To build or not to build…

Over at Mashable, Pete has a profile on a new site called Script Mimic that’s a directory of “clone” scripts. You know, say if you wanted to make your own MySpace you could go over to Script Mimic and find a no/low cost script that will help you do that. Before we settled on the script that we’re using , (and yes we are using a script), we researched several options. We weighed all of our options, including building what we thought we needed, partnering with an existing company or purchasing a script. We decided to purchase a script and customize it on our own, or get help through Rentacoder. I read a comment on the Mashable post and it looks as if they have a discussion going on the subject of building or buying. There will always be different opinions on whether you should build your own app with scalability and all of the features you want or find something off the shelf that closest matches what you want to do, and run with it. I’m of the belief that an engineer and a marketer will never agree, anyway, but when it comes to buying it or building it, they will, for sure, not agree. I believe that when you’re bootstrapping an idea, it makes more sense to customize a script, get your users and then expand from there. Let’s say I spend $500 total to build a website (which is more than what we’ve spent on yourville so far), get a few hundred people using it and get feedback from those few hundred people who let you know what they like or don’t like. Then, if you see that what you’ve implemented so far is starting to catch on, then you can start mapping out what you need – as opposed to what you think you need. Compare that to spending several thousand dollars on building a site, buying servers, doing focus groups etc. What do you actually accomplish by spending that money? You get a site that you think you need and a back end that can handle all the traffic that you think you will get. It never happens that way, unless you’re one of the select few that bursts out of the pack (YouTube, MySpace, Techcrunch etc.). Believe me, I’ve gone the route of investment, hiring a web team, consultants, CEO, buying servers and building something that I thought we would need. It didn’t work then and ,as a matter of fact, we spent a good portion of four years adding new features and dumbing down the original implementation. In the end, the company/site didn’t work for several reasons but, most importantly, it was because we spent too much money up front to build what we thought we needed, as opposed to what we actually needed. So, with yourville being close to completion, and the script we have performing well, I’m glad we made the choice to go the direction that we did. I use to go to this restaurant in San Diego that seated maybe 10 people and their was always another 20 people waiting in line to place an order to go, or hoping that a seat would clear by the time they got their food. Through the several years that I ate at that restaurant, they would expand as they could afford and/or find the space. I often thought that their problem would be a problem that I would love to have. It’s a matter of creating a product and then growing it as needed.