I'm giving away my startup idea to a deserving Haxor

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=136970

by poppysan • 18 years ago

18 70 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hey all. I have been searching for a potential partner for my startup, but as of yet have had no luck. I have several ideas for products, but some are time sensitive. This one in particular is especially time-sensitive, so I am forced to give it away or just not see it come to fruition.

Hackers Help! Post your reason for getting the idea, and I will select the best one tomorrow morning. Thanks a lot. This is a great idea that I would hate to see die.

rms• 18 years ago

I'm curious?

poppysan18• 18 years ago

I really think I have something here. I just want to make sure it gets in the right hands.

metachor2• 18 years ago

I might be off base, but I read this thread as saying: "I have an idea that I think is worth a lot of money, but I don't have the [time|skills] to complete it myself. I want to find as few other people as possible to make the idea a reality so that I can profit while sharing the rewards with only one other person.". If this were really about just getting the idea out there and seeing it thrive, you would just come out and release the idea to the world. Some people who look at it might not do much, and some might give it wings. The only benefit of hiding it (with just one other person) is the expectation of personal gain that may not accrue if many people could start-up the idea on their own. I apologize if this is wrong or sounds overly cynical.

hoffmabc• 18 years ago

I want to remind everyone that ideas aren't necessarily worth anything by themselves unless you have a team or person to build and implement that idea properly. Most smart VCs won't even listen to your idea if they have to sign a NDA first.

poppysan18• 18 years ago

My point exactly. I don't have the necessary capabilities to produce this idea, so instead of watching it die, I am giving it away. Also, I expect to be flamed. People might criticize, but who cares. I would rather see it be persued than never happen.

smopburrito• 18 years ago

giving it away would be posting it... sans essay contest

djhyjak• 18 years ago

who doesn't love a great idea.

icey• 18 years ago

I think you should just release the idea here. I think releasing it to a single person is going to severely limit the chances of it becoming a real thing. If it's a good (or great) idea, multiple people might be interested in building something based on your idea.

poppysan18• 18 years ago

Good idea. I'm a bit hesitant now because if the idea sucks I will look like an idiot. But hey, good idea!

wallflower3• 18 years ago

Ideas can be good, they can be bad. Any clues on your concept?

I'll shoot out this idea I had so it doesn't make you look like an idiot if you release it.

Take the onboard heads-up display technology from F-16 fighter jets/certain GM cars and integrate it onto the dashboard of a car with the digital radio and a lyric database - and voila - Drive-time Karaoke (bouncing ball optional) - Lawsuits (e.g. I" had to sing along to Since You've Been Gone, Officer") would stop a company from selling this but I wouldn't mind developing a workable prototype

mrtron• 18 years ago

I am excited to criticize your idea to help you get off the 'one great idea' concept.

There are great ideas, but execution is how you get any leverage on them.

tom_rath• 18 years ago

Don't ever worry about your idea being stupid. We all spout out stupid ideas (I do it all the time) and learning how to spot the duds without becoming cynical is a skill you learn with practice.

ericb2• 18 years ago

I say, spit it out. It's nearly impossible to succeed without risking failure.

Silencing the voice in my head that cares about embarrassment was the most useful skill I learned in my 20's. It still takes work, though.

justin• 18 years ago

You might. But fuck what other people think! Go big!

apathy• 18 years ago

I think Howard Aitken was the one who said it first, but regardless:

Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.

Always apropos in such times of uncertainty...

henning• 18 years ago

He could probably give the idea to 100 people and get a hundred different products of wildly varying quality and feature sets.

It's kind of arrogant of the OP to assume that his precious idea (which of course no one else has ever conceived of in any capacity) is so valuable, like a beautiful fragile snowflake, that it must be carefully protected and only revealed to a deserving "haxor".

bootload• 18 years ago

"... It's kind of arrogant of the OP to assume that his precious idea (which of course no one else has ever conceived of in any capacity) is so valuable ..."

Exactly my sentiment. Of course the value of the idea can be judged by the selling price it receives. Is it for sale?

swombat• 18 years ago

Just release it already!!! Stop procrastinating :-) It's probably crap anyway :-) The longer the build-up, the harsher the come-down!

mixmax• 18 years ago

Respect for giving it away instead of letting it die.

