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- Sep 6, 2013
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I want to create this process thread to as one, a way of documenting the growth of the product and two, to help others who maybe looking to create their own tech product.
For obvious reasons I will not be disclosing the product until it is out of beta and fully released.
Back story:
I am professional front end developer and get many offers to help code peoples websites and applications. I was approached by, my now business partner, last year regarding an online service they'd like to create but needed to wait 6 months before they wanted to really get on it.
The product is 'fastlane'. We'd have full control of all the prices, marketing and customers. The entry barrier is really high and the logic needed to create the application is super technical and it will take a lot of selling to get it into the market. Once the application is up it will required less of our time and can be scaled from 0 - millions. There is a big need within a certain niche. Best of all the product will really save time and money for the client using it and can see it really helping many people globally. It should also stop shady activity in this niche.
Current Successes:
We now have a fully functioning MVP. For all the techies interested I have created an Isomorphic Frontend with React/Redux and a Node API as the backend. Currently as we're in beta, we are letting people use it for free. We will also be asking for feedback all the time to tailor the application to customer wants / needs.
Current Failures:
Here are some failures that I think could really help people:
- If you're creating a tech product, really plan before hand. Plan the different pages you'll need, routes, user types, plan your backend. I only planned slightly and have been going backwards and forwards adjusting code I would have done right the first time had I properly planned.
- Don't spend time on overly fancy designing. You'll need it to be functional and the UX to not be unusable, but if you're taking too long deciding on the colour of a button you're action faking. I put my hands up and say I have done this on the project and really no one cares if you're product adds value. On the flip side we got our first client because ours is simple to use, gets to the point and has a clean design.
- Set a release date and stick to it. I started this product in March. I have done more in the last two weeks than the last two months by setting the target of getting the product released on the 3rd July. My business partner got the new client for that date so I have had to finish it. We're now testing it ready for it's release next Monday.
- Listen to your body. I have been working 16 - 17 hour days for around 3 months to get the MVP built and as I code for my job it has been a little bit code overload. If you can't work because you're brain is no longer functioning then stop... I took one week off and my productivity when I got back sky rocketed. Breaks are necessary. I think we find it hard to stop when you have people like Gary V telling you to not sleep or work till 2 in the morning then get up at 7... It may work for some but for me there's no point me working if I'm tired.
Next Steps:
Our next steps are to make sure there are no bugs for the release next Monday and also plan the features that will be added after this date. I will be adding any progress we have here plus any failures.
Thank you for reading!
For obvious reasons I will not be disclosing the product until it is out of beta and fully released.
Back story:
I am professional front end developer and get many offers to help code peoples websites and applications. I was approached by, my now business partner, last year regarding an online service they'd like to create but needed to wait 6 months before they wanted to really get on it.
The product is 'fastlane'. We'd have full control of all the prices, marketing and customers. The entry barrier is really high and the logic needed to create the application is super technical and it will take a lot of selling to get it into the market. Once the application is up it will required less of our time and can be scaled from 0 - millions. There is a big need within a certain niche. Best of all the product will really save time and money for the client using it and can see it really helping many people globally. It should also stop shady activity in this niche.
Current Successes:
We now have a fully functioning MVP. For all the techies interested I have created an Isomorphic Frontend with React/Redux and a Node API as the backend. Currently as we're in beta, we are letting people use it for free. We will also be asking for feedback all the time to tailor the application to customer wants / needs.
Current Failures:
Here are some failures that I think could really help people:
- If you're creating a tech product, really plan before hand. Plan the different pages you'll need, routes, user types, plan your backend. I only planned slightly and have been going backwards and forwards adjusting code I would have done right the first time had I properly planned.
- Don't spend time on overly fancy designing. You'll need it to be functional and the UX to not be unusable, but if you're taking too long deciding on the colour of a button you're action faking. I put my hands up and say I have done this on the project and really no one cares if you're product adds value. On the flip side we got our first client because ours is simple to use, gets to the point and has a clean design.
- Set a release date and stick to it. I started this product in March. I have done more in the last two weeks than the last two months by setting the target of getting the product released on the 3rd July. My business partner got the new client for that date so I have had to finish it. We're now testing it ready for it's release next Monday.
- Listen to your body. I have been working 16 - 17 hour days for around 3 months to get the MVP built and as I code for my job it has been a little bit code overload. If you can't work because you're brain is no longer functioning then stop... I took one week off and my productivity when I got back sky rocketed. Breaks are necessary. I think we find it hard to stop when you have people like Gary V telling you to not sleep or work till 2 in the morning then get up at 7... It may work for some but for me there's no point me working if I'm tired.
Next Steps:
Our next steps are to make sure there are no bugs for the release next Monday and also plan the features that will be added after this date. I will be adding any progress we have here plus any failures.
Thank you for reading!
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