Legislation such as GDPR, CCPA, and VCDPA grants users the right to control how data is collected about them by apps and websites. As a result, you must obtain users’ consent before they store, retrieve, or use data stored on individual devices. Basically you have to meet the lowest common denominator.
You are in the “uncomfortable sweet spot.” Stay with it. Do some freelancing if needed to pay bills. Even bartending - whatever it takes. … but don’t borrow from relatives. :)
As a developer I stronger encourage you to be laser focused on your customers and their unmet needs. Make sure you have a written definition of who the customer is, including their demographics, socio-economics, and psychographics. And a written definition of their problem. If you don’t have this figured out, anything you develop will highly likely miss the mark. If you need to, spend 1/2 day with the three of you in a room hashing it out. If you can’t get this CRISP, then put the code down and go talk with customers. When you know these things, you’ll have a much better idea of what to code and when revenue is possible.
Yes, for sure, as other alternatives develop this becomes less of an issue.
Several good feedbacks in the comments. Also, include various hooks when users share findings to others, the others get pulled to you organically.
“I couldn’t find any direct competitors out there.” Not sure what criteria you are thinking about to qualify a direct competitor, but I think there are lots of competitors. Everything from txt message threads on my phone, to Slack, to Zoom, to Teams, and more. There’s project management tools such as Asana that do more than just messaging and communication, but it’s integrated with files, links, task assignments, etc.
It might be helpful if you think of these tools along a continuum. Let me explain. I once had a cofounder several years ago who really didn’t “get” Twitter. I mapped out a continuum based on length of content, how researched the content was, and how long it took. On the far left I put books - long content, highly researched, takes time to write a book. Then to the right, magazines, newspapers, blog posts, Facebook posts, and finally at the far right Twitter - 140 characters, often not researched, can make a post in a minute or less. I explained that Twitter was filling a gap at the far right of the spectrum where people wanted to post short and fast. This was a lightbulb moment for my cofounder as he realized the role Twitter was filling.
So now think about the relevant variables to your idea and look for a continuum, and if there is a gap you can fill in that continuum. Perhaps there’s a need for an “always on” group of people you want to ping with an occasional quick question? Perhaps one end of the continuum has tools that are integrated with project management and the other end does not? Perhaps one end of the continuum is for ongoing discussions that might last days/weeks/months, and the other end short life discussions not unlike SnapChat. Try and determine your relevant variables and the gap. From that, you will be able to garner better feedback, improve your market messaging, etc.
For me, I find that collaborative discussions with a handful of people are often disappointing. With one or two people contributing quality ideas, a couple people with some but limited ideas, and a couple people who contribute little. Not sure how to make that a feature for you, but finding matches with relevant, quality contributors would be nice.
I’ve lived this movie. Leave. You can’t fix it.
Apologies if I didn’t interpret the question as you wanted. The headline says what are the country criteria. There’s all sorts of criteria including financial reporting, data privacy, trademark laws, taxes, etc. I chimed in with my knowledge that I thought would be helpful.