Building in the dark...
Hi all,
I am currently building a software product on the down low, which is contrary to most of the sound advice in the startup world which suggests that you should be validating and marketing during development.
This course of action, and please let me know if I am being irrational, is based on a number of factors:
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Limited time. I am moving at a snails pace due to my full time job and family life, but I'm extremely motivated to reach the finish line.
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I have many, many things to learn (technologies) to successfully roll this product out, and I'm a one man team.
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Validation is not as big of a concern to me as I am building a product for a work flow process in my job in which I have a high level of expertise and which no great tools currently exist to address this work flow. The existing tools are essentially like using a hammer when you need a screw driver, you can make it work but it's not always pretty. My colleagues and I battle with the current tech every day and I can envision and build a better way to do things. My attitude is that at the end of the day, if nobody wanted to use this product I would still gladly use it myself.
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My product idea is quite niche and as mentioned there are currently no tools built specifically for this work flow process. This could be read as an indicator that perhaps people do not require this solution, however I believe this is the case due to the lack of technology [developer] oriented people in my industry and that outsiders would typically not be aware of this problem or have the specialized experience and knowledge of this workflow process required to solve it.
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There are some large companies that provide unrelated technology services in my industry for some of the less niche workflow processes. (This is probably the irrational part) My concern is that if these companies became aware of my product idea, that they would have the human and financial resources to essentially beat me to market. Now the points I raised in the previous paragraph should alleviate this concern to a point [that these companies would have a lack of expertise] but it's possible to overcome this challenge obviously by consulting with someone like myself to explain the pain points and work flow process.
In summary, I fear that revealing my hand too early given my restrictions and road blocks puts me at risk of being leapfrogged by more well oiled machines, and at risk of having my ideas copied and executed before I can get there.
I'm sure this is a common fear for noobs like myself, am I completely off base or is there some validity in waiting until you are better poised to execute?
Thank you all for your time.
Thank you guys for the feedback.
I’m probably about 6 months from an MVP.
I agree that I can not put too much stock in my own perception of the product until it is externally validated. However I do confidently believe, as I eat sleep and breathe the work I do and work first hand beside others that do the same, that my assessment of the problem and expectations are pretty grounded.
I’m not concerned about product failure as either way I walk out with a lot of education and a tool that will make my life easier even if nobody else wants it.
It's perfectly fine to build it out of the limelight. Building it slowly is more problematic. Since someone somewhere is experiencing the same pain as you and could take another path.
Keep in mind that as long as you are not in the public light, all your asumptions about your product are just that assumptions.
How long do you think it will be before you have an MVP ?
If you just want this thing to exist and you want to learn as you go, then don't feel the need to be building out in public, marketing, validating, etc.. It making money one day can be the icing on the cake.
If you want this to be a business one day, it probably would be a good idea to do SOME level of validation.
You don't have to be live streaming your coding sessions or writing blog posts once a week or anything. But I would at least talk to a few potential customers IRL and see what they think about the concept. You can do this with a simple phone call or lunch meeting. No need to blast out what you are doing to the world. The goal is to find the gotcha's sooner rather than later.
Don't worry about #5 right now. Well-oiled machines are actually terrible at listening to niche market feedback and turning on a dime. Plus, they will find out when you start crushing it anyway 😁
I think it makes sense in your case to build privately. My advice would be to build a solid base and start rolling it out to the public the sooner you can. It’ll get you initial users.
What you want is to establish a feedback loop between you and your initial users. That’s what ultimately makes your product good!
Once you’re past that step, new incumbents will have a hard time catching up. And if they do, you’re already ahead because you’re taking to your users and you know what else they want.
This comment was deleted 5 years ago