Ask HN: Settling on an Idea

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8705151

by aswerty • 12 years ago

12 22 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hi guys/gals,

Just hoping to get a bit of feedback here.

I quit my job 2 weeks ago and in the interim have found office space from which I'm planning to develop some software over the next 6 - 12 months; self financed. To date I've primarily worked with C# but I plan to work with Python on GNU/Linux – I love C# but I'm no longer digging the eco-system: Windows, Visual Studio, IIS, and SQL Server.

At the moment I'm researching potential projects and this is where I get a bit stuck. I'm finding it difficult to choose what to work on. I have a few ideas that have sensible revenue models, assuming they take off. The problem is that the ideas aren't particularly revolutionary. In fact they're a bit humdrum (at least for these days). I feel like I should be falling in love with an idea but I have a very critical mind set. I start seeing potential problems every time my mind goes down a hypothetical development path. I suppose I'd just like to hear from other people as to whether this is something they've had trouble with.

There's a voice in my head saying "just take one of the ideas and execute on it, don't worry about the outcome". I guess I'd like to know when it's time to just start building something and stop thinking of something better that I could do.

Thanks for reading.

WellDressed3• 12 years ago

Hi Aswerty, this is an interesting problem to solve and one I'm looking to solve myself. Maybe the first thing to do is understand the job the customer wants to get done. Here's a great video I just watched that delves into that topic (5 min long). http://youtu.be/f84LymEs67Y

I would then attempt to workout exactly what the business model and your value proposition to your consumer would be. I've read the Business Model Generation book and I found it to be helpful and thorough in coming up with ways to generate potentially profitable businesses. Their second book, on Value Proposition, looks fascinating as well. http://businessmodelgeneration.com/

They also provide downloads for blank canvas' to print out and use during your brainstorming sessions. https://strategyzer.com/canvas?_ga=1.134434994.233324054.141...

Edit #1

I would also look into reading Lean Startup (http://smile.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Innovation-Successful-B...) if you aren't already familiar with developing MVP's, especially landing pages for gauging consumer interest in your idea.

Edit #2

I would also read 'Goodbye Minimum Viable Product, Hello Maximum Value Proposition' (http://torgronsund.com/2014/12/04/minimum-value-proposition/), which includes the video i posted earlier, as well as an intro to Simon Sinek's work on Why How What.

aswerty9• 12 years ago

Thanks for the comments and the links. I've come across strategyzer.com before and I can remember thinking it was worth bookmarking – but of course I didn't.

It's not so much the problem of finding a business model I'm struggling with – it's not knowing when to run with an idea as opposed to sitting on it and looking at other avenues. I think it might be something you learn through experience (and failure). I was just hoping to see other peoples view on it.

WellDressed3• 12 years ago

I see, I apologize for not providing you with what you were looking for initially. I struggle with over analyzing problems. This leads to paralysis in some cases, including when coming up with ideas for products/services like you're experiencing.

I have a friend who wants me to work with him on a project. The problem he is trying to solve doesn't scratch an itch for me though. I have noticed, for me personally, that I am more motivated to work on something if the solution solves a problem I am currently experiencing.

WellDressed3• 12 years ago

"The problem is that the ideas aren't particularly revolutionary." There aren't really many more "revolutionary" ideas anyways. Sometimes all it takes is to find something that's already been done and find a way to improve it. Look at Nest Thermostat, Slack, Evernote, etc. The great thing about going after a market that's already got customers is that you don't have to validate a need, because the market is already there.

aswerty9• 12 years ago

Yeah I guess one of the things I was thinking about doing has already been validated by the market. It's just how I'd like to offer it is different, a pay for what you want/use model as opposed to fixed price. I guess it follows the logic of you should only have to pay for what you use, not what you could potentially use.

avni000• 12 years ago

One of the most helpful pieces of reading for me on this topic is Paul Graham's How to Get Startup Ideas: http://www.paulgraham.com/startupideas.html ... specifically "Live in the future, then build what's missing." This perspective has helped me filter ideas that were likely derivative and fleeting to ones that might really matter and be challenging/fulfilling to solve over the long run.

aswerty9• 12 years ago

I've read that before. It was definitely a game changer in terms of how I view where the value of software derives from.

saluki2• 12 years ago

I would minimize your costs initially, you can work from home to build your idea.

First stop for you is to watch @DHH's startup school talk . . . most ideas that are successful are simple . . . it really is all in the execution.

Link to DHH at Startup School: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY It's from 2008 but still inspiring and relevant.

Ok . . . so you're inspired . . .

