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Ask HN: How long does it take to know if a concept of a startup works or not?

by ToniVlaic on 5/14/13, 4:43 PM with 9 comments

  • by timrosenblatt on 5/16/13, 4:22 PM

    ToniVlaic, that's a very complicated question. There are extremely smart people who have spent a lot of time trying to answer that question, and they don't have simple answers.

    I start with that, because the first reply is "what do you mean by 'works'?"

    Do you mean that people will use what you've made? Find a small group of people who you think would use what you've made and see if they're still using it after X weeks.

    Do you mean that people will tell other people what you've made? Check your stats on an invite system, or new signups, or whatever you need to answer this question.

    Do you mean that you'll be able to market and convert customers at affordable prices relative to revenue? Will you average spending $20 on advertising to bring on a customer who buys $5? Or will you spent $5 to bring in $20 of business?

    Do you mean "will the thing I made be interesting to the group I'm trying to sell to?" There are many instances where a company made something, found out it wasn't interesting to the group they were trying to sell to, but that someone else found it very useful.

    Give us more details, and we can give useful answers.

  • by staunch on 5/14/13, 5:27 PM

  • by jperiasw on 5/14/13, 5:02 PM

    The time it takes you to realize that there is no viable revenue model for the concept.
  • by orangethirty on 5/14/13, 5:29 PM

    Depends on the outcome that you want.