howdy,<p>I recently launched a website this past spring (www.gradfly.co) to narrow the gap between hardware and software developers. It's a pivot from another concept we were working on. I'm trying to see whether there's truly a need for this before I invest more time and money into it.<p>In a nutshell, it's a repository and QA forum for hardware projects like Github and Stack Overflow are for code. It would be a site where professional and enthusiast developers (both hardware and software) come together to collaborate and become part of a "crowd-instructing" community. You'd find resources, talent, and example projects to help with products or concepts you're trying to design.<p>Any thoughts or suggestions would be awesome.<p>Thanks!
First, let me say that ideas like this are near and dear to my heart. As a software dev with a hardware background who's worked in Embedded Systems his entire career, I love this stuff and I enjoy helping people on online forums.<p>That said, I simply won't join a site that doesn't tell me much about what it does before I have to sign up. I need to browse. I need to see what the average level of discourse is. I know what level I want to engage people at and I've been at this long enough to grow tired of the "how do I blink an LED with my Arduino?" questions. Nothing wrong with that -- everyone starts somewhere -- but it's not for me.<p>You're competing with, among others, <a href="http://electronics.stackexchange.com/" rel="nofollow">http://electronics.stackexchange.com/</a> and <a href="http://robotics.stackexchange.com/" rel="nofollow">http://robotics.stackexchange.com/</a> Show me how you're different/better before I decide to sign up.
Serious question - have you asked this question of people who might really have this problem?<p>This is customer development 101.<p>This is a great resource on the topic: <a href="https://blog.kissmetrics.com/26-customer-development-resources/" rel="nofollow">https://blog.kissmetrics.com/26-customer-development-resourc...</a>
Just a quick heads up - check your DNS settings (or however you choose to do it)... <a href="http://gradfly.co/" rel="nofollow">http://gradfly.co/</a> does not resolve. (requires 'www')
The intended market is a Venn diagram of an intersection. of disconnected interests The intended product is a union of solutions to three hard problems.<p>That's not a particularly promising scope.
My two cents: Some screenshots of the Dashboard and webapp interface would be nice. I want to sign up - but not knowing what's behind a walled garden login screen is annoying.
Sounds good and I would use it, I am online a bit concern with the design pattern as it seems like a company site rather than a community platform.<p>All in all, its a good thing :)
definitely but you should have a good plan to monetize - at this point an amazon affilliate or a blog of cat pictures can make u 10k/mo so maybe thats a better site. but if you love the idea and the business you should do it for sure :D