You just need the ability to make things that work. And by "work" I mean actually work, and in a way that others want to use it (an intuitive interface that needs almost no training/explanation helps a lot here). It doesn't have to be polished, pretty, or anywhere near feature complete (see: Apple 1). It just has to pass the "will people actually use this beyond the novelty phase" test. I can't stress enough how important intuitive function is above form at this stage.
That's step 1.
Step 2 is to have a management team that can effectively monetize that thing and manage the risks (financial/legal/market) that all businesses have to deal with. Engineers are usually not good at these things.
I've succeeded at step 1 many times but I'm personally not good at Step 2.
Oh? Where do I put my car so the nightly thugs who see any car on the street tests to see if they’re locked? And if locked but salacious enough, they break the glass. So far for when not garaged, three break ins. $50k equipment lost, plus costs to repair. Garaged? Zero break ins
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You just need the ability to make things that work. And by "work" I mean actually work, and in a way that others want to use it (an intuitive interface that needs almost no training/explanation helps a lot here). It doesn't have to be polished, pretty, or anywhere near feature complete (see: Apple 1). It just has to pass the "will people actually use this beyond the novelty phase" test. I can't stress enough how important intuitive function is above form at this stage.
That's step 1.
Step 2 is to have a management team that can effectively monetize that thing and manage the risks (financial/legal/market) that all businesses have to deal with. Engineers are usually not good at these things.
I've succeeded at step 1 many times but I'm personally not good at Step 2.