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Unfortunately I don't have any potential customers in my network. If I did I would have picked their brain till they pretty much told me what to do :) This ide

Unfortunately I don't have any potential customers in my network. If I did I would have picked their brain till they pretty much told me what to do :) This idea was kind of a shot in the dark to start with - so I knew this was a possibility.

michael_dorfman 16y ago
Well, that's a good lesson for next time: don't even think about writing code until you've got 5 potential users lined up whose brain you can pick.
- webstartupper 16y ago
  Thats True. I am a big fan of Steve Blank's book. However, often in the past I would analyze, research, analyze and then ... nothing. I figured this time I would just get something up there - and then figure out what I'm building along the way.
  - michael_dorfman 16y ago
    I guess it depends on how you "research/analyze". I've found that customers are really crappy at telling you what they want, and product suggestions (and feature requests) should be treated with extreme skepticism. However: they are absolutely brilliant at telling you what their problems are. Behind every feature request/product suggestion is a pain point of some kind; if you can find it, you usually can come up with a solution that is much better than what they would ever propose. So: find a group of people who have a common problem. Once you do that, you're on your way.
jon_dahl 16y ago
You'd be surprised how helpful people will be if they don't think you're trying to sell them. Make a list of 10-20 companies that might possibly be users, search for their developers (search Google, look for a blog, look for a Twitter account, search LinkedIn), and get in touch with them. Say something like "Hi [name]. I see you're a developer at [company]. I'm building a service for people working with GIS data, and I'm trying to learn more about the space. Could I pick your brain over phone/Skype [or coffee/beer if they're local]?" You won't get a 100% success rate, but you'll learn a lot from the people who are willing to talk to you.

michael_dorfman 16y ago

Well, that's a good lesson for next time: don't even think about writing code until you've got 5 potential users lined up whose brain you can pick.

webstartupper 16y ago
Thats True. I am a big fan of Steve Blank's book. However, often in the past I would analyze, research, analyze and then ... nothing. I figured this time I would just get something up there - and then figure out what I'm building along the way.
- michael_dorfman 16y ago
  I guess it depends on how you "research/analyze". I've found that customers are really crappy at telling you what they want, and product suggestions (and feature requests) should be treated with extreme skepticism. However: they are absolutely brilliant at telling you what their problems are. Behind every feature request/product suggestion is a pain point of some kind; if you can find it, you usually can come up with a solution that is much better than what they would ever propose. So: find a group of people who have a common problem. Once you do that, you're on your way.

jon_dahl 16y ago

You'd be surprised how helpful people will be if they don't think you're trying to sell them. Make a list of 10-20 companies that might possibly be users, search for their developers (search Google, look for a blog, look for a Twitter account, search LinkedIn), and get in touch with them. Say something like "Hi [name]. I see you're a developer at [company]. I'm building a service for people working with GIS data, and I'm trying to learn more about the space. Could I pick your brain over phone/Skype [or coffee/beer if they're local]?" You won't get a 100% success rate, but you'll learn a lot from the people who are willing to talk to you.