from Hacker News

Does it take at $1M to build something interesting? [Video]

by ThinkADRIAN on 3/13/13, 9:45 PM with 1 comments

• by mswen on 3/13/13, 10:12 PM

  The video is a reaction to the meme that a group of college kids can whip up an interesting product in a few days over spring break. I agree that this kind of thinking has gone overboard. However, I disagree that it takes $1M to build something interesting.

  I have built software services that others have categorized as premium services. In just a few months of my time as a lone developer, I created 3 distinct business implementations of a single core technological development. Each of those has attracted enough attention that I have a pilot implementation either started or on the verge of starting. I think this qualifies as interesting and I funded myself to the tune of tens of thousands a very long ways from $1M.

  What I am finding though is that the process of market testing and development is where I could really use the money. Spending a million on visual design, UX/UI, marketing collateral, advertising and 2 or 3 top notch enterprise sales guys would tell me whether these products I have built are really viable as businesses or whether they were merely interesting.