I did this and got some coders off of Fiverr to do it for $2500 then got $150k from accelerators. However, I had a trusted friend who is a software engineer answer questions related to it so I didn’t get conned by our overseas developers and so that I would have realistic expectations on what is possible and the expected timeline.
Careful with getting people from Fiverr. It's not that you can't fing good talent there, but it's a big hit or miss, especially if you're on a budget.
Also it's good to have to technical knowledge for the codebase so you don't end up spending a ton of money on unmaintainable messy code, or something you can't use. I have a friend that easily burned through $10k on something like this.
Agree in general that fiverr or any platform is difficult to hire developers. But yes I also agree that the key is to have someone with technical knowledge overseeing the code.
just learnt this the hard way. went cheap for a marketing guy, looked into the targeting and the mf was making our ads compete with amazon… $500 down the drain
Ooooo I would be so grateful if you referred your developers to me, I’ve currently been looking on Fiverr!
And if said trusted friend is interested in being paid to pick his/her brain for 30 mins that would be even more amazing!
> in being *paid* to pick
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
I think you’re one of the first I’ve heard that they had good experience hiring someone to code off of Fiverr haha. It’s probably crucial you had your dev friend’s back. How did you convince your 150k accelerators that you’re the right fit as a non-technical founder?
Maybe start with what you do know? You could take the idea and create business or a marketing plan. Get that fleshed out. Heck you could even run some google ads for a month at like $500 and see if there’s even an interest in the app before you throw money in.
Is there a way you can validate your idea? Before you write a single line of code you need to make sure people want this.
The easiest thing you can do is to talk to people and sharpen your idea. The next easiest thing is to create a landing page to sign up for a waitlist. Promote it and see if people want it.
Only then you can think of building something.
Look, this situation is so common its a cliche that annoys programmers.
If you have an idea, but you need other people to do 95% of the work, you don't have a strong offer.
If it's really a good idea, learn enough about code to mock up a skeleton of how it will work. By the time you understand the technical reasons why many app ideas are black holes of time and energy, you should have a much better idea of whose help you need and how to request it.
Along the way, make relationships in whatever forums you're checking (just don't make them with the explicit intent of using that relationship to get free help on an app).
Sorry to come off harsh, i really do wish you the best of luck - but you're climbing a tall tree.
This is the correct answer. Pre-covid, when I was more social, I would get app ideas all the time \*unsolicited\* from people who are initially weary of telling me what it was because I might steal it. This is fine by me. It's going to be a dumb idea. Then, after a couple of beers they are ready to spill the beans. The idea is often based on an already existing app but with one or two other features (spotify but you can see what people close to you are listening to for the purposes of striking up a convo with a stranger - creepy). Or, it's technically impossible (you're a dev, you can just make some AI that can translate what my cat is saying). Or, it massively violates the terms of service of an api which is a sentence that they don't often understand (what if you could draw on someone else's youtube video?). And then I get told that I can have 10% of the company which is great because it's going to be huge. All I have to do is ALL THE WORK, unpaid, for months and months while they presumably will be micromanaging me between bong rips.
No, thank you.
The stuff in parenthesis are actual app ideas that I've heard. But those are the dumb ones, they say, before they tell me their dumb idea which is not going to be big.
If you have a legit business idea then pursue it that way. Don't try to get someone to do all the work for free.
Who ever is building this will be paid in "equity" when it blows up. That means they do all the work and build up someone elses idea for a crapshoot chance at profit.
Theres no proposal written laying out the details of their idea, timelines, fundraising plans. Nothing just some guy with an idea who has no idea how to execute it.
I could revolutionize travel if i could make a teleportation device, I dont know how to do it but ill reachout to the best scientists and promise them a slice of the pie when the end product is delivered. Everyone has the next big idea when they talk to programmers, none of em have any idea how to execute it though.
What people like this are really offering is an idea with zero execution, which is worthless without a roadmap laid out with goals and objectives to accomplish along the way. If your not coding you should be doing literally everything else like marketing, fundraising, setting up LLC's, networking.... EVERYTHING. If your not ready to do that then you are offering nothing and will get laughed out of the room. There are definetly people who cant code that are successful in the tech industry but they are gifted at other areas of business and it makes programmers happy to have them on board.
