Small town, big ideas, no one to talk to

My background is somewhat similar to yours. I'm from a small(ish) Canadian town as well (Whistler, BC). I've always had big ideas, didn't know how to get them out there.

I was fortunate that I had been working back and forth in LA, and was exposed to some people and expertise, but for my first start-up, I was in Whislter, teaching myself how to code, no other programmers locally, no tech community etc etc. I think in some ways it can be a benefit more than a hindrance. You get to focus on your idea and just get it done.

I've spent a lot of time in the Valley, as well as other start-up hubs, and I can tell you, a lot of the people in these places are just full of talk, a lot of it is just a bubble and echo chamber.

On the flip side, it's great to have a sounding board of knowledgeable people, that's what's so great about getting feedback from HN.

However, if you look where you are, you've probably got better access than you think. You don't have to run all the way to California, Montreal, Boston and NYC all have great tech communities, and you don't have to move there. Find interesting meetups that are around the area you're idea is, and go for a night or two (assuming you can get the time off work). If your market is as large as you think, you might even find something in Halifax.

The Valley is cool and all, but I was very surprised the last time I went to the HTML5 conference, most of the people there where actually quite behind on the technology stack/experience compared to the people I work with in Sydney, Australia.

One thing to consider, when you think about the faraway magical land of Silicon Valley, though the valley has a large number of unique technologies and businesses, most people are still working on your basic I/O type apps.

This, absolutely agree. I am from an extremely small town in northern-coastal Maine that very often felt like an episode of "Trailer Park Boys". California was always a magical and far off land, and I ended up here mostly by accident. I don't think I'm as experienced as pedalpete (I've only worked in Southern California), but I can relate to the "from a small town, moved to California" thing.

I've worked for three startups, a mid sized company, and a large corporation, as well as have done a little freelance work. I'm currently starting my own .com company with one other person. I've attended events within the startup community, hacker community, and as events typically thought of as "corporatey".

Much of the startup community is, as pedalpete said, an echo chamber. However, there are great people and I'm very grateful to have such close contact with them and even call some of them personal friends.

I don't know the specifics of your situation, but based on reflection of my own background, you probably are in a better position than you realize.

Macu, if you're interested in setting up a skype or hangout call some time I'd be more than happy to be a sounding board for some of your questions in more detail. Even if I can't bring solid advice to the table, I'd be more than happy to tell you where I've made mistakes.

Ignore your co-workers. Don't wait. Just get started.

Waiting kills startups.

Put up a landing page, build 1.0, start figuring out if anyone would really buy your product/service. If you can't get anyone to bite, maybe the idea isn't ready. If you get any traction then you know the market is there.

Living in "small town" NS has some advantages. You probably have a decent internet connection and your current paycheque goes a LOT further than it would in the big city. If you decide to quit your job and dive into your startup full time you'll have a longer runway.

You are NOT alone. You ARE part of the world. You can make connections HERE (you've already started) or reddit or just about any other place where other people in the same situation as you hang out.

I agree with this. I built a free landing page on unbounce built an adwords ad. Just to see if anyone would click the get started button. Ran the add for 3 days, cost was like $50 all in. Then added a free lead page with wuffoo. for people to sign up. still risky but you know people will bite then.

...and? Don't leave us hanging, what happened?

I am in Silicon Valley and Silicon Valley won't help you much. What does help is talking to anyone who is your target customer...unless the early adopter Silicon Valley crowd is your target market.

Find where your target customer hangs out, maybe forums, blogs etc and approach them there. Start blogging about your idea and people will be able to find you easier. You'd be surprised what kind of opportunities may come your way if you just start putting your thoughts out there.

You don't need to wait for permission to build this thing.

Start now.

Building a product and marketing it are two completely different things. Most of your concerns are connected to the marketing aspect (no connections etc) but there doesn't seem to be anything stopping your from building it?

If you build this thing and it is a flop then you still come out with a few wins: you show yourself to be someone capable of building a complete/ussable system and you have something to put onto your CV. You'll also probably learn a bunch of new things and come out a better developer.

