u/ArrogantAmature

I've got a solid, roughly engineered concept for a device that will work (basically exploiting a marketing opportunity for a combination of components that have been working for a long time). As a reference point, I'll use a contrived example. Let's say you have a home security system for dogs. Everytime someone opens your door (existing sensors) send a signal to an app (existing tech / communication protocols) that set off a high pitched whistle only your dog can here (existing device).

There are patents on every part of this system. There are even "patents" ("" because I'm not sure what is real, dead, beatable, etc) on near exact versions of the *entire* system. However... no one is selling dog alarm (or the actual product I've come up with).

ChatGPT is telling me that we can cleverly file a patent based on our unique combination of these things, but obviously I don't trust it. So my questions are

• how do I meaningfully QUALIFY existing patents / prior art? Is it black and white "it exists, so they win"? I'd assume not, but I'm nos sure which part of an existing patent are squishy. For instance, could I say "oh this is 9 years old and filed in Delaware therefore it's somehow less valid" or "there are 5 similar patents so no one is enforcing these against one another" or ... I don't know.
• Assuming the patents are NOT squishy, is this an "ask for forgiveness, not permission" situation?
• other things i don't know?

I have an idea that will require contracting an engineer, doing some market testing, and filing a patent all BEFORE I start selling (I think). What's the standard order of opperations for the following?

For context I'm certain my product will physically work (as in turn on and do the thing, not "work as a business") existing products has proven as much. Mine will be marginally different and require a software integration that I'll probably do myself. How would you reshuffle the following? What would you add?

• Hire an engineer to make me a prototype. That does X thing and outputs Y data to my API.
• File a patent of some type
• Do a paid market test (landing page for pre-orders to gauge interest, PPC ads)

My instinct is to start with the market research. I'm concerned someone searching for the thing will say "Pre-launch? I can do this faster"

I was on the pro max plan and ended up with $1,566.02 of available overage tokens (expressed in dollar amount) that I have been unable to use for months. Here is how the issue has unfolded

1. I use up all my tokens for a given period. I am prompted to buy more to keep working.
2. I purchase (e.g.) $100 in overage tokens.
3. I work for a while, using $20 in overage tokens.
4. A few days pass, my weekly limit clears and I'm able to start using the SUBSCRIPTION tokens again.
5. rinse and repeat for about 5 months. I now have all these dollars invested, but I realize the balance never draws down. I'm always prompted to buy more tokens when hitting any limit, and I do because I need to keep working.
6. I reach out to customer support (AI) which tries to explain the difference between weekly caps and monthly credits. I point out that in both cases, my backlog of purchased tokens remains unavailable. The AI agent says something like "oh that does seem like a bug. I'll escalate this."
7. Within a day or two I receive and email letting me know my issue has been closed. No human response.

Has anyone else experienced this? I want a refund, but I'd settle for a coherent explanation, or a credit against my API per-usage account. I don't know what to do, but I'm shocked. I haven't tried disputing with my bank yet... that's tricky because these were several small purchases over many months. Do I have any recourse here? Small claims court?

Hey all, new here sorry if this is a dupe.

Context; I recently built a Saas product that (accidentally) ended up being an ugly (but more fully featured) clone of Buildpad. After I built it I realized had no idea how to launch. It was like being 16 year old me in my garage with 20 songs written and no shows booked, same energy. So I started doing market research and that was how I discovered that there was a successful incumbent that was almost 1 to 1 with my app. I decided the lesson was that I did what I like to do first (build) and avoided what confused / scared me (market), and that was probably backwards, and for my next project I want to get it right.

I'm not an entrepreneur (yet (I can still barely spell it)), I'm a software engineer trying to get on with my life. I've got a list of other good ideas I'm ready to build, but I want to avoid the mistake I made with my last app. To that end I've been churning through a lot of conflicting advice about the best ways to do market research and draw an early audience. The conventional product wisdom (as I understand it, I'm still learning) is to

1. find a problem
2. sketch a solution (don't build)
3. test the hypothesis in public (user interviews, manual onboarding, free work)
4. collect feedback and iterate
5. full launch, leverage early adopters as proof of concept, marketing sprint.