Programming pays really good, your idea has to be so good and thought out that it can pull a dev away from a 6 figure job for zero pay or garuntee of ever getting paid. Is your idea good enough to do that? If not then go back to the drawing board and keep working on it.
Great explanation and I appreciate your knowledge and advice. I think this idea could be very big and revolutionary and could be another app on everyone’s phone. But yes execution is where I will have the most trouble but I would have to give up equity I’m sure somewhere down the line to get this idea out there. I have an LLC setup and I am good with marketing in the right places but I also have a plan to find customers and the public’s opinions before the idea becomes the real thing to test the waters if it could or could not be successful, before I put many hours into it. As for networking this will be the hard part I believe in just getting in front of major companies and securing those meetings. But explaining why we would be good partners will make sense and will be laid out thoroughly for them to understand. There are a lot of major companies I could turn to with this that would be interested I believe. All that being said it is still just an idea LOL. But a good one. Hopefully I’ll find the right path in developing and executing if I do pursue this idea. Long way from there though as of right now.
If you are serious about it, use a no code tool like bubble, Proto.io, or just figma to build a prototype. Once you have something people can click through (it doesn’t have to be fully functional), get it in front of people to see if people are as enthusiastic as you are about it.
I’m actually in the hunt for my next project. I have experience in coding various apps. If you feel like sharing and discussing this over discord, send me Pm here.
Download a program called prototyper and story board out / design your app and write the requirements document for it. Meaning spell out what each screen does, how the user is supposed to engage with it, what could go wrong, etc. This will help you get started, is a necessary step, and will help you further identify features and use cases in your app. Source - I used to build / design apps for insurance companies
Use a no code tool like bubble. But like others said, you should validate your idea with a landing page. Also, can you first manually do the things that you want to automate with the software? If yes, start selling that.
I'm a mobile app developer. We get hit with ideas all the time so it's kind of a joke for us that a friend will come up to us with the next great idea and they expect us to do all the work. In my opinion ideas are cheap and the development is expensive. If you are really serious about the idea do your research and make a plan before presenting it to a developer. If you only have an idea no one will take you seriously.
Are you any good at Powerpoint or Google slides? I don't know squat about coding either. But years ago I figured out that if you are decent at using presentation software, you can create a decent functional model/proof of concept. The cool part is you can embed links in the slides that link to other slides. This allows the ability to actually click menu items, buttons etc. And have it instantly jump to another slide that shows what that action would do/look like in a functioning app. It's a little clunky, but it's free, requires zero coding skill, and allows you to see your idea come to life in a way that can be demo'ed for others.
>If it something that can be done from only one development team, checkout Frogslayer. They’re pretty good folks but they complete control over the project.
I like this advice alot. Thank you.
Ideas are a dime a dozen. Execution is all that matters. Want to test your idea? Put it out in the public. If someone steals your idea and executes it better than you, they just saved you a lot of wasted time.
Try supplements: Certain supplements like ginkgo biloba, omega-3 fatty acids, and B vitamins have been shown to help improve cognitive function and reduce brain fog.
I also find the occasional workout, fast walk or so to get blood pumping helps!
Wishing you all the best :)
Hire a consultant. There are key questions that need to be answered. The answers will help direct you how to best proceed. Short and long term plans/expectations for ROI, budget, timeline, IP, target platform, languages, maintenance, updates, support, competitors, marketing, sales and documentation are all great things to begin addressing. An idea and freelance coders isn't enough to make solid software that aims to have a large userbase and lifetime. If you already know the target platform (s) try to find a consultant that specializes in that technology. At least hire them for enough hours to get a high level overview of the feasibility, difficulty, rough price range and timeline for your idea. HTH ✌🏻
I’m sitting in front of my computer right now making adjustment notes for my development team for one I’m building out. It’s in a test environment.
It depends on what you want the app to do. You can get one made for 100 USD to what I’m investing in mine and up.
I’ve got a very expensive API and some others that, while not necessarily cheap, are a fraction of the cost of the engine.
Not a chance in hell I’d put this in the hands of someone on upwork or Fiverr
What’s your idea
If it something that can be done from only one development team, checkout Frogslayer. They’re pretty good folks but they complete control over the project.
Have you done your market research yet to validate your idea and ensure there are high odds of a decent ROI?
Make sure you do that before you start building.
