Thanks so much for the quick and detailed reply! I agree I haven’t provided enough info yet to let you (or anyone) answer the question well. This is mostly because I came up with my real idea very recently, and I’m a total rookie in this field so almost everything is an “unknown unknown” to me at this point. Also, for now I want to avoid giving too many details, until I’ve worked out the idea more fully.
But to address some of your points and provide some additional info that may be helpful:
It’s great to know that edge cases and polish result in a substantial cost inflation. This is something I wouldn’t have predicted. Providing a simple and intuitive user experience would be crucial to this idea, and I would be willing to spend extra time and resources to make the user experience as seamless as possible. In my (admittedly naive) mind, I’m imagining making a fairly optimized and well designed user interface, letting test users play with it and give feedback, then ultimately releasing a very professional and intuitive final version to the public. As you mentioned, I’m sure I would need a lot of help with graphic design and product design, since I’ve never done this. (Side note: is UX user experience?)
I’m not in a rush to get this to market quickly—as I said I think it’s more important to prioritize quality over a quick rollout.
I also plan to give users very limited options for how to interact with the app. Simplicity and making it obvious how to do what they want to do is key.
Regarding payments, I would need to be able to accept payments from individual users, and make payments either to other users or to companies. The idea is to provide a service where individual users would sign up for an automatic monthly subscription by whatever method is easiest for them (credit card, Paypal, etc.)
Hope this helps and I’d be happy to hear any further suggestions!
“And make payments” implies network effects, which has a chicken+egg problem of needing both payees and payers in sufficient quantity to warrant signing up (or N times more work to interface with N different payees existing payment front ends without their help)
Not recommend for a “first good idea”
Also, too, your kernel of an idea isn’t that special. Probably half the people on LessWrong could have thought of it, if they gave 5 minutes of thought to whatever domain its in. All the value is in coordinating the execution, not in coming up with “hey, what if you could pay some rando who was already going downtown to drive you downtown, instead of (trying to) hire a cab?”
Also, too, your kernel of an idea isn’t that special. Probably half the people on LessWrong could have thought of it, if they gave 5 minutes of thought to whatever domain its in.
Totally agree. But remember—the vaccine app isn’t my real idea. It’s the idea I came up with to use as an example after 5 minutes of thought :)
I really appreciate all your comments and taking the time to engage with this. They’re helping me think about the actual idea I have in mind much more clearly and in more detail. Thank you!
Thanks so much for the quick and detailed reply! I agree I haven’t provided enough info yet to let you (or anyone) answer the question well. This is mostly because I came up with my real idea very recently, and I’m a total rookie in this field so almost everything is an “unknown unknown” to me at this point. Also, for now I want to avoid giving too many details, until I’ve worked out the idea more fully.
But to address some of your points and provide some additional info that may be helpful:
It’s great to know that edge cases and polish result in a substantial cost inflation. This is something I wouldn’t have predicted. Providing a simple and intuitive user experience would be crucial to this idea, and I would be willing to spend extra time and resources to make the user experience as seamless as possible. In my (admittedly naive) mind, I’m imagining making a fairly optimized and well designed user interface, letting test users play with it and give feedback, then ultimately releasing a very professional and intuitive final version to the public. As you mentioned, I’m sure I would need a lot of help with graphic design and product design, since I’ve never done this. (Side note: is UX user experience?)
I’m not in a rush to get this to market quickly—as I said I think it’s more important to prioritize quality over a quick rollout.
I also plan to give users very limited options for how to interact with the app. Simplicity and making it obvious how to do what they want to do is key.
Regarding payments, I would need to be able to accept payments from individual users, and make payments either to other users or to companies. The idea is to provide a service where individual users would sign up for an automatic monthly subscription by whatever method is easiest for them (credit card, Paypal, etc.)
Hope this helps and I’d be happy to hear any further suggestions!
“And make payments” implies network effects, which has a chicken+egg problem of needing both payees and payers in sufficient quantity to warrant signing up (or N times more work to interface with N different payees existing payment front ends without their help) Not recommend for a “first good idea”
Also, too, your kernel of an idea isn’t that special. Probably half the people on LessWrong could have thought of it, if they gave 5 minutes of thought to whatever domain its in. All the value is in coordinating the execution, not in coming up with “hey, what if you could pay some rando who was already going downtown to drive you downtown, instead of (trying to) hire a cab?”
Totally agree. But remember—the vaccine app isn’t my real idea. It’s the idea I came up with to use as an example after 5 minutes of thought :)
I really appreciate all your comments and taking the time to engage with this. They’re helping me think about the actual idea I have in mind much more clearly and in more detail. Thank you!