Once you've built a proof of concept/MVP then you are in a better position to attract some people: showing your work to people is going to get more interest than "I've got this idea but I've done nothing with it" will.

Sales and marketing are a whole different ballgame and are fricking hard but I don't think you need to worry about those yet. Build the thing first, then worry. You have nothing to lose from building it and everything to gain.

"Would you focus on networking and save your ideas until you felt like you were part of the world? Would you focus on saving money, and plan to move and get a foothold in California? Would you ask for time off work and develop a prototype in private?"

None of those, I would build the prototype in my spare time, the safest option as you still have your status quo if the product does not take off. The Web gives us freedom to start companies for next to no money from anywhere in the world, the fact you are not in Silicon Valley does not hold you back at all.

Stop looking for excuses and getting to work!

Good luck.

Spot on. I'll keep working with this attitude, that any outcome will be positive, and work toward MVP while most other concerns can wait. This brought me back to thinking clearly.

Beware of letting your excitement about your idea work against you.

Your marketing effort should start BEFORE the product gets built. If you start with the product, you run the risk of building something that almost nobody needs.

It's that "almost" that will get you.

You can build just about anything and find people who think it's great. The feedback from this group of early adopters will be infectious but it may not be a market.

The trick is to find something that a lot of people think is great, that's a market and you can build a company on that.

http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/resources/stop-perfuming-t...

"Your marketing effort should start BEFORE the product gets built" is in contrast to others' comments (like "use your spare time to build") but I think you may be right. There is certainly risk, and the likelihood that enough people will be interested (and have the time) is difficult to assess. That's exactly why I need to start discussing the idea with people who know better than I do. Marketing is a completely new challenge to me. I'll have to think about this further, but for now my primary concern is to finish the design documents, at which point I'll have something tangible to offer up for feedback. Thanks for keeping the mammoth task of marketing on my radar.

I would try to launch the first version of the product on your free time and take it from there. Take a week of holiday to work full time on it, maybe on a quiet week at work with a holiday on on the middle of the week.

With one week full time, you will probably give it a huge boost. This is the least risk path.

If your employer is open to unpaid leave, take one month without pay. That goes in a flash at work and its easier to sell to management.

With one month of solid work full time on it, you would give it even a further boost, then take it from there depending on the reaction.

You mention you are a junior developer. You should likely try to become a freelance with your own company as soon as possible, that would give some funds, equipment and a company. I don't know if that is feasible in your local market or somewhere near.

Have you ever attended a conference? I live in a small town in Alaska, and I don't know anyone else in my town who writes code. I started attending Pycon, and it opened up a world of connections for me. Pycon is in Montreal again in April, if you're interested in Python at all.

One thing to consider is you can't just move to the US. You need a proper visa, which as a Canadian means either a TN or H1B most likely. So you'd need to get a job first, and you'd need the proper experience or degree qualifications for that visa. Unless your business was already successful and qualified under another type of visa.

If you're okay with moving, consider moving to Montreal or Toronto.

Why not just build the first iteration of the product in your spare time and see where that takes you first?

How far are you from Halifax? I seem to remember hearing about at least a startup coworking space there. It would at a minimum give you an opportunity to meet some like minded people.

When I think about it, I'm pretty blown away by how much is going on here in Saskatoon. When I first moved here, there was a lot of biggish companies but not much of a startup scene, but it's really grown in the last 10 years.

Around 100km. I might move there next spring after fulfilling my current lease. It should offer more chances to meet like-minded people anyway. Small cities can be surprising.

> don't have any professional connections, and don't know who to talk to...

Search HN posts, news stories, blog posts, and Linkedin for potentially interesting contacts working in and around your space. Reach out to them on a professional networking basis. You'll be surprised how many folks will be receptive to your call/email.

Use the free time and isolation to build.

Off topic: It may be a good idea to prepend an "Ask HN:" to the title to get more visibility.

There are any number of people who have shown that by leveraging the Internet, they can build and launch almost anywhere. Build on-line relationships, leverage on-line communities and see what you can accomplish. Then, if it still doesn't work out, move.