Ask HN: What are your biggest roadblocks when building a new project/SaaS?
I find that auth is always a personal pain point whenever I start a new side project. I'm curious what other people find as their common stumbling points.
28 comments
Myself.
The Process is usually
1 - Think of idea
2 - Research idea
3 - Continue researching the idea for several months, promising myself that the more information I have, the better equipped I'll be to tackle the project
4 - Idea goes from "Simple idea X" to "This will be the new Google"
5 - Get so wrapped up in the previous stage that I lose track of the simple original idea.
6 - Get overwhelmed
7 - Begin to think "Well, X does this idea better anyway, why even bother?"
8 - Sulk
9 - Forget idea
10 GOTO 1
The Process is usually
1 - Think of idea
2 - Research idea
3 - Continue researching the idea for several months, promising myself that the more information I have, the better equipped I'll be to tackle the project
4 - Idea goes from "Simple idea X" to "This will be the new Google"
5 - Get so wrapped up in the previous stage that I lose track of the simple original idea.
6 - Get overwhelmed
7 - Begin to think "Well, X does this idea better anyway, why even bother?"
8 - Sulk
9 - Forget idea
10 GOTO 1
Damn it you speak my language.
Just start with #1 and then maybe put out an email signup and some google ads for #2 and then go from there. Don't overthink it.
This is right on. After reading the other thread on the front page right now about independent and successful makers, I noticed a pattern.
Most of the ideas seem to be: find niche, validate with a few customers, then just push for a few years till it works at scale. Skipping the months of research and everything else after step 2.
Most of the ideas seem to be: find niche, validate with a few customers, then just push for a few years till it works at scale. Skipping the months of research and everything else after step 2.
here's the thing, are you saying that number 3 (aka research), is not necessary? because i think reading and knowing the domain you want to deal with is extremely important, and really before anything, number 3 should tell you whether this is a worthwhile pursuit or not
I definitely resonate with this.
The last stage of building the thing (say there are four stages), which always seems to take me at least 50% of the total build time. That involves force-grinding my way through many of the things I enjoy the least, some of which I intentionally leave for the end. It involves a lot of small adjustments, going back over things I intentionally left half-baked as a stand-in, bug fixes (I include fixing UI & UX problems or flaws with that), trimming down unnecessary bloat in the CSS & JS, doing a double or triple check on security, double checking legal, double checking database performance (making sure there are no obvious bottlenecks), finalizing user guides (FAQs, etc etc), and doing a lot of full run-throughs on the product from initial sign-up onward. Also just generally trying to find aspects I can break in the system, simulating as a normal user. I dislike the time sink of all of that, even though it's necessary. My productivity drops considerably with my dislike of the process of pushing through the things I hate doing.
I built an auth system seven or eight years ago that I regularly evolve and reuse. That goes into place on the first day, with usually minor adjustments per project and it just works. Before that auth was always an annoying chore.
I built an auth system seven or eight years ago that I regularly evolve and reuse. That goes into place on the first day, with usually minor adjustments per project and it just works. Before that auth was always an annoying chore.
+1 to building an auth and evolving it.
I do the same thing and do it for the entire “core”. Templating, session management, database tie in (all for a stateless, cloud app).
I improve it every project and it’s easy to start from there than scratch. I don’t like using available base code due to not needing 90% of features and it always feels like bloat.
I do the same thing and do it for the entire “core”. Templating, session management, database tie in (all for a stateless, cloud app).
I improve it every project and it’s easy to start from there than scratch. I don’t like using available base code due to not needing 90% of features and it always feels like bloat.
Usually, when I have a "good" idea, I set myself a big milestone and work extremely hard and focused towards it.
Its usually new tech or in a new domain so I do all the research and get the workflow from beginning to end working.
The problem is, this milestone is usually 85% of a prototype and 20% of a product. And at this point all the fun and motivation is gone and "launching" was never so interesting to me as "getting this finally to work".
So usually I commit my code at this point, push it and go do something else. :)
Honestly it only ever worked once for me and that was when I showed the prototype to an audience and they kept me motivated to keep going but I have a feeling this is not the best way to go about it.
Its usually new tech or in a new domain so I do all the research and get the workflow from beginning to end working.
The problem is, this milestone is usually 85% of a prototype and 20% of a product. And at this point all the fun and motivation is gone and "launching" was never so interesting to me as "getting this finally to work".
So usually I commit my code at this point, push it and go do something else. :)
Honestly it only ever worked once for me and that was when I showed the prototype to an audience and they kept me motivated to keep going but I have a feeling this is not the best way to go about it.
