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Comment by dotBen | Hacker News Reader

I guess I'm going to sound like a Debbie Downer* but this feels like a great example of when talented software engineers have too small a universe of personally experienced problems, and end up building solutions for things that don't really need to be solved.

Dealing with roommates is no doubt a venerable problem to solve, but is there really a 'market' here that people will pay to address? There are so many lucrative and important issues out there, solving roommate management seems way down the list in terms of building a viable business. I base that last bit on the fact the OP describes this as a "startup" not a project.

I would emplor the OP to get out into the world more and find better problems to solve.

* = I use the term "debbie downer" after the recent HN post about searching for the weird terms people use in their comments. Debbie Downer was one of them.

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I appreciate the feedback! We are still playing with the idea of how viable this is as an actual business. For me this gave me an opportunity to escape from the more standard tasks of freelance development and a chance to implement all the new toys (MongoDB, Backbone, CoffeeScript, Bootstrap, etc.). That being said, I think there are some interesting ways that this could become quite profitable. If not, it's still a great way to put my name to something when applying to incubators on other ideas

I agree there may be no 'market' making money from students who have to live together, but the problem of 'shared ownerships' applies to much more people (even incubators themselves!).

ha ha dotben :). I had the same opinion, but I refrained myself thinking that these might be some students who are pretty excited with their school project or something. Ofcourse I second you, but if this was a way to test twitter bootstrap, or just checkout their own capabilities with web development, then great. As far as market is concerned, I have never felt a need myself, because I never stayed with roomies.

The problem itself may be small but the number of potential users is fairly large. The majority of Americans live with other people. This would probably be more useful for people living with friends rather than for families, but that's still quite a large number of people.

Utility = Size of problem solved * Users

Do you have a good plan for how to get users other than counting on TC and virality?

I'm not sure if I buy that.

If a product or service solves a small problem, what would make users transition from what they're currently using to solve that problem to this new product? There has to be some sort of incentive because inherently, we're all lazy and don't want to go through the entire process of switching existing systems.

Honestly, a simple group messaging app (or even email) + using Billmonk solves most/all of these problems. That's what my three roommates and I are using and there haven't been any complaints. As well, the more roommates, the bigger the need has to be in order to convince everyone to use this new system. The smaller the number of roommates, the even less necessary it is to have a new platform to manage all these affairs.

I think this is a cool weekend project, but would I call this a startup? I don't think so (at least, not by the definition Eric Ries uses in The Lean Startup).

The utility formula is a fact of business.

Utility = Users * Size of Problem, just as Revenue = Volume * Price

Except that utility isn't always measured in pure revenue, as you can have ulterior revenue streams (advertising, selling data, etc.).

Whether or not users make the transition from the status quo to the new product is independent of size of the problem. It's different in each specific case.

I wasn't making a statement as to whether or not this was a good idea or can qualify as a "startup". I was reiterating the true statement that solving small problem for millions can be equivalent in value to solving one single large problem.

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