed to the public before I wish to.<p>Let me put it as simple as possible. I currently have, what I convinced, and so told by some people I appreciate their opinion, a great idea for a startup. It is so great that I ma sure there are at least few others working on the same thing on their garages somewhere else.<p>It is not just a service, neither application, nor innovative hardware device, it is all three and more. When accompanied by and development platform and strong contracts with major market players this can easily reach the scale of an iPad market and buzz. Seriously!<p>It is certainly too big on me even for the prototype development. I am just a software developer in my everyday life, I can only plan and design part of the software, and perhaps even build a nice prototype myself quite fast.<p>However, there is much more to it. There is the platform which the application would run on, the SDK for 3rd party developers, the hardware, and so many other things. I simply have no idea where to start.<p>Thinking about it over and over there are three ways to go ahead and I have to pick one since time matters. It solves so many problems, and creates so many new opportunities that I have to bring it out before others would.<p>One way is to use standard non expensive (and perhaps far less shiny and integrated) hardware plugged some peripherals and write a quick demo for it.<p>The other option is creating an animation movie which demonstrate the final product as I see it right now. This has some advantages since in the movie I can show the human interaction and some mock-ups of applications.<p>The last, and least preferable way is to start talking to other professionals, software and hardware engineers, finding the right co-founders and building a complete demo.<p>Do investors care anymore about the implementation, or the idea itself can convinced, should I waste my time on building a demo even if I have no intention building it myself but hiring better and smarter for the task.<p>I will appreciate your comments and advices, and want to thank you in advance for the time you are spending reading and answering me.
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Travis
I applaud you for aiming high, and for the confidence you exhibit with your
idea! Best of luck on it.

However, you definitely have a problem with the scale / scope of your product.
As byoung2 points out, there's only 1 ipad, and there's really only one
company in the world that could produce it. So it's not out of the question,
but it will be difficult.

I heartily recommend that you undergo Steve Blank's Customer Development
model. Read his book "4 steps to the epiphany", as well as his blog. His
philosophy is very straight forward, and it will show you the steps that you
need to use to get going on this project.

First, I'd recommend you do some more Customer Discovery/Validation. Don't
believe people who tell you it's a great idea. Go TALK to your customers, ask
them point blank if they would buy it, and for how much. As he states
repeatedly, "no business idea survives first contact with customers." It's
very true. Go talk to them. Get people to sign a piece of paper (non-binding),
saying that if they had your product with features X,Y,Z, at price point $N,
they would purchase one. You will learn a LOT doing this.

Once you know who your customers are, and what they want, you start to develop
your product through an iterative cycle. Build your "minimum viable product",
which is the smallest product that you could sell and still consider it your
product. As a hint, that won't include the SDK or any of the app store type
stuff you discuss above. What is the ONE thing that defines your product?

Then build that one thing. I suggest you read the Paypal story in "Founders At
Work" and learn from their initial demo. In short, Paypal was to be a way to
pay other people by beaming virtual currency through cell phones / PDAs (use
case: split checks at restaurant). They didn't have the cash to actually build
one on a PDA, so they made a little interactive website that would demo the
functionality.

The interesting conclusion is that _so many people actually tried to send
money through the webapp that they realized their entire product was wrong_.
So they pivoted.

To sum, think big but work small. Cut EVERYTHING out that you can. Talk to
your customers. Realize that your original idea probably will need
modifications (pivots) to succeed.

Once you get through all that stuff, you will have a better grasp on the
potential for your idea. If you do Blank's steps well, have a good idea, you
will be in good position to raise money / find partnerships for anything you
want.

It's a long road. Best of luck!

~~~
idea_explorer
Man, these are great advices you have been pointing in here.

Few days ago, I actually tried the concept on two "potential" customers, by
using some hardware peripherals I managed to put together, and a very basic
software, something which is far away in terms of design, quality and user
experience from the final product, and in fact, the two customers simply
didn't want to stop "playing" with the product.

~~~
byoung2
One thing to remember about focus groups (like your 2 potential customers), is
that they will tell you great things about a product, and they'll want to play
with it, but the story changes when you ask them to pull out the credit card.

Take the iPad, for example. When my coworker brought one in, a half-dozen
people crowded around it and marveled, and no one could put it down, but in
the end only one person was willing to pay $500 for it. Make sure that your
potential customers like the product/service enough to pay the price you want
for it.

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vorador
Are you sure of the worth of your idea ? And seriously, people are not out to
get your idea. It's okay to post it here.

~~~
idea_explorer
I was not posting this to have this community evaluating it but to get advise
about how to move forward.

~~~
vorador
But it's hard to give you valuable advice without details about what you want
to build.

> It is not just a service, neither application, nor innovative hardware
> device, it is all three and more. When accompanied by and development
> platform and strong contracts with major market players this can easily
> reach the scale of an iPad market and buzz. Seriously!

Phrases like this make me think you're deluding yourself. It's always good
thing to get a reality check before investing too much in an idea.

------
byoung2
"When accompanied by and development platform and strong contracts with major
market players this can easily reach the scale of an iPad market and buzz"

I would try to be more realistic about it. Even Microsoft or Google sometimes
have trouble building the type of buzz that Apple does. A more practical
approach would be to combine your three suggested approaches:

1\. Make a concept video of your product in daily use. You can recruit film
students in the visual effects department to help with that. 2\. Use the video
to recruit one or two cofounders and apply to YC. 3\. Start working on a
prototype of your hardware, software, service, etc. 4\. Sell it to
Apple/Google/Microsoft and let them worry about creating buzz for it.

~~~
idea_explorer
> I would try to be more realistic about it. Even Microsoft or Google
> sometimes have trouble building the type of buzz that Apple does.

That is quite true. Seems like no one else yet can beat apple at two things UI
and Buzz. That is not meant no one will in the future. Besides, I care more
about market share than buzz.

Making this movie seems like the right thing to do and it is actually what I
am going to do very soon.

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Mankhool
"One way is to use standard non expensive (and perhaps far less shiny and
integrated) hardware plugged some peripherals and write a quick demo for it."
"Few days ago, I actually tried the concept on two "potential" customers, by
using some hardware peripherals I managed to put together, and a very basic
software, something which is far away in terms of design, quality and user
experience from the final product, and in fact, the two customers simply
didn't want to stop "playing" with the product."

You have answered your own question. A minimum viable product. Add to that a
demo of how you envision the final product and how customers interact with it.
Go!

------
brk
Most of the startups I've participated in have been more on the scale of what
you're describing here (FWIW, I like these kinds of challenges more than
something that is "just" software in the cloud, but to each his own).

I'm more of the business-guy than the hacker guy, but I've been known to make
a double-sided PCB layout, toss on and program some PIC chips and create a
server-backend when need-be.

Anyway, if you want to discuss your idea offline/non-public I'd be happy to
offer some free advice (it's worth what you pay for it) and maybe point you in
the right direction or give you some idea as to how to proceed to bring it all
together.

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ig1
Do you have experience in running this sort of project (i.e. for your previous
employers, etc.) - if not you'll have a hard time raising funding just with an
idea. There are a lot of complications from running this type of project, even
when you have someone experienced running the show, so getting funding without
experience is going to be close to impossible.

Although if you have unique value only you can provide (strong relationships
with large potential customers, etc) then you should focus on that and try and
sell that rather than just your idea.

I think the best route is to build a prototype one way or the other (learn the
skills, partner with someone who has them) and you'll have a much better
chance of getting investment.

