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I have subject matter expertise in a specialized field of design. I want to create a two-sided market between customers who need these specific design services and designers who have those skills. I have an MBA, but no technical software expertise.

I have been spending my time recently understanding the basic software possibilities, etc. and have created a basic model of how I want this website to function (essentially from features I would like from other websites). Ideally, this includes about five different exchange functions and features being added as consumers increase, however there is an initial basic exchange without which the market could never hope to be created.

I am oscillating between the following three ideas:

  1. The subject matter expertise is most important - I should hire anyone (or outsource) the development of the website. Create the basic exchange and once a market is created and if it makes any money, hire a development team full-time.
  2. I should find a technical partner who can code the site him/herself and join forces, so they can help develop the website and I can provide input on the subject.
  3. No matter how it gets started, it will have to keep up with new features if it gets successful, so eventually it will become a technical software company (eg. etsy, vimeo or ebay) and the subject matter expert will become redundant.

Which of the three do you think accurately represents reality and thus how should i go ahead (or should i even bother :)

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2 Answers

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and welcome to this site. :-)

Your question is a variation on a very common question, one you'll see asked many times here.

Regarding your subject matter skills becoming useless -- no, I would not think so. Yes, your company would have to grow technical software skills, but market knowledge and business expertise will always remain important.

My initial comments are that you should thoroughly investigate the feasibility of your idea. Lots of companies have an under-served need for 3rd party designers of stuff, but that doesn't necessarily mean they will use a website to fulfill their under-served needs. Soft qualities like inter-human trust, how to handle billing, failure to understand Intellectual Property assignment and many other things may make this a non-starter.

Regarding your 3 ideas, I would say number 2. Start reading about partnerships here at answers.onstartups, more about partnerships elsewhere, and then about customer development too. And lastly, if at all possible, use vesting to align your own and your future partners ownership stake with actual contribution to the company.

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thanks, this is a very helpful answer! the articles are wonderful as well. addition: i understand the need for soft qualities, trust, ip and billing, however i am not talking about graphic design. this is a field of design in which cost of choosing the wrong person is high, so the selection process needs a lot of information about the designer- which is the problem the website would tackle – Rishi Jun 11 '10 at 0:36
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In response to the 3 scenarios:

  1. This is fine if you can afford to hire someone and you have the ability to tell them what to do. You will find as you grow that it will be difficult to get a strong commitment from a contractor and they may lack the expertise to take your small website to the next level.
  2. You are now taking a bigger risk. It will be much harder to fire a partner, so you'll have to spend more time and effort in finding someone. Also, if you can't find a partner, you may not have a very good idea.
  3. Not true. Service will be equally important as software (Craig's List is not technological genius.). Your ability to find and qualify experts will be key. Otherwise, customers can just do their own research.

IMHO expert sites like these need to be able to offer some of the following (otherwise, I'd just pick up the phone book):

  1. Does this make it easier to find "qualified" experts for customers who know little about this?
  2. Will this give customers a better selection of experts than I can find in my local area?
  3. Can I get a similar enough experience using this service as meeting face-to-face or at least can it save time and cost of travel?
  4. What are you doing to market customers for these experts that is better than their own website and marketing efforts?
  5. Can you show that customers coming to this site are more likely to purchase/not waste expert's time in qualifying customers?
  6. Who pays for this? Experts, customers, neither?
  7. Does your service make the "getting paid" and "getting the work done" easier?
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