Re:Sell it before you build it
by Alex3917 on Saturday March 28, 2009 @06:22PM
(#536849)
This is pretty standard advice actually. The reason you don't hear more about it on HN is because most of the case studies are B2B startups, and HN seems to be less interested in those. The obvious example that comes to mind is DOS.
Another good example is a guy I met who started a business putting pro sports logos on car seats. First he went to the national retail chains and got them to order a hundred thousand units. Then once he made the sale he used it to get the rights from the sports leagues to use their logos. Only then did he go out and find a manufacturer, and by then he was already guaranteed to make money on the deal. So his only startup costs were a couple weeks making phone calls, and he made a ton of money.
Re:Sell it before you build it
by rjurney on Saturday March 28, 2009 @06:57PM
(#536881)
'Sell before you build' is an old saw, but the 'coming soon/contact' landing page metric I had not heard before, and its great because its a very simply algorithm for developers to follow to arrive at a successful product.
Another good example is a guy I met who started a business putting pro sports logos on car seats. First he went to the national retail chains and got them to order a hundred thousand units. Then once he made the sale he used it to get the rights from the sports leagues to use their logos. Only then did he go out and find a manufacturer, and by then he was already guaranteed to make money on the deal. So his only startup costs were a couple weeks making phone calls, and he made a ton of money.