←back to thread

I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea

(tjcx.me)
851 points swyx | 2 comments | 18 Jan 21 20:01 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
fourseventy ◴[18 Jan 21 21:58 UTC] No.25827167[source]▶
This is the classic case of building a product that you hope will solve a problem instead of finding a problem first then building a product to solve it. The correct approach would have been to have those conversations with doctors before spending $40k to build the product.

I've made this very mistake myself but I was lucky enough to have enough runway to start over and talk to customers first then pivot the product to something that they actually need.

I call this the "I have an idea for a startup!" issue. You hear it all the time from family/friends. Where they tell you this great idea for a product they had. This is the wrong approach. What you want to say is something like "There is this really interesting problem that everyone in ecommerce is facing right now"

replies(3): >>25827534 #>>25827547 #>>25830276 #
1. skybrian ◴[18 Jan 21 22:37 UTC] No.25827547[source]▶
To be fair, when he started he didn't know he wanted to talk to doctors. That was after a pivot.

Also, $40k is downright cheap compared to most failed projects to improve medicine. If it were someone else's money, that is.

replies(1): >>25828249 #
2. abiogenesis ◴[18 Jan 21 23:58 UTC] No.25828249[source]▶
True, but he didn't talk to consumers before spending the $40K either.

Also I don't think $40K is cheap for an MVP. He could have used static HTML mock-ups, or even a few Power Point slides to see if his potential customers would have paid for that service.