Ask HN: no co-founder, no business plan, no funding?
I am a busy guy, 4 kids, full time job and a wife. I am near completion of a project that I think will do well, fixes a problem I have had as a developer several times... But have no partner, formal business plan or funding... Should I release it anyhow or am I doomed?
24 comments
Here is your answer:
I am near completion of a project that I think will do well, fixes a problem I have had as a developer several times
If you've worked on the project at least give it a shot!
I'm guessing this is that little slump of confidence just before completion; don't let it put you off. I've been there a few times and if you power through you'll start to reach a real high which peaks on "launch day"
There is no requirement to have a co-founder for things to work, "formal" business plans could well hinder you (in my experience anyway). As to funding... can you bootstrap? What are your costs likely to be?
As to the potential success of your project; add some details here and we might be able to comment on that :)
EDIT: wuh, huh? would the downvoter care to comment (so I can improve my response)? :)
I am near completion of a project that I think will do well, fixes a problem I have had as a developer several times
If you've worked on the project at least give it a shot!
I'm guessing this is that little slump of confidence just before completion; don't let it put you off. I've been there a few times and if you power through you'll start to reach a real high which peaks on "launch day"
There is no requirement to have a co-founder for things to work, "formal" business plans could well hinder you (in my experience anyway). As to funding... can you bootstrap? What are your costs likely to be?
As to the potential success of your project; add some details here and we might be able to comment on that :)
EDIT: wuh, huh? would the downvoter care to comment (so I can improve my response)? :)
Well, it would cost me about $200.00 a month for dedicated hosting, I've looked into VPS/Shared and even non VPS/Dedicated, but found that for the quality of service I need to provide, as well the space requirements, and memory requirements are a lot higher than a VPS would provide.
On top of that, I want to do a couple advertisement campaigns on Google, as what I am providing surprisingly doesn't have a lot of adwords competitors, however the google tools show that its a highly searched service.
It will require a dedicated server to start, and $30 - $100 per month advertising. Subscriptions will likely be about $14.99/month though, I have been contemplating $9.99 as its more pleasing to my eyes.
On top of that, I want to do a couple advertisement campaigns on Google, as what I am providing surprisingly doesn't have a lot of adwords competitors, however the google tools show that its a highly searched service.
It will require a dedicated server to start, and $30 - $100 per month advertising. Subscriptions will likely be about $14.99/month though, I have been contemplating $9.99 as its more pleasing to my eyes.
Release but spend your money only on a < $100 per month VPS and skip the adwords. The initial launch is just about evaluating your idea. If you post on HN and a few other locations where there are a lot of developers, hopefully you can get a few takers. Then once you have money coming in and your idea is validated, you can take the plunge and invest in a dedicated server and spend some money on adwords.
A VPS may not support very many customers, but you can always migrate once you have a few and some money to help offset the cost.
As for Adwords, that's a whole different can of worms. I've heard stories of people throwing thousands of dollars down the drain, either because their idea wasn't validated or because they their site wasn't optimized for conversions or they didn't know how to select the right keywords, etc. There are lots of ways to do free advertising and let you hone your product and marketing message BEFORE you spend a time on paid traffic.
I recommend listening to the "Startups for the Rest of Us" podcast (all of the episodes).
A VPS may not support very many customers, but you can always migrate once you have a few and some money to help offset the cost.
As for Adwords, that's a whole different can of worms. I've heard stories of people throwing thousands of dollars down the drain, either because their idea wasn't validated or because they their site wasn't optimized for conversions or they didn't know how to select the right keywords, etc. There are lots of ways to do free advertising and let you hone your product and marketing message BEFORE you spend a time on paid traffic.
I recommend listening to the "Startups for the Rest of Us" podcast (all of the episodes).
So: your costs for the first year will be $2760-3600. That shouldn't be hard to raise.
Here's what you do: put up a web site describing the product, giving a demo, etc. Make a sign-up button (with the $9.99 price), but when people click on that, give them a message that sign-ups are currently unavailable, and take their email address to notify them when they are.
Now, spend a small amount (<$25) on Adwords. See how much you have to pay for the relevant keywords, and what your conversion rate is (considering clicks on the "sign up" button as a conversion.)
This will allow you to verify that a) there is a market for your product, b) you're able to reach this market via Adwords, and c) your pitch is compelling enough to convert.
Armed with this information, it should be easy to raise a few thousand bucks. In fact, e-mail me the results, and we can talk.
Here's what you do: put up a web site describing the product, giving a demo, etc. Make a sign-up button (with the $9.99 price), but when people click on that, give them a message that sign-ups are currently unavailable, and take their email address to notify them when they are.
Now, spend a small amount (<$25) on Adwords. See how much you have to pay for the relevant keywords, and what your conversion rate is (considering clicks on the "sign up" button as a conversion.)
This will allow you to verify that a) there is a market for your product, b) you're able to reach this market via Adwords, and c) your pitch is compelling enough to convert.
Armed with this information, it should be easy to raise a few thousand bucks. In fact, e-mail me the results, and we can talk.
Send your email address to mikecurry74 at gmail dot com
As a single developer and founder, I find this perspective difficult to wrap my mind around. You have a wife and several children and a job but can't find a few hundred dollars to launch your own business? And so you want to GIVE UP equity in something that has taken you a lot of time for next-to-nothing in funding?
Slap yourself right now. Hard.
Your prototype is basically done -- now you have the hard work of making it useful for other people and figuring out how to get a positive return-on-advertising. It's silly to give up any stake in your business at this point for someone willing to toss in petty cash. And it will take FAR more of your time to even try to attract the investment. And if you can't deal with this sort of small problem on your own, why should anyone trust you to give them a return on their investment anyway?
