throwaway789123

Totally agree. Would love to hear more about what you're thinking about. Didn't see your contact info listed. How can we keep in touch?

I'll let you know. Send me an email so I know who to update.

I'll see what I can do thanks!

Noted thanks!

You are right. However since my product is a social consumer-facing product, it is harder to validate without having something to show users (and honestly the marketing will be more important here). The customer portion of my app/business comes from the data gathered and it is hard to show how useful that data is without some real examples (and no I'm not gathering this data maliciously).

I will look into making a page like those "Fake it before you make it" MVPs.

Yeah I get what you mean. I have some savings, but this isn't a long-term solution.

Thanks for the advice. I am going through those steps. I emailed a bunch of CS departments and am going to meetups (can't do too many because school takes a lot of my time).

I am really big on the quality and detail of the product so outsourcing is a last resort.

I'm in that rut where customers say "Interesting idea, show me how well it works" and the technical guys say "Show me customers that are onboard before I build the thing".

I get what you are saying though. Obviously having a product to show customers will be huge in acquiring them.

As a student, I can assure you I'm not rich ;)

Unfortunately the character limit on HN made me cut that paragraph out.

I have researched my idea thoroughly. I have the market, the business model, the validation. I have contacts that I have been trying to cultivate with investors, I have the marketing strategy worked out. I have been reading up on design so that I could craft a basic design for my app. I have read everything that I could get my hands on (HN included) to learn about entrepreneurialism, technology, and start-ups.

I didn't mean to imply that CS students aren't entrepreneurial. I just meant that when I talk with the CS students in MY school they aren't entrepreneurial.

Also I only added the "Python(optional)" because that is what I have learned so it would be easier to work with someone who uses it as well.

I have nothing but respect for CS students. Poor phrasing on my part.