How to validate a software idea/company?
Hi,
I am thinking to write a new distributed job queue system for c++/rust. The idea is to use a freemium model with some enterprise features available only for paying users. In addition, I would like to do consultancy and custom set up.
My main problem is that I am not really sure how to validate this project. First of all, I am struggling to understand if this is crowded market. Secondly, there are example of successful similar business, such as sidekick in ruby, how do I prove that company would be willing to pay for my software?
Thanks
Just do it! If your software is better than what is currently available in the market and works out, great! If it doesn't work out, fine! you still get to learn a lot from that.
Good luck.
First: I think there is definitely room in the market for this. Many companies are still essentially rolling their own, so a simple and reasonably secure implementation could go a long way if you can find your market fit.
Second: I'm no expert, but having implemented essentially this at my current day job (different language and an amalgam of tools), I would anticipate considerable work. Not impossible but definitely work.
Does this help solve a personal pain point in your current position? If so, I'd call it a pretty safe bet to build on the side. Then at least you could be sure to solve your own problem, and even if you can't find a way to market it, open sourcing that could do a lot to build image and reach for the next project.
Very interested to see where this goes.
I'm not an expert in that field, but the only simplest and straightforward approach which comes to my mind is to validate it on practice.
Consider how much time it will take for you to build the simplest and dirty MVP and if it's relatively short just build it and ship. Write a short blog post describing your solution and submit it on HackerNews.
Then you will see whether it's worth it. Again, I'm not an expert so probably most experienced folks could give you way valuable input on that.