Ask HN: Where to go next with my prototype

[da288]

Hi,

Newbie here. I've spun off my university project into a web prototype that I want to launch eventually, and I've submitted it in the current YC batch. I'm pretty good with it so I've got it hosted, put up a fairly basic (1 person usable) proof of concept prototype. It's also innovative (sorry guys, can't give too many specifics yet). However, I'm not experienced when it comes to rolling out on a mass public scale technically i.e. hosting scalability (cloud?), security, concurrency, redundancy, integration with facebook etc. With the odds for YC against me (as a single founder, not on the strength of my application I would hope), I need a little advice on how to proceed ahead for a Plan B case. I have experience with databases, websites and authentication and I could realistically scale the technology to a private beta phase... beyond that, having someone experienced on the deploy side would be incredibly useful. How do new startups deal with this?

ps: If you're an HNer in/around London (England) with strong Flash (AS3) skills, taken a web 2.0 from prototype to public beta, (massive bonus if you can do iPhone apps), and keen to get involved in an innovative concept, please do get in touch!

[sgrove]

First, if you're looking to get any interest at all, you'll have to divulge more information. Anyone with the experience and skills to help you out has come across hundreds of (or likely has their own) ideas to execute on, and nothing you've said will make yours stand out.

Second, each of the points you're looking to learn about are simply a matter of googling a bit. Without knowing your backend, it's hard to tell you to either go use Heroku, or slicehost, or ec2. Security is highly context-dependent. And so on.

Anyway, it's very cool that you've taken your university project and have built on it, so congrats on that front. Often times the best ideas come from that setting.

Just share a bit more with us :)

[singer]

"sorry guys, can't give too many specifics yet"

Ideas are a dime a dozen. The real value is in the execution. Execution is nearly impossible to duplicate.

[da288]

Thank you, and I completely agree if I was aiming to be the next eBay execution would be absolutely paramount. However, my (working) prototype is inherently novel and specific to the extent that there is limited scope for messing up the execution, and as a corollary there is a limited number of ways in which you would use/consume it. Sorry to be vague but I'll release more info one of these days once I figure out where to go with it!