What to do before starting

Before going about setting up your project, we’ve prepared some things for you to go through.

Prep work

The most important thing to do before creating your project on Crowdsourcer.io is to build up as many resources as possible to help attract and then aid any contributors that may join the project once you are approved. This may include:

  • Creating a roadmap
  • Planning a workflow
  • Creating an outline of features and functionality
  • Building a specification
  • Setting up any external tools you’ll want your team to use

Product identity

The next thing you’ll want to do is to pin down your project’s identity. If you haven’t already come up with a name, do so now. You can always change it down the line if you use a prototype name (e.g. ‘Project Titan’) or if you want to re-brand yourself. You’ll also want to create a basic brand around the product which will include a banner image for you to use on the site. Making this look professional can go a long way - first impressions count after all. Again, you can always improve it and rework it if you and your team think it’s not to a high enough quality. Nothing tells the world to take a project seriously like a video, though. So how about recording an introduction video and uploading it to YouTube? You can display it on your Project page once you’ve been approved.

Lastly, you’ll want to secure any accounts or domains that may become of use down the line or on going live. Sometimes this can incur a (small) cost, but it will make your project all the more impressive to contributors and so is well worth it.

To summarise:

  • Finalise your product name
  • Brand your product, including creation of a banner image
  • Create a project video and upload it to YouTube
  • Secure website domains - even create a site if possible
  • Create third party accounts, e.g. with retailers

Note

By dedicating more time to developing the infrastructure and foundations of your product, you increase its value. In doing so you increase the attractiveness to potential contributors and also make it more than just an idea. This reduces the likelihood of someone else simply taking your idea and doing it themselves.

Prove yourself

Lastly you’ve got to prove to everyone that you can do your part. Granted, Crowdsourcer.io projects are autonomous and everyone can influence it positively, but that’s not to say that a leader figure isn’t need. You’re going to be deciding who comes into the project and doing a large amount of project management among other things, so it’s crucial that you can convince any potential contributors that you’re up to the job. Filling out your profile with your skills and past work can go a long way.

And that’s it! You’ve got everything you need to begin your project on Crowdsourcer.io.

What next?

Once you’ve prepared all that you think is necessary, go ahead and begin creating your project. We’ve provided even more information on that on the next page: Project creation.