Ask HN: How to go about starting an ambitious software startup? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to go about starting an ambitious software startup?

16 pointsaerovistae11 comments

I have an idea for a service which I find rather compelling and am very confident in, centered around multi-platform app family (Spotify-style.)

I'm a developer, but my experience and skillset would not be sufficient for me to begin laying down the architectural foundation for a project this ambitious on my own, nor do I have any software-talented friends who would be able to do so as co-founders.

I would like to apply to Y-Com this winter, but I'm not sure how to proceed. How do you get investors with no product and no customers? You can't customers without a product and you can't get a product without the people with the skills to build it, who you can't hire without money. I'm uncertain where the entrance to this vicious circle is!

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The entrance to the vicious circle is the product. If you are interested in talking with investors you will need to produce a successful product. This implies two things; you've successfully built the product, and you've successfully gained traction. There are some great products/businesses out there that were started and/or built by a solo founder. But the majority of them were started by teams of people. So if you are in a situation where you feel you don't have the skill-set to execute, then you either need to increase your skill-set (wear multiple hats), or build a team of co-founders. Regardless of how you go about it, one fact remains; you must build! My advice would be to start building the product now (to whatever capacity possible). Not only will you learn more about the product as you build it, you'll have something to present if you decide to find co-founders. Another reason to build as soon as possible; Often times you'll find that what you've envisioned as the product will change over time as you learn from your customer. The sooner you start that learning process, the better. Good luck!

You're a developer but you can't even attempt anything without VC? Sorry but the answer's either get a job doing something else, or some self-esteem and cracking open your IDE and starting.

Don't let the internet fool you. There is no one that's going to help you. Unless you already know how to get help (for example: you have friends in high places) just throw that idea out entirely. YC accepts only 3% of applicants, somewhat arbitrarily. Don't bank on that.

The good new is you don't need help. You're a programmer. So start by creating something that people find valuable. Even a few people, as long as they really love it. There's no excuse for not being able to do this. You could do it in 10 hours a week. If you don't know how to do this then you have to learn by trying. Money hurts as much as helps here. You really need to be able to make things without outside help.

Learn what you need to lay down an architectural foundation. Hell, before that, start doing what you can. Break your idea down into the smallest essential parts, and figure out what you can make with your current knowledge. Make those things, THEN learn how to make the things you can't.

Maybe realize applying to YC this winter is a slightly unrealistic goal and set a realistic one, like next winter. Or don't worry about any sort of VC until you have something to show them. Seriously. They NEED to see a product, and they need to see that it can make an impact. If you approached them this winter with just an idea, your pitch would be instantly forgotten. Ideas are a dime a dozen, products are worth so much more.

I think part of the "make what you can" bit is to forget about a good architectural foundation and just build something almost sort of barely works. This probably goes against your instincts (it certainly does go against mine). And yes, you might run into trouble because of bad design decisions made early on. But there's not going to be a later unless you get something started :)

> They NEED to see a product, and they need to see that it can make an impact. If you approached them this winter with just an idea, your pitch would be instantly forgotten. Ideas are a dime a dozen, products are worth so much more.

By "they" do you mean YC? By my understanding, YC really gives emphasis to investing in the founders, not the idea, and they fully embrace the fact that the idea will evolve and may be completely different by the end of the program. For instance, Codecademy only came up with their idea a few weeks before Demo Day.

With that in mind, there's no reason not to apply to YC this winter. Best case, he gets in. Worst case, he doesn't and he learned more about his startup by really thinking about the application questions.

Yes, these are excellent points. They emphasize very strongly that they will even accept teams with no idea, so I believe ModernMech is very much in the right on this one. But I understand the original point as well.

I think you should worry about the product, then the customers before you even consider investors. With that attitude it seems more like you're trying to make some easy money on your idea rather than just building it and seeing what happens.

Try building it, maybe it will be easier than you think?

Having a (great) idea is nothing unique.

A lot of people have (a lot of) (great) ideas.

Putting them into practice requires some things, which you seem to heavily lack (as you describe).

The entrance is a lot of hard work (you don't seem to be a guy for that)

If you can't build it, then you can't build it. I don't think you can expect people smarter than you to do the work for you and still let you take all the benefits.

(unless you can pay a decent wage of course)

Just remember, "Make something people want."

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