Ask HN: Would you consider hiring an MVP agency to build your MVP? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Would you consider hiring an MVP agency to build your MVP?

8 pointsJohanCutych7 comments

Hello, to be completely honest this post is for research.

We are product builders by heart. Over the last 7 years, we've built many MVPs of our own products and some for others as well.

With our latest product/startup, we built an amazing MVP and started talking to investors with the idea of raising. But it didn’t feel right. It wasn't what we wanted to do. We realized we enjoy being in the early phase of the product (prototype/MVP) instead of building a big startup that is destined to become a unicorn.

That's why we want to help others build and grow their own business by being a small & specialised product team dedicated to delivering only prototypes and MVPs. The idea is to offer a 3-week sprint dedicated to building an MVP with clear and measurable results - exactly as we do for our own products.

Where I see the value: - So non-technical founders or founders who are yet to build their tech team are able to validate their idea and raise seed capital - To help scaling startups stay innovative and exceptional even under the pressure that comes from focusing on the core problem. By building a satellite product or validating new vertical / problem space. - So companies whose core IP isn't tech / digital can keep up with the digital innovation in the correct way. To validate their idea of solution to specific problem by quickly building MVP / prototype and not spending millions on agency work that might not have any impact.

I am curious - Did you ever consider hiring an external team to build your MVP? If so, at what stage? If not, why?

I'd be more than grateful to hear your insight or any idea you might have.

Thank you! :)

i need a few built bc I don't have the bandwidth.

Only thing holding me back is app/idea stealth and competition. What would hold your group back from implementing same and deploy in countries I can't touch? Of course, inevitable if it's worth while, copycats everywhere. So my main concern is stealth and competition since easier for you to move on it.

What's the clause / non-compete agreement?

What's the ballpark $ a complete E2E from provided wireframe? I also provide the UX/UI/graphics etc. Let's say Instagram equal. as PWA/Vuejs w some sort of auth/db? Another MVP may be Unity3D again, provide all assets. Both to live on say.. GCE vm.

Thanks for jumping in and great points!

First of all this is a code of gentlemen's agreement, so if agreed that we won't compete / won't use the IP gained by working on the project we just don't do that.

But still it's better to have this black on white and signed, thus yeah - a proper agreement -, agreed by both parties on terms that make sense in given situation.

Few empirical points why this would not be a good idea in general. - you own the IP, and it's not transferable. We built many businesses only to find out that we would need to spend like 10 years in the vertical to really become experts enough to build truly successful products the way we want. - scamming client like this would kill the mission we are on and undermine our trust - not worth it at all - if this was our mindset we might as well took the huge investment we got offered by lying that we truly believe in what we do and then just not deliver what's promised

About the price, that really depends. But we aim for 3 weeks sprints in which everything from assessment to delivery and distribution should happen with properly set goals that are measurable so the MVP can start the proper product life cycle. So the range is somewhere between $15-80k depending on resources that are going to be spent on the project.

I don't want to sell here as this is really just for research, but if you are interested in it, hit me at johan@getwelder.com I will be more than happy to chat with you about your MVPs.

Do you have past projects you completed that you can show please?

For sure.

Our main products https://www.getwelder.com/ https://www.sponseasy.com/

Our tiny products https://www.lastmile.studio/ https://www.getvideocandy.com/ https://app.sponspack.com/ https://www.getwazabi.com/

Client works - MVP sprints (unfortunately not all of them are public ATM) - https://www.antistud.io/ (we helped them shape the concept + build LP + lead automation) - https://anticafe.9roads.red/ (WIP) (a community dashboard for co-working spaces so people can meet, also stay in touch when spaces are closed due to covid. We delivered the whole solution) - And few more things I can't share as they are not public

Thank you for the reply. Yes, question was more rhetorical in nature and exhibiting my anxiety towards idea dissemination. I guess one of the reason why I never got further from capitulating from copycats who will do it faster, and better.

I suspect like most, your teams are overseas ie Romania/Spain etc. Lots good talent, focused so hinders my willingness to try something that isn't out there yet only to be overrun by talents who can crank it out in a day.

Like all indies, I do not have team/business currently to administrate/PR this to public mind's eye. Not to mention that in itself will be more time consuming than coding it.

Let me chew on this and see if there may be a small prj. How are you on pwa/vue? and unity?

Can you tell me more about your team? members, skillsets, knowledge expertise?

hum.. just tried loading your sites and it crashed Brave....never seen anything crash any of my browsers ;)

What is your stance on collaboration based on equity? Some I may pay others, thinking of equity instead. What are your thoughts?

I’ll sell you an Instagram-esque Vue.js PWA MVP that’s already built - https://postdish.com.

I’ll even re-theme it to match your designs or liking, and also willing to expand on some functionality for the right price. Take a look and let me know if you’d like to chat! Thanks.

thx for the offer.

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