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Ask HN: I have a good idea and money. How should I start?

10 points| zeynalov | 13 years ago | reply

I have an idea, which I think 99% will be a successful startup. I'm medical student now in Germany, and I can't code. I saved up money in last year in amount of I think is enough to hire 1-2 people (such as coders, designers).

But I don't know how to start, where to start, what to do in the beginning.

Should I just hire a hacker? Should I find a technical co-founder? Should I do it myself at the beginning and then grow slowly? or apply for incubators? (I've heard here in Germany are also some of them) or speak to someone? I appreciate any kind of advice.

17 comments

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[+] helen842000|13 years ago|reply
For now, pretend you don't have money.

Sit down with paper and draw each screen out, exact words, page names, prices etc.

Get to this stage before you involve anyone else. Best thing is that it's almost free to do and ensures you document your original ideas before you get overwhelmed with information & ideas. It will also save you money so that when you do hire a team they can get started straight away & things will be well communicated.

Best of luck with your project!

[+] mion|13 years ago|reply
Have you considered learning how to code? How hard is your idea to implement? I know people who were not coders at first but learned how to do it just so they could build prototypes and simple versions of the product. Check out codeacademy.com And also this interview with YC partner Harjeet Taggar, he talks about learning how to code among other interesting stuff: http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/30/y-combinator-harj-taggar-in...

You should also be careful with that "99%" statement. I don't wanna discourage you or anything, but you should definitely think about validating all your assumptions before investing money and time into building your startup. I strongly recommend reading The Lean Startup.

And IMHO you should definitely have a technical co-founder. Even if you managed to save money and you can hire some decent programmers (which would be quite expensive for a student), you'll have no idea of how long it takes for something to done.

[+] zeynalov|13 years ago|reply
Thanks for reply. I've already read The Lean Startup. The reason why I say 99% I'm sure that it'll be successful, is I talk to 23 of my potential costumers and 22 of them said Yes I would definitely buy your product, I like it and I need it. One of them said, mmm I must see the software now I can't tell anything. It's related to medicine, and because me too have this kind of problem and all other my doctor friends, I think it will work.

Some time ago I've tried to learn Ruby on Rails but in my first week I saw that it's not that easy. I've learned how to make a website, blog etc., but making complex softwares are too hard for me. I need some time, which I don't have. Every workday I must be at the clinic and I have too many patients, I come home very tired, even though I work on my startup.

One thing I don't understand, why should one learn to code, if he has enough money to hire someone to code? I always see everywhere that founders must learn to code. Why? I understand that it will save money and you can do whatever you want, you'll have freedom by coding. But is it worth it? To be able to code as an average hacker you should spend at least 3 month to learn to code.

[+] matthewphiong|13 years ago|reply
With all due respect, I don't think there is such thing that "you think" your idea is 99% successful. You will never know until you try it out. Go to meetups and talk to others about your idea. Also joining Startup Weekend might be a good thing too. Finally, if the technical aspect of it is not overly complicated, try to learn to code. I have a friend that is a doctor turned hacker. Never too late.
[+] relizarr|13 years ago|reply
I am open to listen to your ideas in more detail. I was an advisor for a Medical Startup for 2 years here in the USA. And I have the technical know-how. I am interested in the Health industry and I would be open to be a co-founder with you depending on the specifics and the potential of a good relationship. If you are very zeoulous about your "idea" I recommend you to hire someone. Think about it and email me with more details if you are open in exploring this option. Good luck. [email protected]
[+] lumberjack|13 years ago|reply
Find a hacker or a small software house and have them build a prototype. A lone guy is probably better for you, cheaper and probably easier to deal with.

Now, importantly, don't project it as the next startup idea. Instead make it seem like it's just some mundane task that's common in your line of work that your fictional employer would like to automate. From what I can tell this is not some idea that is common knowledge outside of the medical field right? I don't think you need to worry that much.

[+] ssylee|13 years ago|reply
Have you tried testing your idea without coding or hiring people? Most ideas in start-up founders' heads usually aren't any good in terms of making money. It's not until the pivots when they found profitable models.

You've mentioned you've talked to over 20 people and they said they would buy your product. However, getting them to pull out their wallets when you actually have the product could be a different endeavor. Not sure if the problems you're solving are painful enough.

[+] dchuk|13 years ago|reply
since you have some money saved up, you can hire someone to build you a working prototype for cheap off of like odesk or elance. Once you have that, you can start demoing it and improving it based on user feedback and then possibly team up with someone who has technical skills to turn it into a full fledged product.