Attack of the Clone 2.0's

  GetAFreelancer.com - Tangler.com Clone 
  Originally uploaded by bigmick

Mimicry is the highest form of flattery. But when someone offers $1,500 to build a web application that you have spent a year and lots of emotional energy and passion in, it feels quite strange.

TechCrunch have covered it, looking at the angle of outsourced work and web app differentiation.  Some of the conversation pointed out that other apps like Google, eBay and Digg have all had people try to clone them cheaply and no one ever hears about it. Other people talk about the challenges of scaling and marketing these types of products.

Ross Dawson pointed out that Guy Kawasaki launched Trumors for around $5,000 investment.

So what is it? Cheap or expensive to build web apps?

Of course there is no one answer. You can certainly start apps pretty cheaply. You can put up a prototype and a simple design and see how it goes. Then you add to it, tweak it, refine it, and gradually make it better. That's what takes skill, time and money.

The type of application you want to build also impacts heavily on the investment it takes. Some applications lend themselves to incremental building and some need a certain amount of features before you can even show anyone. You can dabble in a news app, but not in a banking application.

Tangler made the decision early to build a full featured, highly scalable and great looking product. Early talks with about this with Citizen Agency highlighted all the pros and cons of this strategy, and based on the momentum and the vision there was an express decision to not go the lighter road, like Pibb. Is it the right choice? Right now I can say that there are lots of times that the grass looks much greener on the other side. Tangler takes time to wrestle and it's often not as nimble as we like. That being said, talking to the users that we are really focused on tells us that we've created something they love and can use immediately.

The proof is in the pudding, and Tangler isn't finished cooking yet, so we'll have to tell you a bit later. Or more importantly, you can probably tell us.

Now if they'd said $150 million, that would have been interesting!

Comments

[dekrazee1]

Let's see them try to clone 'dekrazee1'! hrrrmph!