Don't just build the software . . . you'll fall in to the trap of spending too much time building something your customers don't want or doesn't provide enough value.

Read Dan Norris's book the 7 day startup and listen to his podcast.

And listen to StartupsForTheRestOfUs.com.

Lots of good info on proving an idea, talking to customers, building an email list.

The key is launching fast with minimal development time. Once you have paying customers you can automate and improve your app/software to provide even more value with less effort on your part.

I would pick something you like thinking about/would enjoy working on and would enjoy dealing with the potential users.

There are infinite ideas/opportunity out there in apps/saas so don't worry about that . . .

@DHH "Zappos is selling F'n Shoes . . . "

Execute, do it right and provide value to your signups and you'll be revolutionary.

Remember you don't need an office, an LLC or anything else in the beginning . . . just start getting to know potential paying customers and build out the simplest version of your app that clients can sign up for. Once you have revenue you can think about office space (if needed) an LLC, etc.

Services/Ideas to help you get off the ground for low/upfront costs:

Rails/Laravel (frameworks) Digital Ocean (hosting) Stripe.com (payments) Mandrill.com (App emails) MailChimp.com or Drip.com (building an email list)

Also start blogging now about your product/niche right away.

Feel free to email I love talking SaaS/apps, startups and bootstrapping.

I've been running this same playbook and will be launching my second SaaS in early 2015.

Good luck in 2015!

aswerty9• 12 years ago

Thanks for the reply.

I'd like to avoid the cost of office space but I would literally not do an iota of work from home. Home is for home stuff, work is for work stuff; that is how my brain works. I'm in Europe and my desk is costing me €160/month so it's not exactly an especially taxing expense.

I keep my ear to the ground with regards start-up news but I think I'm going to spend some time listening and reading to some of the resources you and others have posted. Hopefully it will help me narrow down what I'll ultimately set out to create.

And thanks for the offer. The best of luck to you as well.

saluki2• 12 years ago

y, it's great to have space . . . I have a couple locations around the house that are office-like but there is always the chance family time will encroach on work.

y, the podcasts and Dan's book are great resources . . . be careful about listening and reading though . . . get the good gems of information and then take action . . . you can spend months/years listening to other people and how they executed.

http://yourstory.com/2012/11/my-name-is-porn-entreporn/

So listen, learn and take action . . . otherwise time will pass you by . . .

BootStrappedWithKids.com has some gems as well . . .

And of course read/listen to everything by paito11.

trcollinson• 12 years ago

I am sure there is a lot more to your story that you are not sharing here, and it would be interesting to hear how you got to this point. It might help us to better assess how to help you in the short term. As it is, I can only speak in generalities.

There is a level of insecurity to going it on your own that you need to embrace, to put it bluntly. Obviously if you quit your job and found office space then you have started down this path of embracing insecurity, but you haven't embraced it enough. You have thought of a few ideas and then knocked them all down because you are a sensible guy. You can see how they will fail, why your dream (which seems to be just "entrepreneurship", maybe) won't come to fruition, and how you will have to start over again, or whatnot. That's a tough spot, I have always started new ventures with my product idea in mind beforehand. But whether you come up with the product idea beforehand or in the middle of the process, you have to embrace the idea that you are likely going to hit hundreds of roadblocks and issues, and you will most likely fail. That's no big deal! That's part of the fun.

Another problem you seem to have is, despite the few ideas and potential revenue models, you aren't solving a problem you actually have. If you were, you wouldn't be worried about the potential problems with hypothetical development paths. You would be fixing a problem, a problem you have and understand, and one you need a solution to right now. Solving a problem you have also answers the question of how revolutionary your solution is. If you hate how the rest of the world distributes widgets, and you need widgets, and you come up with a better way to distribute widgets, is this not revolutionary? Maybe "widgets" in this case are men's shaving razor blades. I don't think that razor blades are all that interesting, and certainly aren't that revolutionary. But Michael Dubin had a problem, thought up a solution that was better than what everyone else was doing, and "revolutionized" the men's razor blade industry. In reality he made it easier to buy blades online; his model can be described on a cocktail napkin with room to spare. But he did something revolutionary. He seems pretty happy.

What problem do you have, regularly, that you hate? If you have no problems, what problem does your significant other have? Your best friend? Your dog? Your local municipality? Stop thinking about development paths and revenue models; those will come in time. Find something you can get behind and care about. Something where, when it doesn't work out, you won't care about how much money you didn't make, you'll only care that the problem isn't solved! The voice in your head that says "just take one of the ideas and execute on it, don't worry about the outcome" is totally right! But first, find an idea you care enough about that the outcome doesn't really matter.

