Ask HN: File a patent startup way?

I would like to file a patent for our product but also we are a busy startup with not enough resources to go to great lengths to filing a patent the right way. So do you have a suggestion to shortcut this process?

Particularly:

- Would it work if we filed it ourselves looking at similar patents?

- Should we patent our finding later when we have a better chance? Maybe we should just do it anyway since it would provide better protection than no protection?

- Any other ideas?