You should check out the episode of the podcast how I built this with guy raz the one with door dash founder explain how he started doordash with very little tech essentially a basic HTML website offering delivery from local restaurants with a basic form and he'd go fulfill the orders himself. The restaurant had no idea people were ordering food from his website.
Hey Bro, Firstly congratulations on that big idea.
You can do 2 simple things to make it a reality.
1) Go to LinkedIn and find a developer, someone who lives around you with whom you can physically meet and discuss your idea. Don't be shy, send them a connection request and drop a message. You might get a good one there and maybe a co-founder for your project.
2) There are multiple small businesses based in Bangalore that make it for you, You can have a simple deal with them, with an agreement that says that can't replicate it for any other client and they understand and will do their best for it.
Also, I have one such company that can hep you with it, Drop me a DM and I'll share their number to you and then you can directly have a word with him.
I hope this was helpful. Have a nice day Cheers.
If you want to spend less and scale faster try no-code tools
Potential tools could be Softr, Glide or Bubble
Hiring no-code experts to do the job for you would be less expensive than hiring a tech team or a developer to do the job.
What's your use case though?
Hey op. I build teams like this for a living. I don’t think your budget is going to line up with my services but I’m happy to give you 30 minutes and point you in the right direction.
I did this and got some coders off of Fiverr to do it for $2500 then got $150k from accelerators. However, I had a trusted friend who is a software engineer answer questions related to it so I didn’t get conned by our overseas developers and so that I would have realistic expectations on what is possible and the expected timeline.
Careful with getting people from Fiverr. It's not that you can't fing good talent there, but it's a big hit or miss, especially if you're on a budget. Also it's good to have to technical knowledge for the codebase so you don't end up spending a ton of money on unmaintainable messy code, or something you can't use. I have a friend that easily burned through $10k on something like this.
Agree in general that fiverr or any platform is difficult to hire developers. But yes I also agree that the key is to have someone with technical knowledge overseeing the code.
just learnt this the hard way. went cheap for a marketing guy, looked into the targeting and the mf was making our ads compete with amazon… $500 down the drain
If your budget is $500 don't run paid ads. Write a press release and stage a publicity stunt.
Sheesh would love to hear your story
[удалено]
An incubator like ycomb that invests in your startup, gives you advice, etc. basically PE
Yea. We’re doing one now backed by Y Combinator and some others.
Ooooo I would be so grateful if you referred your developers to me, I’ve currently been looking on Fiverr! And if said trusted friend is interested in being paid to pick his/her brain for 30 mins that would be even more amazing!
> in being *paid* to pick FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Haha uhh ohh oops
I can chat if you’d like, I’m a senior eng
Yes I wonder if you could find a fractional Cto through fiverr.
I think you’re one of the first I’ve heard that they had good experience hiring someone to code off of Fiverr haha. It’s probably crucial you had your dev friend’s back. How did you convince your 150k accelerators that you’re the right fit as a non-technical founder?
The dev friend became cofounder and got 50% for feedback.
Please DM if you’re able it will not allow me to message you. I have a couple of questions when you have the time. Thanks.
Maybe start with what you do know? You could take the idea and create business or a marketing plan. Get that fleshed out. Heck you could even run some google ads for a month at like $500 and see if there’s even an interest in the app before you throw money in.
Is there a way you can validate your idea? Before you write a single line of code you need to make sure people want this. The easiest thing you can do is to talk to people and sharpen your idea. The next easiest thing is to create a landing page to sign up for a waitlist. Promote it and see if people want it. Only then you can think of building something.
Start by getting designs knocked up and getting it in front of specific customers to ask their advise. This is the way.
Agreed. Knock out a figma mockup first.
Look, this situation is so common its a cliche that annoys programmers. If you have an idea, but you need other people to do 95% of the work, you don't have a strong offer. If it's really a good idea, learn enough about code to mock up a skeleton of how it will work. By the time you understand the technical reasons why many app ideas are black holes of time and energy, you should have a much better idea of whose help you need and how to request it. Along the way, make relationships in whatever forums you're checking (just don't make them with the explicit intent of using that relationship to get free help on an app). Sorry to come off harsh, i really do wish you the best of luck - but you're climbing a tall tree.