Not many people would do that.

poppysan18• 18 years ago

OK, so here's the idea.

Initially I was looking to add a flex developer to my team because it would perfectly suit flex/Air. But I am learning that now so this shouldnt be a problem in the future.

I was looking to develop a widget-based game creation system, based on customizing a pre-set group of parameters. its limited at first, but as the community grows so will features.

Games are output into a widget, shareable amongst other websites (our favs - facebook, myspace, etc).

Of course there would be ranking and normal community features involved, as well as an air-based arcade where you can play your own custom games and other user's games as well.

users can completely skin their game, and depending on how long they spend on it, it could become quite an extensive game. The only limits would be user creativity.

This is one of my favorite ideas, being a gamer, but I am so focused on my other ideas that I think this is going to suffer. Without being able to have a team to dedicate to it, I have to give it up. Enjoy! Flame me if you want, or say it's been done b4! (kinda like my idea for peanut butter and jelly singles...hahaha)!

carpal• 18 years ago

Zynga?

poppysan18• 18 years ago

It would be similar to Zynga, with a few major differences. Zynga games can be created/edited by experienced developers. i want to create the basic framework, and libraries and just have wizards and online creation so a 10 yr old can make his own game.

I planned on targeting a more mainstream audience with respect to game creation. Simple tools, but robust design features, as well as an extensive library of props can go a long way.

nostrademons2• 18 years ago

Zynga is much more in the Kongregate/Newground space, serving as a hosting & distribution service for Flash games made by experienced developers. This guy (and us) are targeting programming novices who want to create their own games without programming experience.

poppysan18• 18 years ago

I forgot to add an important feature. I would monetize the games and do a profit-sharing with the users by creating In-game or widget based overlay ads. As well as traditional advertisement. Also, concerning monetization, I would have sponsored events where users compete on creations for leading brands. the winning project is of course distributed branded by that product mainstream. There are unlimited options with respect to money.

tomh• 18 years ago

You could also make it more granular and allow users to 'tip' other users who make in-game widgets, or even part of a widget (think areas of in-game play, travel etc). Tipjoy might be a good partner to go in with this one. Alternatively, do something with the AFP to allow users to 'tip' but you do keep a percentage.

wallflower3• 18 years ago

Kudos for letting your idea out. Have you seen Sproutbuilder's beta yet?

Having worked with Flex extensively - I think it would take at least 3-6 months to prototype.

poppysan18• 18 years ago

I have access to the designers and illustrators, as well as a few programmers, but they are on different projects right now. i just couldnt seem to focus on it. I wish i could, because games are my passion, and I think this would be popular.

poppysan18• 18 years ago

sprout builder is great imo. i would like to have some features similar to theirs editing wise. Very inspiring, and i have been a fan since i saw their demo.

powerflex• 18 years ago

I completely 100% agree! (Still love Flex though)

mynameishere3• 18 years ago

I'm not sure where the idea is hiding in this description. Game-making systems are an old idea, so that's not it:

http://www.garrykitchen.com/product_history/garry_kitchens_g...

Sharing things between websites is, well, pretty old too. So that's not the idea.

poppysan18• 18 years ago

Is game maker web based? can you share your games on facebook? how do you monetize your games with game maker?

There are vital differences.

Look at aviary. i have photoshop, why would I use it? Because i can use it from anywhere and share it anywhere.

ericb2• 18 years ago

Opening technical tasks to non-technical users can be a good direction (wufoo, for example). The business and idea could go either way, depending on execution, like everyone else will point out, I imagine. It's not clear to me what the revenue model would be.

poppysan18• 18 years ago

completely agree! I have listed some revenue generator ideas somewhere in this thread.

dfranke• 18 years ago

nostrademons is working on something along these lines, IIRC.

Prrometheus• 18 years ago

I like it. I would love to see a web-based easy to use game-builder. I wouldn’t use it myself, but I think many people would and I would enjoy playing other peoples’ games.

