Anyone with money can put execution into an idea. If I were to start from scratch by myself it would take at least another year of learning how to code and who knows what the market will look like then. If I need money, I gotta ask those who have it and face some amount of risk no matter what idea I have. But this is not what this discussion is about, it's a risk I have to take. I read both books btw.
The app is not the next facebook, I'm sure there are some Chinese already trying this out and having good success. Without going into much detail, we are taking the market from the current top entertainment apps, seeing what need they satisfy, and give it a new twist that we believe will improve user experience.
I'm trying things out with the tools I have access to from the position I am in. My only question is if you think that's something you'd pursue too or if you'd do something else instead. This won't change what I'm going to do, I will just use the information to get a better understanding of the whole situation.
Have you interacted with the market at all before investing this much cash into developing an app? You need soft proof that your solution to a problem is valuable before even worrying about developing a full-fledged app, getting investors, a team, etc. Are you guessing that there is a Chinese version out there? Or is there actually one, that you're now trying to bring to US market?
I cannot tell you what I would do in your situation because A.) I don't know enough about it and B.) I wouldn't put myself in your situation in the first place.
The way I would've done this (before putting in $2k) would've been something like this:
1. Talk to peers, strangers, etc. and see what they think
2. Regardless of their response, build a landing page for the app that collects emails
3. GO TO the market, whoever that may be and wherever they may congregate (online or offline), and present them your concept.
4. Direct paid, targeted traffic to your landing page and see how many people sign up.
MJ has a section in UNSCRIPTED I believe around page 260 (I don't have my copy with me right now) that describes various methods of achieving soft proof.
You can also look at distribution channels (are their other products out there? how are the reviews? how many reviews?)
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