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Comment by ary | Hacker News Reader

A simple maxim that our investors basically demanded of us was: "Sell, design, build". Accepting that approach had two pretty noticeable benefits:

1) We didn't spend a lot of time building something nobody wanted (which is the main theme of this post).

2) We experimented a lot with our product design because we knew we'd be getting feedback quickly and thus could take interesting risks. There was little "analysis paralysis".

Assuming you are your own target customer (in that you would actually pay money for what you're building) I think it can be too easy to conflate what you want to build ("this is fun/interesting") with what you want ("I need this and am willing part with money to get it").

This thread is a great reminder, so thanks.

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How do you sell something without something to show off?

For example, let's say I have an idea for an app. Naturally I would think to design a few mockups, then post it on Twitter, Reddit, etc.

And then if people actually cared enough to sign up for an email list, then build.

So in this case, design -> sell -> build .

1. Go to meet-ups or conferences — not for your own industry, but rather for industries and verticals that you expect to consume your product. (For example, if you're Twilio, then go to an app-dev conference.)

2. Meet people; ask what they do; wait for them to return the favor and ask what you do.

3. Pitch them on the problem you're solving — and how you are (intending to) solve it — by just talking them through it. Pretend it's something you've already built and that you're just describing the company you work for.

4. Gauge interest by who demands your business card.

I think this is where the difference between mockups and fully realized designs comes to the forefront.

Simple mockups can communicate an idea effectively enough to sell the idea. But there’s a large delta between a pitchable mock and a design that is ready to build.

Those early mocks rarely match the later designs in my experience, and I think can be kept under the “sell” umbrella.

This is the answer I would give. We did design work, but not at the fidelity that you would want to actually implement.

I guess more succinctly it would be like

1) Design mockups showing workflow for feasible idea

2) Sell feasible idea

3) Design architecture for feasible idea

4) Build feasible idea

At each new level of these you are asking more and more specific questions about how it would work and are getting "closer to the metal", with the final step being the implementation of EVERY detail (that is known, at least). Also at each step, you discover new things you didn't think to think about, but now must deal with... it's a discovery process.

But this is great because it puts the focus on "gauging interest first" before you spend weeks building anything.

Sell, design, build.

Nice one. Added to https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup

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