Show HN: We Got Sick of Giving Out 'Ballpark Estimates' So We Built This
buildmymvp.comLooks very similar to http://howmuchtomakeanapp.com/ and appears to exist primary to upsell the user at the end to the paid service.
Weirdly enough, both websites use this exact same quote: "This means you'll need to make an API (application programming interface). It's how all your friendly apps talk to each other."
Either plagiarism was involved, or there's some underlying library that's the same for both, or they both hired the same company to build their MVP ;)
HowMuchToMakeAnApp is by "Commite, a digital studio specialized in driving ideas from inception to launch" based out of "Seville, San Francisco & New York".
BuildMyMVP is made by "ProductDone a digital studio based in Auckland, New Zealand".
The two sites side by side: https://imgur.com/a/e7OVYVa
If you do a search on the second sentence: "It's how all your friendly apps talk to each other." You'll find at least 10 other cost calculator websites that all use that exact sentence to explain the term API. It also shows how flooded the web is with sites like this.
Nice find.
This is spam. There's literally nothing original or unique about this site, no accompanying details on how they made it or anything you'd usually expect on HN. The site itself is a cookie-cutter clone of dozens like it, and exists solely to upsell people to a paid service.
It's happening lots lately too. Look at the Gmail spam-tool that got to the top of the front page earlier, or any number of posts lately that are just people gaming HN's front page to get free clicks to their service.
Pretty incredible to have the audacity to showcase a plagiarized site in a bid to win customers. As a consultant, the last thing I would ever want associated with my reputation is taking shortcuts.
These things never work out well. Picking out options for an app the same way you'd pick options for an automobile implies the work is fairly well siloed and commoditized. So it should be cheap and fast, but then the price and timeline at the end is not what you expect, so you take your newly created list of requirements and go elsewhere. People going through these things want instant gratification.
It also implies that if you want something that does not fall neatly into the categories given then you're going to pay even more.
Giving estimates is just part of sales. If you're tired of it, then don't work sales.
Edit: Ok I decided I should probably give some constructive advice with every teardown I do, so here's a tip: If you really want to do things this way, instead of instantly giving a price at the end, create the illusion that the info will be sent to a human and you'll send a quote by email after they've had a chance to review. Then just set up a cron job to go through your list of emails at certain strategic times of the day and send personalized messages with the quoted price and time frame. This way you start a conversation with the potential client and keep them on the hook.
Regarding the quote by email, that’s also one way to quickly loose people.
They give out a number and if you click the it’s too expensive option, then they tell you that it could be cut by up to 70% if you contact them. Not bad but maybe it could somehow be added to the page. Ideally with a big on info on why.
Right now it feels to me like they’re just quoting you high and then swapping that out for the real price they want to charge you. Usually when stuff like that happens, it’s still inflated.
That’s the feeling I got when I saw that.
Lots of negative comments, but whatever you think of the prices, this is very well done:
- Clean, intuitive UI.
- Clear, *short* copy.
- A complex process broken down
into easily digestible chunks.This is a clear sales pitch - inflate cost estimates, obscure any source datasets and then pitch a 70% cheaper solution?
Lipstick meets pig.
Seriously...$21k and 6-9 months for an Android-only Tinder with no login, no profiles, no ratings, no external APIs or payment methods, no branding, and barebones design? At that point you may as well just download the CardStackView sample off GitHub.
I wonder how on Earth this submission got so many upvotes.
Momentum scrolling isn’t working on iOS. Add -webkit-overflow-scrolling: touch to whatever element is overflowing. You’re welcome.
Aren't the estimates a bit on the higher side? Moreso in terms of time than costs. A barebones mobile app shouldn't take 6-9 months to develop.
Yes and no. A barebones mobile app is fast to develop when you're working with experienced people who know what they want.
If you're working with first-timers, you have to account for 3 - 5 major redesign decisions along the way.
There are valid techniques for mitigating this: educating the client, setting clear expectations, delineating desired outcomes, having an iron-clad contract, charging for modifications, etc.
Each of those approaches is arguably good/bad in terms of project management on consulting work.
But at the end of the day, if you work on tech projects with first-timers, there's going to be a learning curve, and that learning curve is going to 2x or 3x your dev time, if you're smart about it. Or 10x your dev time if you're not.
Oh yeah - that's why their 70% discounted hybrid MVP solution is advertised at the end of the calculator... they're trying to sell their services by showing extreme stats imo.
I’m just trying to figure out how an estimate is supposed to cover PMO, design, dev, QA, and deployment for $70K over 6-9 months. That’s ... an unusual cost and time breakdown, to put it mildly.
I entered data matching a barebones web app I’m currently building on nights and weekends and it also said 6-9 months and $48k.
I’m wondering if the minimum isn’t just 6-9 months.
Super cool. Would be awesome to to see a price breakdown in the results view.
They won't do that because it's an advertisement for their service.
Mobile web feedback: something on that page is breaking vertical scrolling on iOS (there is no scroll momentum — the page stops dead the instant you lift your finger, and it appears to be scrolling at maybe 10fps)
I went through it with some of the ideas I have but it never asked me “Is there a special technical challenge included that needs to be solved?
So I feel like this missed it a bit.
Nice idea. One issue is that most users will think that you have responded to the incentive to inflate the prices and make yourself look better by comparison. Some ways you can make your estimates more credible include:
- 1) give ranges of price estimates
- 2) communicate the uncertainty around different parts of the estimate
- 3) show what size team you are estimating will be working on your project
- 3b) have a slider so that people can play around with the team size (and explore the team-size / price / time tradeoff)
- 4) show an estimate of what kind of volume the finished mvp can handle
- 5) show real-life estimates you've gotten on a set of projects. possibly include how much it would have cost to build this very website at both a large institutional design agency and a well-regarded boutique agency.Another "guerilla marketing" project by some random studio/agency trying to get new project (don't' blame you for that) but please, at least open source the goddamn thing.
I wonder what do they mean by "Hybrid MVP build process" for 70% cost reduction. Does it only refer to a mobile app being non-native or what else could it imply?
Fantastic. I'm sure this has them lose out on many opportunities that shops with less integrity will sell them on. And, that might mean they won't survive.
They're claiming to be able to cut the displayed time and cost by up to 70%.
I really like the UI/UX in this. How was it built?
Agree with the other comments on price breakdown; would allow to hit a different number based on understanding implications.
Love it! <3
When I'm on https://www.productdone.com/contact/ and I click 'about' in the nav bar it doesn't seem to take me anywhere.
That’s a bad website. Hijack scrolling and back button.
be nice if they broke the costs down a bit. bit yeah cool idea.
i’ll cap costs to match estimates from this tool at 1/3 the timeframe, email me to see if it’s a fit
Fun idea. Just wanted to point out the typo with the word startup on page 3:
statup