As of tomorrow I’ll be focusing the weekly coworking meet on local startups, making a time for them to get together and work in the same space, meet each other, maybe collaborate, or help each other out.
So if you’re a startup, or you’ve got something you want to try and build, come along and say hi.
We meet upstairs at Cafe Delice (map) at 10am every Friday and tend to go on most of the day (but starting early is best!). We’re a small but very welcoming group, with varying levels of experience, and are all at different stages in the lives of our projects.
When I was a chef several years ago, I learned so much (ask me next time we bump into each other). How to cook was only part of it. Long story short, I eventually realised that I’d stopped caring about the food, and that it had become just a job. As soon as you realise that, you can no-longer do the job the same way. You need to give a shit. You need to be part of what you’re doing, and it will be part of you too. So I gave it up. Luckily I soon started to work at Comic Relief.. and during my time in the kitchen I started Loose Connection too.
The reason I started working in the kitchen in the first place was because I wasn’t enjoying the web any more, and I got out of that for the same reason!
Needless to say, I’ve learned a lot from the experiences of all those paths, and am happy to be back in the web/digital industry. I have focus, purpose, experience and (almost most importantly) community.
This is just a list of the things I reckon make the right web-app to build as a startup.
Techie Stuff
only needs a small team. 1-3 people
can go from concept to live in under 3 months
can be bootstrapped, built in spare time
provides a comprehensive and flexible API
doesn’t need to create new technologies
External Interests
doesn’t rely on partners or third parties to work (or is flexible enough to switch easily)
is all about collecting, arranging and presenting data
true viral characteristics
Ideal Business Stuff
fills a user need
can be plugged into existing sites/communities
allows others to monetise or add value to their sites or businesses
(11a). bridges sites or businesses together to create new models and/or revenue streams
..And on a personal note
holds your interest for long enough to see it through
has emotional attachment for the team, you’ve got to love what you’re doing!
In the past I’ve chosen the wrong projects to follow, and more recently I’m presented with a very long list of potential ideas to make a go of. I hope the above list will help in the very early “where do I start?” stages of a startup web-app.
Comment with your additions or things you think aren’t that important, this must be something many of us have to deal with, how do we make the right choice? And conversely sometimes we can have the best idea in the world and just start blindly building without taking some important aspects into consideration, pause for a second and evaluate before getting caught up in the excitement.
UPDATE: (blatant plug) I’ve recently started offering my time consulting on this subject, get in touch if you want to have a chat about your project!
UPDATE 2: (another blatant plug) I think we’ve met these points with likeGinger.
