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Quit my job as a bicycle mechanic, I have 6 months to sink or swim

So I've been working on an ask-an-expert app https://talktree.me and it's taking a lot more time than I anticipated - so I quit my job, and have about 6 months to validate the idea (and get funding) before I have to go back to work.

So for the next 6 month's I'll be #buildingInPublic.

I'm new to this community and would love to start connecting with others.
IH won't show my Twitter handle but its '@ underscore gty underscore underscore'
Let me know your Twitter handle and I'll start following you.

  1. 2

    Hi gty, not sure what your business case is, but you should cut your development time by 90% and go for a ready-made app from the Codecanyon.net marketplace.

    Like these three for example:
    https://codecanyon.net/item/academy-lms-student-android-app/24833530

    https://codecanyon.net/item/askit-android-universal-questionsanswers-app-template/17744979

    https://codecanyon.net/item/all-in-one-proguide-guide-tips-tricks-with-admob/23135897

    You should definitely plan for your monetization first and growing a community around ONE focus topic. Don´t try to do everything, that does never work. Focus on an area of your own expertise and think about what people would be willing to pay for.

    Maybe opt for eLearning courses with Video tutorials for professional bike mechanics or more ambitious hobby cyclists that want to tinker with their bikes. BUT I dare say it's hard to beat free YouTube tutorials that way!

    I would not have quit that job, to be honest! As it always takes 3x times longer and costs 3x the money, I always tell people to start building on the side and grow as you go. It might take well over 12 months to something done.

    Also, you should look into lead generation and content marketing. Where are your potential customers hanging out and how can you reach them.

    Start a viral waiting list today and let people know you are building something cool.
    Look at https://upviral.com/ for a standalone solution or https://rafflepress.com/ for a WordPress plugin.

    Then have them sign up and invite some friends. Survey the people that sign up and ask them what they want and would be willing to pay for. Then you should start building in that direction. Don´t spend time and money on development before you have positive feedback and some real validation! If no one signs up, you need to rethink your idea and business model.

    Hope this helps.

    1. 1

      Awesome resources, thanks for sharing

  2. 2

    You are very brave! Good luck in your journey!

  3. 2

    Good luck Geoff. Hope you learn a lot and have some successes along the way.

    I'm very interested in all things related to idea validation so do check in from time to time :)

  4. 2

    Good luck, @gty. I just followed you on Twitter :)

  5. 2

    Welcome to the club and good luck! Pretty normal that it takes 2-3x longer than you'd expect :)

  6. 2

    Good luck! Looking forward to reading about your journey on Twitter.

  7. 1

    Good luck, Geoff! I’ve followed you on Twitter.

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    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

    1. 1

      Awesome thank you

  9. 2

    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

    1. 2

      Much appreciated; thought I had to do some weird thing with ads... Got it working

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