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airstrikeyesterday at 9:11 PM1 replyview on HN

I think if you have no domain expertise or unique insight it will be quite hard to find a real pain point to solve, deliver a winning solution, and have the ability to sell it.

Not impossible, but very hard. And starting a company is hard enough as it is.

So 9/10 times the answer will be to partner with someone who understands the space and pain point, preferably one who has lived it, or find an easier problem to solve.


Replies

joshvmyesterday at 11:26 PM

I would also split the concerns:

1. Compliancy with relevant standards. HIPAA, GDPR, ISO, military, legal, etc. Realistically you're going to outsource this or hire someone who knows how to build it, and then you're going to pay an agency to confirm that you're compliant. You also need to consider whether the incumbent solution is a trust-based solution, like the old "nobody gets fired for buying Intel".

2. Domain expertise is always easier if you have a domain expert. Big companies also outsource market research. They'll go to a firm like GLG, pay for some expert's time or commission a survey.

It seems like table stakes to do some basic research on your own to see what software (or solutions) exist and why everyone uses them, and why competitors failed. That should cost you nothing but time, and maybe expense if you buy some software. In a lot of fields even browsing some forums or Reddit is enough. The difference is if you have a working product that's generic enough to be useful to other domains, but you're not sure. Then you might be able to arrange some sort of quid pro quo like a trial where the partner gets to keep some output/analysis, and you get some real-world testing and feedback.