> Honestly it only ever worked once for me and that was when I showed the prototype to an audience and they kept me motivated to keep going but I have a feeling this is not the best way to go about it.
To me this seems like the way to go - build a prototype and get it out there as soon as you can. The feedback will keep you motivated, show you if the product is good/useful/needed, and guide you on what direction to go next.
To me this seems like the way to go - build a prototype and get it out there as soon as you can. The feedback will keep you motivated, show you if the product is good/useful/needed, and guide you on what direction to go next.
I tend to use Rails for new projects, and the devise gem is pretty straightforward for auth, so that part is covered.
On Node.js projects, using passport isn't quite as easy, so that is a bit of a pain point.
My biggest stumbling point is probably the UI - it's easier for me to work with something that "looks" like a finished project, than it is to work with plain basic Bootstrap 4.
On Node.js projects, using passport isn't quite as easy, so that is a bit of a pain point.
My biggest stumbling point is probably the UI - it's easier for me to work with something that "looks" like a finished project, than it is to work with plain basic Bootstrap 4.
May be you should just buy a them from themeforest.
After launching 4 products(launched the latest, a couple of months back) in 5 years (1.5y full time Masters). Here is what I realized
1. what is the motivation - a pain killer or a vitamin
2. Decide - Is this to add income to your regular job
3. Decide - If not 2, think of cost to run it
4. Decide - How do you want to manage this, when you wake up next day with another cash cow SAAS idea
5. clarity - time you want to spend on this EVERY DAY, to not regret later
6. Decide - What is that only feature you want to release in the MVP
7. Set - timelines, STOP pressing yourself into the stress; easy goals and relaxed timelines
9. Launch - no better place than HN to release MVP
Why "what is the motivation - a pain killer or a vitamin" what does this mean. Could you please clarify.
I meant to re-think on the problem you are solving. Will it be used as a pain killer or a supplement.
Often, people ignore supplements, cannot ignore the pain killer.
Eg: Yelp (pain killer) solved the pain by putting all restaurants together. I built a (vitamin) plugin (lemony - chrome extension), to display restaurant's FDA ratings - while you can't completely ignore FDA ratings but easy to overlook.
Often, people ignore supplements, cannot ignore the pain killer.
Eg: Yelp (pain killer) solved the pain by putting all restaurants together. I built a (vitamin) plugin (lemony - chrome extension), to display restaurant's FDA ratings - while you can't completely ignore FDA ratings but easy to overlook.
Managing my personal psychology, of staying on task, holding a whip against myself to work on what's important.
I generally find other people to hit me with a broom until I finish the project I'm currently working on.
This is not renewable because generally these people don't fully understand the product I am building and at the same time the whole broom as a service does get expensive.
I think if we can get too the point where we distribute the brooms in such a way that people do not need a third party for their sweeping needs that humanity as a whole might finally be able to finish a project.
Payment processing and managing subscriptions. Huge time sinks, and the off-the-shelf solutions to these problems generally range from bad to awful (not helped in the former case by industry and government rules that make actually good implementation all but impossible).
Cutting myself off and just shipping it. It can’t be understated how important it is to cut your own scope and get something useful out there. The feedback and validation you get will keep you going or force you to pivot to something else. This runs counter to the exploratory, learning nature to building something new, but i think it’s possible to balance. For example, for this feature I’m going to noodle on and play with for a while, but for this other feature I’m going to deploy a 0.1 version of it immediately, and then a 0.2 the next week, etc. It’s amazing the half-baked shit I’ve pumped out that someone out there has loved and wanted more of, which in turn motivated me to keep going and improve the experience.
Finding a competitor and thinking "this thing already looks good has the features I would build and already has a team working on it, why not use this?" and I can't counter my own argument. Into the bin it goes and Netflix binging begins.
You seem to be doing it wrong. You should try to find an organic problem that you can’t find a good solution for, than solve that problem.
My biggest hurdle is what Steven Pressfield calls the resistance. I come up with project ideas, get started and then start procrastinating. Coming back from the working and getting to work on my side project tops the list of hurdles, UI/UX is at the second place but far from the top.
My pain point are the last 10% of a project. Stuff you couldn't figure out yet, obscure bugs and being stuck.
Building a quick MVP and running closed alpha/beta tests helps me push through it though. Getting feedback on your project and feeling some kind of progress is a great cure.
Building a quick MVP and running closed alpha/beta tests helps me push through it though. Getting feedback on your project and feeling some kind of progress is a great cure.
The distance or timesink which is the full route from
1. db model
2. orm/client mapping
3. some sort of ui that can crud the above
1. db model
2. orm/client mapping
3. some sort of ui that can crud the above
Market validation.
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