What do I do with a good idea? | Hacker News Reader

What do I do with a good idea?

4 pointseglover19 comments

I have an idea that takes a new approach to teaching programming and development online. I've never seen anything anywhere similar to it (and I do know of a lot of these sites http://goo.gl/W0UQNq )

I've been sitting on this idea for over a year now and occasionally add a few notes to my overall vision.

I've built two websites, but nothing to the dynamic level that I'm thinking of. This would be something that would require a few people working together even at its basic level. I once tried to outsource getting something in place, but my $5,000 budget was outbidded. (I now have a $7,000 budget but I don't think that's big enough.)

What I'd like to know from HN is how I can find either people willing to help with this, where to find investors or anything that could help me get started.

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I believe 7k is good enough money to put together a MVP if you know little bit of programming. Or talk to a programmer and convince him to work on this project on a 50% partnership along with 5k monetary compensation. I believe if you contact few programmers and clearly express your idea and where will it go in long term then somebody is going to help you. At least to build a MVP which you can test to see if it has any potential to go anywhere.

Do you know of a good source to seek people? I'm skeptical of most freelance sites because they're generalized and used by a lot of people who just want to "make money online".

If you were seeking a programmer, where would you go to?

Yes there are good programmers in those freelance sites. You need to find the needle in those haystacks.

1. Post a project on Elance or Guru or other freelance sites where you specifically ask them for their Github and stackoverflow profile. I believe every good programmers do not maintain regular Github profile. But most of them do and from their Github profile you can have an idea on quality of code they can deliver.

I found a programmer from Russia who had a very high reputation score on Stackoverflow and arguable he came out as a proficient one. But convincing a programmer to work on your project is another challenge. They have enough projects under their belt. So your projects need to challenge/thrill them to work on. Else they will not stick for long.

Have you validated your idea by asking your peers if they would be willing to pay for your service?

This would be my first step before committing several thousands of dollars to an idea.

Good point. I've validated it with two professors who think it's worth pursuing (which also led to a couple lengthy discussions on educational theory).

How will your service be funded?

Without wanting to put you off, most people will say that its a good idea if the service is free. It's a different story if they have to pay for it.

Are the professors your target market? If not, find your target market and validate with them.

Its so important that you validate the idea before spending all your time, energy and money on it.

Good luck with this, sounds like you're passionate which is a great start.

In one word, freemium. I think there are some things worth paying for and others not. The first things I want to implement are the things that would require payment.

And you're right about finding a target market, the initial target would be others which I'll have to talk to.

Hack together an MVP, share it, iterate iterate iterate, who knows ...

I'm curious, what is your take and how does it differ from everyone else?

I'm not a fan of any sites that teach programming. They're too passive, don't take things seriously, or are meant for children (like the Head First series).

I'm not absolutely opposed to dumping all the unique features of what I've got so far on the interwebs, but not just yet.

The biggest feature that the company I was bidding for liked is a way of submitting programs and finding if they're correct or not (grading).

I've implemented a few thoughts from Salman Khan's book. The plans cover a much larger demographic and the site can be easily used for a lifetime rather than to just get a start.

But that's all I'll say for now. :p

I agree with the advice of validating your idea by asking the target users if they would be willing to pay for the service.

Maybe start making a prototype (Balsamiq/Prototype of Paper rather than code based).

As to keep it hush-hush:

"An idea for a startup, however, is only a beginning. A lot of would-be startup founders think the key to the whole process is the initial idea, and from that point all you have to do is execute. Venture capitalists know better. If you go to VC firms with a brilliant idea that you'll tell them about if they sign a nondisclosure agreement, most will tell you to get lost. That shows how much a mere idea is worth. The market price is less than the inconvenience of signing an NDA."

http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html

Just start. Good luck!

While quotes are sometimes nice, there are a few assumptions you've made that don't match this post at all.

1. I have extensive plans on paper to include visual design.

2. I have a little bit of code and I'm working project by project to get to the level required to build this site. (The whole reason for me building the other two from scratch.)

3. Again, hush-hush isn't the issue. But throwing everything out every time I ask a question? That's not good. I'm not pitching, I'm asking for general advice. (When I bid for a design company they had the full plans with no disclosure agreements and I did that knowing the people I was competing with were doing a similar style site. I don't believe in IP, but I do believe in common sense.)

I thank you for your response though.

Personally, I think you took his comment the wrong way & it's actually one of the most accurate comments on here.

So you have some designs on paper, great! Show these designs to anyone, everyone & gauge their interest. Remember, what a user says is very different to what a user does. Just because they say they WOULD sign up for something, doesn't mean they WILL sign up for something. Friends, family (& professors) are likely to be biased out of love, widen your reach.

I wouldn't code anything until you have done the above. The PG quote is basically reaffirming that your idea is worthless right now. Millions of developers are out there with ideas. Thousands are even out there with an MVP. Get user feedback from day one & make sure you're idea is actually worth something (& remember that 90% of good ideas aren't).

I haven't made any claims to worth.

In the same way that I asked someone to send an e-mail via my website instead of simply posting my e-mail, I've no interest in the passively curious. I'm not cautious in talking about the project, but I am cautious in blabbering off to anyone who doesn't care or just wants to look at something shiny.

This is something that comes up in conversation with friends often. The question here is where can I go to find help. Not how do I validate the idea. That's taken care of.

I think clarifying the question is helpful. "How do I find investors?" "How to I make the best experience possible with only $7,000?" "How do I not get outbid when outsourcing a project?" "Who wants to help me code on this project?" "How do I develop the skills to build my project?" or "What resources can help me get started?"

Find your niche and own it. This means you have to clearly communicate how your service is the better learning-to-code-online choice than free resources like Codecademy and paid ones like Code School and Treehouse. Active and serious could be it. Find the niche that finds the alternatives too passive and frivolous and start monopolizing them.

Then make it.

Build something- a prototype or a sliver of your service that shows a snippet of the experience. Show the superior grading, or something- anything- so people enjoy their experience. Give them a magic moment or two. They'll notice. Even if it's just one aspect of one language. You don't need to release everything at once.

You asked "how I can find either people willing to help with this, where to find investors..." Sell it well! Make it sound appealing. Why not communicate the enticing elevator pitch to attract interested parties here on HN as well as on elance, GitHub, at your local hacker space, in irc? Most people don't want an essay, just the essence in a sentence, maybe two, at the appropriate moment.

You're always pitching. Give people a reason to want to buy whatever you're selling.

>Head First series

Whilst the Head First series definitely has a childish tone the content provides a solid foundation for the various subjects in the series.

Head First Design Patterns is hands down the most approachable book. It makes the GoF look like a Latin textbook.

I think if you're older than 12 there are an infinite amount of better options that teach a LOT more than any Head First book.

I didn't understand programming concepts until I got out of the usual "type this in and the console does this!" nonsense and got into understanding how these things work in the context of real world work.

What is your e-mail? Let's chat.

Would you mind going to http://www.ethanglover.biz/ and clicking the "E-mail Me" button at the bottom left? I trust HN users, but I think it's bad practice posting my e-mail address on a public forum. :)

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