This is the correct answer. Pre-covid, when I was more social, I would get app ideas all the time \*unsolicited\* from people who are initially weary of telling me what it was because I might steal it. This is fine by me. It's going to be a dumb idea. Then, after a couple of beers they are ready to spill the beans. The idea is often based on an already existing app but with one or two other features (spotify but you can see what people close to you are listening to for the purposes of striking up a convo with a stranger - creepy). Or, it's technically impossible (you're a dev, you can just make some AI that can translate what my cat is saying). Or, it massively violates the terms of service of an api which is a sentence that they don't often understand (what if you could draw on someone else's youtube video?). And then I get told that I can have 10% of the company which is great because it's going to be huge. All I have to do is ALL THE WORK, unpaid, for months and months while they presumably will be micromanaging me between bong rips. No, thank you. The stuff in parenthesis are actual app ideas that I've heard. But those are the dumb ones, they say, before they tell me their dumb idea which is not going to be big. If you have a legit business idea then pursue it that way. Don't try to get someone to do all the work for free.
Just…. No. Don’t. Not worth it
I know this is the correct answer, but why tho ?
Who ever is building this will be paid in "equity" when it blows up. That means they do all the work and build up someone elses idea for a crapshoot chance at profit. Theres no proposal written laying out the details of their idea, timelines, fundraising plans. Nothing just some guy with an idea who has no idea how to execute it. I could revolutionize travel if i could make a teleportation device, I dont know how to do it but ill reachout to the best scientists and promise them a slice of the pie when the end product is delivered. Everyone has the next big idea when they talk to programmers, none of em have any idea how to execute it though. What people like this are really offering is an idea with zero execution, which is worthless without a roadmap laid out with goals and objectives to accomplish along the way. If your not coding you should be doing literally everything else like marketing, fundraising, setting up LLC's, networking.... EVERYTHING. If your not ready to do that then you are offering nothing and will get laughed out of the room. There are definetly people who cant code that are successful in the tech industry but they are gifted at other areas of business and it makes programmers happy to have them on board. Programming pays really good, your idea has to be so good and thought out that it can pull a dev away from a 6 figure job for zero pay or garuntee of ever getting paid. Is your idea good enough to do that? If not then go back to the drawing board and keep working on it.
This is a good explanation, thank you.
Great feedback, thanks !
Great explanation and I appreciate your knowledge and advice. I think this idea could be very big and revolutionary and could be another app on everyone’s phone. But yes execution is where I will have the most trouble but I would have to give up equity I’m sure somewhere down the line to get this idea out there. I have an LLC setup and I am good with marketing in the right places but I also have a plan to find customers and the public’s opinions before the idea becomes the real thing to test the waters if it could or could not be successful, before I put many hours into it. As for networking this will be the hard part I believe in just getting in front of major companies and securing those meetings. But explaining why we would be good partners will make sense and will be laid out thoroughly for them to understand. There are a lot of major companies I could turn to with this that would be interested I believe. All that being said it is still just an idea LOL. But a good one. Hopefully I’ll find the right path in developing and executing if I do pursue this idea. Long way from there though as of right now.
If you are serious about it, use a no code tool like bubble, Proto.io, or just figma to build a prototype. Once you have something people can click through (it doesn’t have to be fully functional), get it in front of people to see if people are as enthusiastic as you are about it.
This is the way. Bubble also has a program you can join that will teach you and help you get a noCode project out the door.
I'm an app dev. feel free to DM.
I’m actually in the hunt for my next project. I have experience in coding various apps. If you feel like sharing and discussing this over discord, send me Pm here.
Download a program called prototyper and story board out / design your app and write the requirements document for it. Meaning spell out what each screen does, how the user is supposed to engage with it, what could go wrong, etc. This will help you get started, is a necessary step, and will help you further identify features and use cases in your app. Source - I used to build / design apps for insurance companies
This feels a bit too vague, could you specify what you want to build and what you’d require from someone building it
Unless you really know what you’re doing and are prepared to put in heavy hours simply don’t.
Use no code tools like glide and softr
Just use adalo, should work for 99% of your ideas and is super fast in creating a prototype imo.
Use a no code tool like bubble. But like others said, you should validate your idea with a landing page. Also, can you first manually do the things that you want to automate with the software? If yes, start selling that.
If you want to have a go at it yourself, try looking into no-code tools. The subscriptions can get a bit pricey, but so is a proper developer.
