Proof of Concepts

If your following me on twitter you have seen that I've built 2 proof of concept (POC) apps in the past week. You might be wondering why I'm doing this so instead of tweeting into the abyss I figured I'd write this post.

What is a POC?

A proof of concept is...well just like the name says, a proof. That's pretty generic so let me explain it in relation to a minimal viable product (MVP). When people build mvps they are ready for market. They have their funding, have done their research, and are ready to hit the ground running.

The POC comes before the MVP. I would even argue that it is the research stage I mentioned above. Most POCs are design only and I fully support this. When I say "design only" I mean sketch (we still using that?) or figma files using the prototype feature. As you know I'm not a designer and at best I can work out some low fidelity (squares and circles) stuff. For me a POC is just me building an app with static information.

Why am I doing this?

Now the important part of the convo, why would I spend time to build out POCs? I think of app ideas all the time. It's really not hard for me to think "I hear/see the problem. What would the mobile solution look like?". Mobile isn't the solution for everything but it's my thing. I have a lot of notes (voice, digital, and physical) with ideas of things I want to build.

Given all of this and a push from friends always saying "you should let people know you built <insert random thing>", I decided to just start writing threads from idea to conception. What do I get out of this? Free mental space, case studies, and maybe a start of projects I want to make real in the future.

Anything I build in relation to someone else's business I make sure to say I will delete if they want. That's important to me because I don't know what people have going on behind the scenes and I don't want to step on any toes.

How can you get into this?

I don't really know what to say. Just build things? I know that's so generic and I promise I try not to gatekeep, but just do that damn thing. If you design, drop the design video. If you dev, drop the dev video. If you....idk whatever, do whatever. Do not be like me. Show people your greatness, talk about these "wild ideas" you come up with. Talk your shit at all times. There is someone looking for your skill and ready to pay you for it.