This makes sense, but leaves me with a few questions. Specifically *where* do i test my hypothesis? again, conventional wisdom is "go post in reddit communities" or similar, but in the age of AI summaries and strict moderation I'm finding it difficult to just waltz into a room and put my hand up. It seems like the system has evolved to discourage dumb questions. Problem is, that's all I currently have.

So that leaves me considering the other prominent school of thought I've seen toted around, which is essentially "build first then farm for customers". This is the mistake I just made, or is it? AI let's us build rapidly, so maybe this is less crazy than it used to be? Something like...

1. build an MVP (what i did)
2. get on social media and show it off (where I stopped after I realized Buildpad existed).
3. DM people or post in communities to try it (similar to interviewing on the idea, but now you've got an MVP)
4. iterate, profit, etc.

I'm suspicious of this later method because it's the one most often pushed by the "BECOME A MILLIONAIRE IN 24 HOURS WITH CHATGPT" crowd. But I also can see the reason in it, and AI has and still is changing the game every day.

So the question is... to MVP or not to MVP? Do i run into a community forum with nothing more than an idea and be for feedback? Or do i build an MVP and get out there trying to prove value? And how do i actually get in front of these communities? do i just keep posting till one get's attention?

Or (entirely likely) something else? I don't know. This is a dumb question, by design, so please feel free to treat it as such and school me in anyway that seems fit. And let me point to the elephant in the room - I'm shy and afraid of rejection ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. This whole "ask dumb questions to find an audience" thing confuses and intimidates me. I can do it.. but I suppose I'm looking for advice. 💖

Hey all, new here sorry if this is a dupe.

Context; I recently built a Saas product that (accidentally) ended up being an ugly (but more fully featured) clone of Buildpad. After I built it I realized had no idea how to launch. It was like being 16 year old me in my garage with 20 songs written and no shows booked, same energy. So I started doing market research and that was how I discovered that there was a successful incumbent that was almost 1 to 1 with my app. I decided the lesson was that I did what I like to do first (build) and avoided what confused / scared me (market), and that was probably backwards, and for my next project I want to get it right.

I'm not an entrepreneur (yet (I can still barely spell it)), I'm a software engineer trying to get on with my life. I've got a list of other good ideas I'm ready to build, but I want to avoid the mistake I made with my last app. To that end I've been churning through a lot of conflicting advice about the best ways to do market research and draw an early audience. The conventional product wisdom (as I understand it, I'm still learning) is to

1. find a problem
2. sketch a solution (don't build)
3. test the hypothesis in public (user interviews, manual onboarding, free work)
4. collect feedback and iterate
5. full launch, leverage early adopters as proof of concept, marketing sprint.

This makes sense, but leaves me with a few questions. Specifically *where* do i test my hypothesis? again, conventional wisdom is "go post in reddit communities" or similar, but in the age of AI summaries and strict moderation I'm finding it difficult to just waltz into a room and put my hand up. It seems like the system has evolved to discourage dumb questions. Problem is, that's all I currently have.

So that leaves me considering the other prominent school of thought I've seen toted around, which is essentially "build first then farm for customers". This is the mistake I just made, or is it? AI let's us build rapidly, so maybe this is less crazy than it used to be? Something like...

1. build an MVP (what i did)
2. get on social media and show it off (where I stopped after I realized Buildpad existed).
3. DM people or post in communities to try it (similar to interviewing on the idea, but now you've got an MVP)
4. iterate, profit, etc.

I'm suspicious of this later method because it's the one most often pushed by the "BECOME A MILLIONAIRE IN 24 HOURS WITH CHATGPT" crowd. But I also can see the reason in it, and AI has and still is changing the game every day.

So the question is... to MVP or not to MVP? Do i run into a community forum with nothing more than an idea and be for feedback? Or do i build an MVP and get out there trying to prove value? And how do i actually get in front of these communities? do i just keep posting till one get's attention?

Or (entirely likely) something else? I don't know. This is a dumb question, by design, so please feel free to treat it as such and school me in anyway that seems fit. And let me point to the elephant in the room - I'm shy and afraid of rejection ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. This whole "ask dumb questions to find an audience" thing confuses and intimidates me. I can do it.. but I suppose I'm looking for advice. 💖