Of Ideas and Hurdles

[prodnutz]

Greetings TFLF,

I would like to share something.

What I’ve Accomplished

I had a desire to create something and learn how to code. So, I delved into web development and developed a tool. It essentially performs some simple calculations to compare Distribution System Operators . There is some value in it and potential to add more features. Starting from scratch and figuring things out along the way was quite enjoyable. I believe things would have been different a few years ago, as AI has saved me from some frustrating research. My stack is also quite beginner-friendly; I used Next.js for the UI and Firebase Firestore for the backend.

My tool does what it’s designed to do, and I was prepared to build the “extras” around it, such as a landing page, contact form, and so forth. The idea was to launch the tool, hope for some feedback, and develop based on that feedback to create something people would be willing to pay for. So far, it’s all very basic, I suppose.

While researching how a proper landing page should look and what to consider when launching a website, I stumbled upon the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU and the myriad of requirements for owning a website. My issue is that I’m in the EU and planning on using Google services like Firebase backend and Google Analytics, which can be problematic for privacy reasons. Additionally, some legal notices are required. In summary, there are significant systemic hurdles that can prevent one from trying, failing, learning, and eventually succeeding.

My Dilemma

I would appreciate it if people with experience could share their insights on how they navigated regulatory “hurdles”, especially regarding the EU and/or GDPR. However, this is not the main purpose of my post.

It’s more about mindset and how one approaches problems that are not directly related to creating a great product or service, but rather to how to “submit to authority”. This part of the journey is something gurus don’t post much about. I get that. An article about a successful product launch is far more appealing than a post about how one managed to complete all the necessary legal tasks to avoid getting sued. But in my opinion, this is something that will become mandatory sooner or later. I get the feeling that it’s either you go all in, hire lawyers, and register a company, or you will never be able to just “try something out”, even before thinking of an MVP. Perhaps I’m lacking the proper entrepreneurial mindset or am stuck in a sort of analysis paralysis. If anyone else is facing the same issues, I would appreciate it if you could respond. If not, that’s also fine.

How I Plan to Proceed

There are several options:

• Ignore the requirements and risk legal proceedings,
• Hire a lawyer to create the required legal notices,
• Abandon the project and look for the next thing to get stuck on,
• Continue development (without proper feedback),
• And so on…

Given this, I’m tempted to do more research and work on a better tool that’s worth the hassle related to the GDPR and probably more challenges I’ll have to face, or look for another project.

Some of my takeaways are that creating a solution is just one of many steps, there is a higher (regulatory) power that cannot be denied, and at the very least, I’ve learned something.

Cheers for reading!

 

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