[HN Gopher] Show HN: Check if my startup ideas have legs
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       Show HN: Check if my startup ideas have legs
        
       Author : repartix
       Score  : 8 points
       Date   : 2021-02-12 20:37 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (provetheywantit.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (provetheywantit.com)
        
       | harrisonjackson wrote:
       | Neat idea. Like a very slimmed down Kickstarter. There's probably
       | some minimum amount of style/content to convince me the person
       | pitching the idea is the one I want to build it. I guess the
       | description field gives them a half of a chance to do that :D
        
         | repartix wrote:
         | They can add HTML in the description field.
        
       | niyazpk wrote:
       | If I am paying money, I need to get something back. 1% Equity for
       | $1000? :)
       | 
       | Or may be just refund the money back after 30 days?
        
         | repartix wrote:
         | You do get something back, you prove the idea has legs. Someone
         | might go build it. It might help to give something more to
         | backers but it seemed too much to work on for the MVP. I mean,
         | if this idea gets 0 users (again) there's no point in adding
         | more stuff to it.
         | 
         | On refunds there are two options. The builder can either accept
         | the $1000 or refund them.
         | 
         | I don't know what would work. The reason I put a hard-cap on
         | $1000 is to not get in legal trouble during this launch.
         | Getting more than $1000 might make a service classified as an
         | MSB (money services business). For the same reason, I'm
         | thinking of refunding all the money back after 30 days, and not
         | letting the builder keep any of the money.
        
       | lanecwagner wrote:
       | Wow... this is actually a really cool idea. Just gave it a shot:
       | https://provetheywantit.com/project?public_token=pub_eNTRarZ...
        
       | theogravity wrote:
       | It's an interesting idea, but it's going to be hard to prove the
       | model when the only payment accepted seems to be Litecoin, which
       | severely limits the audience that can "vote" to prove the
       | concept.
        
       | wyck wrote:
       | You want people to put money towards a vague idea, just to see if
       | it's a good idea? If you don't have a good idea and skin in the
       | game, what on earth makes you think you'll be able to create
       | something? I don't get it.
        
       | withinboredom wrote:
       | Tried to create a project, but I literally have no idea how to
       | send the money. There's a QR code but my phone says "no usable
       | data" (iPhone). If there were a simple LTC address, it would be
       | pretty simple.
        
         | repartix wrote:
         | I added the address in both /admin and /project. Thanks!
        
       | repartix wrote:
       | Hello HN, I'm bad at picking startup ideas. I built a lot of
       | stuff no one used. So I thought I'd build a site where people can
       | pay for an idea before it's built.
       | 
       | You don't need to create some fancy landing page or something.
       | Just describe the idea.
       | 
       | If people pay before an idea gets built, it's probably a big
       | positive sign. It means the idea is big enough of a pain point.
       | If not, this website will be a graveyard of ideas that didn't
       | work.
       | 
       | If this doesn't work I'll take it down in a week.
        
         | offtop5 wrote:
         | I would prefer something like this, but for specific niches.
         | For example I'd love something like this to upload my video
         | game trailer too, but I don't think showcasing the game I'm
         | building is really all that well served by your current format.
         | 
         | I can imagine similar examples for music
        
           | repartix wrote:
           | You can add HTML in the description field.
           | 
           | I'll check on adding channels. Thanks!
        
       | ghoshbishakh wrote:
       | Liked this one! Can't wait to see it getting filled with awesome
       | ideas from which I can pick one to become a billionaire ;)
        
       | orky56 wrote:
       | I like the concept but please correct me if I'm mistaken that
       | this is essentially a Kickstarter approach of validating a
       | product concept but backers are putting in more skin in the game
       | than the one who came up with the idea? I think it's important to
       | validate an idea and people's willingness to pay but that is
       | based on trust/brand/distribution/credibility as well. Instead of
       | a pay option, it might be more interesting to harvest emails for
       | early access or updates.
        
         | harrisonjackson wrote:
         | Ha just posted a very similar comment. There is a reason
         | kickstarter has created a whole industry of videographers and
         | kickstarter designers.
        
         | repartix wrote:
         | Yeah, pretty much. It's a way to see which ideas are good, not
         | which founders would be best to build them. Ideas probably pick
         | founders more than founders pick ideas. People have
         | inclinations that make them best suited for only the ideas
         | they'd be great at.
         | 
         | Imagine 10 earnest, formidable, unknown founders in one end and
         | 10 bad-looking, good, unknown ideas on the other end. It'd be
         | great if they could find each other.
         | 
         | Paying is a stronger signal than entering an email. Harvesting
         | emails might work but it'd need some proof-of-work mechanism to
         | vet people really are interested.
         | 
         | What Kickstarter doesn't provide is a way for backers to show
         | things they want built that no-one stepped up to build yet.
         | That's a bigger set. It's all of the ideas that are left!
        
           | orky56 wrote:
           | There's a great opportunity to use this site as a jumping off
           | point for distribution. Harvest emails/like on
           | social/transact for one-time/repeat/subscription/recommend to
           | friends/etc, all of which is available via various existing
           | vendor APIs.
        
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       (page generated 2021-02-12 23:02 UTC)