On an unrelated tangent, think long and hard whether you want to learn an entirely new development ecosystem while you are trying to solve your problem. C# and .Net are good. So is Python. Do you want to build the solution to your problem, or do you want to learn a new language?

aswerty9• 12 years ago

I think your perspective overlaps mine from what you've written. And there isn't much of a back story to me. It's just the case that a lot of my wider family have gone out on their own over the years and things have gone well for them. I guess the appeal of increased agency has pushed me out the door and away from the 9 to 5 life style. And at 27 I don't think I'm risking much making this move now.

My current list of ideas has slowly formed from people (family and friends) asking me "can you build an app for this thing because I hate doing xyz". Other ideas have come from things that annoy me personally. So I'm pretty happy with my thought process in regards to where I'm getting potential product ideas. Currently where I'm at is trying to decide which of these potential projects am I going to settle on. I've had ideas piling up over the last few years and now I have to strike out all but one.

So now I'm in the frame of mind where I'm thinking if I do idea A it's probably not going to be the next big thing but it's quite possible I'll make a good go of it. Or for idea B I'm thinking it's a long shot but if I pulled it off it might really go somewhere. I think I'm looking for a reason to pick one idea over another. Is it just a case of doing whatever seems like the most fun (after filtering ideas based on merit)? That doesn't sound like a bad plan. Or is a small but manageable first step the right approach and leave any grand ideas for a later time when my experience in developing a product has matured?

As to switching stacks. I thought about that long and hard. I've dabbled in Linux over the last two years and have picked up a little Python. I know it's not ideal adding the extra overhead of learning a new language and environment but sometimes you just have to do what your gut says. And I've been hankering to leave the MS world behind for a while now. I think once you're running Cygwin as you CLI, using a Vim emulator in Visual Studio, and drooling at the thought of using PostgreSQL as your DB of choice it's probably time to change stack.

I appreciate the time you took to write out that reply.

notahacker• 12 years ago

If your ideas seem humdrum but reasonable, then bounce them off other people (preferably the target audience) to see whether potential paying customers find them less humdrum than you do

One of these days I'll take my own advice...

aswerty9• 12 years ago

Hopefully they will find them less humdrum than me. I guess as a developer my idea of humdrum, when it comes to technology, might be a little disconnected with the rest of society.

JSeymourATL• 12 years ago

I relish my office space, it's quiet. I seldom have visitors here. And it gets me out of the house.

But the Big Ideas don't happen here. That comes by doing customer discovery, reaching out, and engaging in live conversation.

For just one of your ideas-- can you identify and talk to 100 potential end-users and buyers? It takes a long time to actually connect with these people. You'll get blown-off or simplistic good luck platitudes. But every now and then, you'll find someone generous with their time, and thoughtful feedback. Those people are golden and will make all the difference. Incidentally, here's good read on Give & Take > http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16158498-give-and-take

alain94040• 12 years ago

But the Big Ideas don't happen here. That comes by doing customer discovery, reaching out, and engaging in live conversation.

So true. Go out and talk to people. You'll be amazed by how better your brainstorming gets.

In the end, there are usually two main routes for ideas. Enterprise products are easy to profit from, you just need to know the space, talk to potential customers ahead of time and do it. Boring but profitable. Consumer ideas are much harder. Everyone can get ideas for consumer products (do we really need another dating app?).

So choose wisely. Is your real goal to build a small but sustainable stream of income? Choose enterprise. Are you dreaming big? Maybe try consumer.

aswerty9• 12 years ago

Yeah talking to folks is definitely on the todo list. I think over the next week I'm going to try nail down what I want to do. From that point out I'll be looking to continually validate (or invalidate) where I'm going.

Reaching out to potential customer isn't what I'd consider one of my strong points. I think I'll be taking some time to think about, and read up on, how best to go about this.

purans• 12 years ago

I would suggest pick something that is along your interest line. For example, I love movies so i started making a movie app with social touch. Though, whether it will be huge or not depends on how efficiently you execute with bit of luck and understanding you will get as you work on it.

partisan• 12 years ago

Would you be open to working with someone on their idea?

aswerty9• 12 years ago

It's not something I've ruled out.

leeraj• 12 years ago

This must be the most valuable article i read on ideas. Maybe you have read it, but if you haven't, it will help. It has helped me and my co-founders a lot. Good Luck!

http://www.paulgraham.com/startupideas.html

Ask HN: Settling on an Idea

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