Hey everyone,

This being my first post, and me being completely new to the startup scene in general, I have several questions about the lean process as it relates to my business idea. My concept is Pubgrab.com, which will attempt to make the process of finding an ideal bar atmostphere to watch your particular game of interest more efficient. Simply put - Problem: finding a bar to watch games/events with the sound on and other engaged fans. Solution: grouping fans on an event-by-event basis and allowing suitable bars to host them. This idea is very new, and thus my lean challenge process may be in more of an infantile stage than other entrants (as far as I can tell from these posts). Here are the questions I have so far. Any advice would be very much appreciated:

1. When talking to bar owners or managers (who would be the ones that ultimately pay for the service), should I be attempting to interview them in a similar manner that I would a customer? Getting a hold of these guys is a chore as it is, but then once I'm there, asking them a bunch of questions will not go over too well for many of them. Is it just a numbers game as to who all will take the time and who will kick me out? Or is there a better approach for interviewing people in their position?

2. I have little to no web development skills. I have the domain name and a placeholder landing page, but that's it at the moment. I believe this idea can be validated without the use of a fully functioning website, but I'm not sure. I have been dealing directly with the owner of a sports bar in my neighborhood, and have been trying to stage a "manual" test of the concept just using a sort of grassroots campaign through sports blogs and Facebook groups. This has proven difficult, as you could probably imagine. Not having a site to direct people to and just attempting to randomly amass a group at a bar has been difficult. Is investing in a website with some sort of function necessary in this case (and for the sake of this competition)?

3. Due to my inexperience with all of this, I would definitely be open to (and enthusiastic about!) establishing a partnership or receiving the help of an experienced advisor for anyone that is intrigued by the idea. Doing this on my own (with some advisor help on the side) is proving very challenging, but I do believe strongly in the potential of the idea. This was not really a question, but that's ok.

Thanks for reading and for anyone that can help out!

James

For anyone interested enough in talking with me further about the idea, please email me at jro827@gmail.com so as to not further clog everone's inboxes.