The major drawback is that it is technically difficult to implement.

edw519• 18 years ago

Here's what'll happen when you release your idea in this forum:

- If anyone calls you an idiot, they're the idiot.

- You WILL receive much constructive criticism and compliments on your idea. Probably better feedback than you'd get anywhere else.

- Some of us may take the idea and run with it.

- Some of us may discuss yout idea here.

- It mat just die here.

So, what are you waiting for?

pchristensen• 18 years ago

Aw man, you spoiled it! I was having a great time watching everyone foam at the mouth in anticipation of this vaporware idea! I was hoping it was a joke and there was no idea (I guess that would be a troll, nevermind).

bmaier3• 18 years ago

Want a real idea that would be easy to implement and would appeal to the masses? Write a del.icio.us clone and do recipe bookmarking so people like my mom can keep track of all the recipes she sees all over the web and people looking for good recipes could just browse the popular feed.

bmaier3• 18 years ago

I should note that if anyone is interested in doing a startup around this, let me know: office at unchartedventures dot com

mds• 18 years ago

I think you could modify scuttle or pligg to do that in an afternoon or two...

bmaier3• 18 years ago

both of them are pretty clunky. I'm generally not a fan of the open source clones though it is nice that scuttle has most of del.icio.us api functionality

xekonic• 18 years ago

Been lurking for a period of time here. While ideas are being thrown out there, here's a thought.

Allow comments from within feed readers as well as comment tracking (so you don't have to try to remember... or use co.comments, etc).

Could be done one of two ways.

1. Design the 'comment module' for the large blogging platforms (blogger, wordpress, typepad, etc). Bloggers confirm their blog on the platform (to bypass captcha or similar) so a users comment goes directly into the blogs comment system.

2. Create a widget that an author can place on their site that pulls the comments from the server housing the comments. This widget would be placed directly below where "normal" comments go and would tie in as seamlessly as possible.

Could be a standalone service or it could be the next feed reader that takes a chunk out of GoogleReader (unless integration with gReader could be figured out).

Thoughts?

poppysan18• 18 years ago

It would be great to get all the Y-combinator folks involved in group projects. Like a group section. Ppl apply to each project and the team leader chooses the developers out of the bunch.

Then they can submit their project to the start-up program, and try to take it to the next level together.

Im more of a strategy/design marketing guy with a programming ability, and I know there are hackers out there with complimentary skill sets. Just an idea!

noel_gomez2• 18 years ago

project group forming is a great idea, maybe that should be the first idea we collaborate on. Virtual incubator of sorts.

bluishgreen• 18 years ago

Does it have anything to do with the IPhone SDK?

huhtenberg• 18 years ago

As harsh as it may sound, the ideas are a penny a pound. Unless you have a proven track of generating and implementing viable ideas, your soliciting of the partnership at this stage is completely unappealing.

poppysan18• 18 years ago

yeah. I would love to have a couple more programmers to work with, but at this stage, I really dont have a track record to show them. When I get some of my projects off the ground I'll be looking for co-founders with the same passion...

poppysan18• 18 years ago

All of these comments and suggestions make me so much more passionate about the project. I really would like to start development. I love you guys (not in a gay way - not that theres anything wrong with that)

omarseyal• 18 years ago

isn't this part of what what open source is for? you have the interest in an idea being completed, but you don't have the resources to tackle it ... or necessarily the expertise ... so you start an open source project, you rally some contributors from groups / companies / schools that might benefit from it (or benefit from contributing it) and off you go ... right?

noel_gomez2• 18 years ago

why not share it with a select group of people and find some that may want to partner to make it real? I have been in the same boat, not finding the right people to partner with.

pierrefar• 18 years ago

Ideas are free. Execution is what really counts.

pg• 18 years ago

Good ideas aren't quite worthless. Yes, ideas (for startups) are generally overvalued, particularly by people who have bad ones. Yes, execution is the most important ingredient in success. But ideas are worth something.

jkush• 18 years ago

Paul, I really hope Juwo isn't reading your comment. Let's not start THAT again.

I'm giving away my startup idea to a deserving Haxor

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