[softwarebeware]

I actually agree with this. There are a bunch of low-cost ways to prototype and collect user feedback. The paper notebook idea could have started with surveying people and finding if anyone actually existed who say it would be useful and they would pay for it. Or even just launch a one-page product site with an email sign-up list to get notified when the alpha version releases and wait until it reached some critical mass. All of this would have taken less investment than actually building it first lol.

[criddell]

> It's a paradox, but I've found that my best ideas now come from building other ideas.

Building and failing and building and failing might be a faster way of getting to something great than vetting, vetting, vetting, building, vetting, vetting building...

[tchock23]

It’s only faster if you have the skills personally to build (which is many, but not all, HN users). If you don’t then vetting is a better place to start.

[acuozzo]

You have to, at the very least, vet the problem domain first though, no?

Building hundreds of AviSynth filters won't bring in a cent.

[criddell]

Part of this is learning from the “failures”. If you are building AviSynth filter #742, then maybe you are skipping that step.

On the other hand, if you are having fun and learning something along the way, who cares?