Slap yourself right now. Hard.
Your prototype is basically done -- now you have the hard work of making it useful for other people and figuring out how to get a positive return-on-advertising. It's silly to give up any stake in your business at this point for someone willing to toss in petty cash. And it will take FAR more of your time to even try to attract the investment. And if you can't deal with this sort of small problem on your own, why should anyone trust you to give them a return on their investment anyway?
That amount of funding should not be hard to come by. Several people on HN, in fact, fund projects of that sort of size (< $10K). If the worst comes to the worst soft launch, blog about your needs and then see what comes :)
(my gut instinct is you could probably get by on cloud hosting that is a lot cheaper - and which scales with demand - at least initially; but you know your product)
The key takeaway: none of these are unsolvable problems. Startups have come to the market on shakier grounds and succeed.
(my gut instinct is you could probably get by on cloud hosting that is a lot cheaper - and which scales with demand - at least initially; but you know your product)
The key takeaway: none of these are unsolvable problems. Startups have come to the market on shakier grounds and succeed.
Have you looked at Rackspace.com? It costs $11 a month for a cloud linux server:
http://www.rackspacecloud.com/cloud_hosting_products/servers
Then, as your customers grow, you can crank up the specs (and cost) of your server. It also comes with root access, which is one of the main reasons people need a dedicated box.
Then, as your customers grow, you can crank up the specs (and cost) of your server. It also comes with root access, which is one of the main reasons people need a dedicated box.
You may be overestimating hosting cost. Go with AWS, 75$/month dedicated server.
Why not go for Prgmr or Linode or Slicehost? I don't know what kind of specs he needs, but my 256 meg VPS from Prgmr runs $8/month.
There's a difference between what you want and what you need. Launch softly on a VPS, and hold off on the adwords for a bit.
I'm very skeptical that you need a piece of hardware; VPS' can be ordered up to almost any spec, nowadays.
I'm very skeptical that you need a piece of hardware; VPS' can be ordered up to almost any spec, nowadays.
What would you change about your business if you had those things? Specifically. Release, then figure how to get those minigoals under your constraints.
If the answer is just "Execute", well, go execute then.
If the answer is just "Execute", well, go execute then.
Definitely release it. The only way you're guaranteed to fail is by not doing anything at all.
Do a limited (closed) beta, and test your hypothesis, which at this point currently goes something like: "This will be useful for other programmers and they would pay for it." So get some other programmers, privately, ask them to use it. See if they will. If nobody uses it, not even free, it's not useful. Once you have 5 people using it, invite more people and ask them to pay 10$/month. If nobody wants to pay for it, look harder, invite more people. If you do find some people, NOW you've got something.
Now finish and polish the product and release.
Now finish and polish the product and release.
GO FOR IT!
1. Plans are for investors, to keep teams on track, or documenting wild guesses. You're not taking on investors, you're flying solo, and you don't need to document your guesses (yet).
2. Founders are great for analog load balancing and as a support system. If your wife is supportive, keep moving. If she's not supportive enough, start a local HN meetup or tap into other existing groups.
3. I can only imagine trying to budget with 4 kids that $200/mo might be hard to come by. Plead your case on kickstarter, and be sure to tell HN.
In conclusion, GO FOR IT!
1. Plans are for investors, to keep teams on track, or documenting wild guesses. You're not taking on investors, you're flying solo, and you don't need to document your guesses (yet).
2. Founders are great for analog load balancing and as a support system. If your wife is supportive, keep moving. If she's not supportive enough, start a local HN meetup or tap into other existing groups.
3. I can only imagine trying to budget with 4 kids that $200/mo might be hard to come by. Plead your case on kickstarter, and be sure to tell HN.
In conclusion, GO FOR IT!
You are in an ideal position. A co-founder, business plan, or investor will distract you from finishing your project or will interfere with your vision. Finish the product and release it. Once you start making revenue look into building a formal business.
tl;dr First you build a product, then you build a business.
tl;dr First you build a product, then you build a business.
I am a busy guy with 5 kids, full time job and a wife but would still be very interested in helping out. That is if the business is interesting of course. I have experience with scaling on the cheap, technical development, etc. Contact is in my profile.
Checkout venturehacks' interview with Sean Ellis.
The site seems to be down so I can't link it.
It should be one of the popular posts called "how to bring a product to market".
there are always two sides of the story. You spent a lot of time on that, this is your idea and your fifth kid. So you are scared that it will be stolen away from you.
However one you will pass this fear, and slowly show it to the world, you will face another kind of problem - how to promote your solution and do a PR noise. So you will spend enormous time promoting, publishing talking about the product.
You have nothing to loose.
However one you will pass this fear, and slowly show it to the world, you will face another kind of problem - how to promote your solution and do a PR noise. So you will spend enormous time promoting, publishing talking about the product.
You have nothing to loose.
Yes release, but I think you should spend some time and learn how to make a PowerPoint pitch deck. Then spend some more time and make one.
Do you have passion for it?
you are only doomed if you don't release it.
go for it.
you can get a dedicated server via amazon ec2 for less than $200/month to get started.
go for it!
go for it.
you can get a dedicated server via amazon ec2 for less than $200/month to get started.
go for it!
If your project is near completion, you should release it, you may encounter a partner on the way. A cofounder if not a requirement, confronting your ideas to others IS.
Beyond that, releasing is only half of the job, you'll then have to get some people use it, then pay for it (if not free ).
Beyond that, releasing is only half of the job, you'll then have to get some people use it, then pay for it (if not free ).
Thinking you're doomed is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Why don't you release it and see what happens?