[Ask IH] Feedback for Idea
Idea: Structural testing for startup technology. Just like how structural engineers pass / fail (or) give feedback on construction sites when the foundations are laid, would it be useful for early stage founding engineers / CTO's to get feedback on (1) architecture choices (2) technology choices (3) programming language choices ?
After having worked in high growth startups, I've noticed that the design choices made in exchange for speed usually end up biting the company in the back at a later stage and causing massive re-writes or re-design - causing 2nd order monetary effects.
What if there is a service to vet the choices from experts specific to the problem being solved. Eg: social networks / e-commerce? Would anyone be interested in this ?
I think you'll struggle with this as a paid service for bootstrapped startups, but it could work as a loss-leader into doing contract work / an agency, etc., or if you see your customers as people who would otherwise pay an agency but don't have the skill to choose them.
Bootstrapped startups are really price sensitive. For Dependabot, in the very early days I didn't pay for anything - not even GitHub (I used a private repo on a friend's account, who was already paying for private repos). Trying to get someone like me to drop $$$ on advice I could try to cobble together for free (even if inferior and at great time cost) would have been really hard.
The flipside to the above is that I loved free stuff when Dependabot was first starting out. It can definitely work as gateway to other services, available if/when I had money, but that's probably a long lead time (even now, at $6k MRR, I'm very frugal with Dependabot).
There is another cohort of startup founder who basically start off with money and pay for things from day one, though. Perhaps you could go after them and act as a referrer to other agencies? I'm not one of those people, so can't picture the world from their point of view. You could probably find them by looking for people who are searching for a technical co-founder, though.
I agree with your observation - similar experience.
However, another aspect I have observed is being "proud" + company politics.
A lot CTO's fight for their position and when someone tells then you are wrong they feel less worthy.
I think this could only work when it's anonym and if the CTO is presented not as the one has the knowledge and made a good decision right NOW now and for the future of the company.