Agree. Sales first, and iterate from there. If you need to get the absolute minimum of your site up, check http://themeforest.net/No one care you buy the design when you just get started. Then, do anything to be the closest to the money. If you can charge, charge. If the most you can do is securing credit card details, get them to sign up. Talk is cheap. You'll be surprised how many people who say your idea is great will bail out when you asked them for money. If you can't get anyone to commit something, you'll learn something valuable for your next iteration. Maybe you target the wrong market. Maybe your distribution strategy is wrong. Maybe your cost of customer acquisition is too high. Whatever it is, at least you'll learn something new. This is what I did few months ago: http://housal.com. I will take it down as I had learned the fundamental flaw in the idea. I spent few dollars in Facebook and Google Ads and learn tremendous lesson out of it. Hope that helps. Cheers,
Hendro Wijaya > Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:31:46 -0700 > Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Seeking Advice - Start-Up > From: bigm...@gmail.com > To: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com > > Great advice Brad. Sales first. I've rarely met a business idea that > couldn't be done manually first, then the tech built after. Any > technology can be built, but I guarantee that if you try and build it > all in one go, it will be wrong 10 minutes after you launch it. > > Kevin, he's right. Definitely stop protecting the idea. If you've had > it, 100 people have. The only difference will be who does something > about and first mover advantage is much more about making mistakes > faster and learning faster than market share. > > Best of luck. > > On Mar 15, 10:22 pm, Brad Down <bradd...@gmail.com> wrote: > > The reality is if you have no money, no friends that can help and no > > business partner, all you have is your idea. > > > > The first thing you need to do is pretend like you already have the > > product and go out and sell it. Develop a sales presentation some > > collateral even a basic display website. Then ring up some potential > > customers say you have a product in development and get some meetings. > > Remember it's all in the sizzle not in the sausage. > > > > If you can't even get a meeting based on your idea alone then you know > > you are in serious trouble already. > > > > Take my advice, forget development, focus on your first sale. If you > > get a potential customer then you at least you have something to work > > towards. > > > > If you can't make a sale then you are wasting your money and human > > capital with dev. > > > > I spent over 100K of investor money on our first startup before we > > made our first sales call. Fatal...we could have saved the 100K if we > > had have done some research and actually asked some people if they > > wanted what we were selling. No matter how good your idea, commercial > > realities exist, so many external factors and perceptions can affect > > your business model. > > > > So much can be done without a cent spent on dev. > > > > Brad > > > > On Mar 14, 2:04 pm, Kevin SY <kevin.sam...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > Hey Everyone! > > > > > I'm new around here. A friend of mine recently attended StartUp Camp > > > and told me about this community. He has advised that I should write > > > on the discussion board and see what kind of responses I receive. > > > > > At the moment I have an idea in mind that I believe could be really > > > big. I have discussed it with a few close friends because I wish to > > > take first-mover advantage. The problem is that I lack the programming > > > ability to make it a reality on my own. My programming friends are > > > quite busy with work and they don't believe that they have the level > > > of programming ability I require. I have developed a workable > > > operational and growth strategy with a revenue stream that will not > > > commence until after 1-2 years. > > > > > What should I do to seek trustworthy web programming expertise that I > > > require? > > > How much should I expect to be investing as development cost should > > > people be uninterested in shares? > > > > > I know of elance, but I believe that I will have difficulties in > > > ensuring that they program what I have in mind, where as if I was to > > > discuss it with someone in person whom I trust, it would be much less > > > trouble and wasteful of resources. > > > > > Where can I go from here? > > > > > Thanks for taking the time to read my message, and I hope to hear some > > > insightful responses and messages of advice. > > > > > Cheers, > > > > > Kevin > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach > Australia mailing list. > > Guidelines on discussion: http://tr.im/ujKF > > No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself: http://tr.im/ujMm > > To post to this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en _________________________________________________________________ Link all your email accounts and social updates with Hotmail. Find out now. http://windowslive.ninemsn.com.au/oneinbox?ocid=T162MSN05A0710G -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Guidelines on discussion: http://tr.im/ujKF No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself: http://tr.im/ujMm To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