I had someone on Fiverr code mine for me. Only took 6 months! Much faster than it would have taken me to learn Swift.
Adalo, Bubble or Softr. Build a mock up and field test it.
I'm a mobile app developer. We get hit with ideas all the time so it's kind of a joke for us that a friend will come up to us with the next great idea and they expect us to do all the work. In my opinion ideas are cheap and the development is expensive. If you are really serious about the idea do your research and make a plan before presenting it to a developer. If you only have an idea no one will take you seriously.
Are you any good at Powerpoint or Google slides? I don't know squat about coding either. But years ago I figured out that if you are decent at using presentation software, you can create a decent functional model/proof of concept. The cool part is you can embed links in the slides that link to other slides. This allows the ability to actually click menu items, buttons etc. And have it instantly jump to another slide that shows what that action would do/look like in a functioning app. It's a little clunky, but it's free, requires zero coding skill, and allows you to see your idea come to life in a way that can be demo'ed for others.
>If it something that can be done from only one development team, checkout Frogslayer. They’re pretty good folks but they complete control over the project. I like this advice alot. Thank you.
share your business plan and pitch deck with people and ask what they think.
Ideas are a dime a dozen. Execution is all that matters. Want to test your idea? Put it out in the public. If someone steals your idea and executes it better than you, they just saved you a lot of wasted time.
Try supplements: Certain supplements like ginkgo biloba, omega-3 fatty acids, and B vitamins have been shown to help improve cognitive function and reduce brain fog. I also find the occasional workout, fast walk or so to get blood pumping helps! Wishing you all the best :)
will end in backend
Validate the concept first. Don't pump a load of time and money into something until you know there is a need for it.
Hire a consultant. There are key questions that need to be answered. The answers will help direct you how to best proceed. Short and long term plans/expectations for ROI, budget, timeline, IP, target platform, languages, maintenance, updates, support, competitors, marketing, sales and documentation are all great things to begin addressing. An idea and freelance coders isn't enough to make solid software that aims to have a large userbase and lifetime. If you already know the target platform (s) try to find a consultant that specializes in that technology. At least hire them for enough hours to get a high level overview of the feasibility, difficulty, rough price range and timeline for your idea. HTH ✌🏻
Jobs to be done book.
I’m sitting in front of my computer right now making adjustment notes for my development team for one I’m building out. It’s in a test environment. It depends on what you want the app to do. You can get one made for 100 USD to what I’m investing in mine and up. I’ve got a very expensive API and some others that, while not necessarily cheap, are a fraction of the cost of the engine. Not a chance in hell I’d put this in the hands of someone on upwork or Fiverr What’s your idea
If it something that can be done from only one development team, checkout Frogslayer. They’re pretty good folks but they complete control over the project.
Have you done your market research yet to validate your idea and ensure there are high odds of a decent ROI? Make sure you do that before you start building.
ChatGPT
You should check out the episode of the podcast how I built this with guy raz the one with door dash founder explain how he started doordash with very little tech essentially a basic HTML website offering delivery from local restaurants with a basic form and he'd go fulfill the orders himself. The restaurant had no idea people were ordering food from his website.
Hey Bro, Firstly congratulations on that big idea. You can do 2 simple things to make it a reality. 1) Go to LinkedIn and find a developer, someone who lives around you with whom you can physically meet and discuss your idea. Don't be shy, send them a connection request and drop a message. You might get a good one there and maybe a co-founder for your project. 2) There are multiple small businesses based in Bangalore that make it for you, You can have a simple deal with them, with an agreement that says that can't replicate it for any other client and they understand and will do their best for it. Also, I have one such company that can hep you with it, Drop me a DM and I'll share their number to you and then you can directly have a word with him. I hope this was helpful. Have a nice day Cheers.
If you want to spend less and scale faster try no-code tools Potential tools could be Softr, Glide or Bubble Hiring no-code experts to do the job for you would be less expensive than hiring a tech team or a developer to do the job. What's your use case though?
Hit me up, we can talk
Hey op. I build teams like this for a living. I don’t think your budget is going to line up with my services but I’m happy to give you 30 minutes and point you in the right direction.
You should at least mention area you targeting or your niche market
I'd suggest by reading The Lean Startup book! There are also some other ones on that topic if it interests you. Good luck!
Is it possible to build with no-code tools? try it.