Made a cool prototype, but hit a dead-end | Hacker News Reader

Made a cool prototype, but hit a dead-end

4 pointsiliketosleep6 comments

hey people. need some advice here. lets say i've written a really cool app. the idea is not original, but the way it has been implemented is different and gives it a definite edge, both from a usability and business perspective. the core of the app is all done and there's a functional prototype. but it's definitely not polished. i'd say that it's 80% there. but i am a geek, i'm not a marketing guy and i'm not into business networking as i don't have the personality for it. so now i feel like i'm at a dead-end. any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks a lot.

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I agree with sdurkin's comment - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1582087

Let me add this - I'll bet you're a lot less than 80% of the way. When you get non-technical people to use your app you'll find that they don't understand, they do things you don't understand, and you'll end up in despair thinking "Why are people so stupid?!? Then you'll have to redesign the way it works so they don't di the stupid things, and then you'll realise that what they did made much more sense, so you should make it work differently anyway.

Realise now that this is the case and you can throw yourself into the work with enthusiasm, rather than despairing at the stupidity of "damn users". It's users you need, and they are (almost) always (nearly) right.

indeed, usability is an art!

Depending on what app you're building, I would just go out there, get the interest of just a few fairly interested users (like 5 to 10), and hear what they have to say, before proceeding with the remaining "20%" of development work.

Is it a B2B or B2C app?

B2B. you're right. there's a very high chance that i'd getting it wrong without the appropriate level of feedback from the target market. i'm not good at approaching corporates, which is why i haven't done this.

Post a demo, and see if you can partner up with someone who completes your skillset.

thanks for the reply. i hadn't even made a demo, which shows how dumb i am in this regard. anyway, i'll start making a demo now :)

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