Ask HN: What is your new idea routine?

Here is my typical routine:

  1. DON'T write it down*
  2. Write it down
  3. Look for existing services
  4a. If any exist from step 3, start using them.
      -If satisfied => keep using it and get on with life.
  4b. If no services exist, or I am dissatisfied with existing services, 
      => share idea with friends and colleagues.
  5a. If ( feedback is overwhelmingly positive OR I need it right now ) 
      AND ( I have time ) => start developing.
  5b. Otherwise, add it to the long list of things I'd like to make some day.

* I don't write it down for the first few days, because it's a simple way for me to filter out all the fleeting uninspiring ideas that probably wouldn't have taken off. If I forget about them, then I must not have been that inspired by it; and if I wasn't inspired by it, then there is no way I could have inspired others with it or created any passion for it.

It's hard for me to otherwise filter out these uninspiring ideas, because when I first have them, I'm inherently biased. I tend to be in love with the idea that I thought of something novel, and it's difficult to distinguish between that excitement and excitement for the idea itself.

Do basic market research. Of course, look at existing services but also, more broadly, look at the target market as a whole. How big is it, who are the customers, whether they would be willing to pay and how much, how competitive and expensive advertising in the niche is, look at industry blogs and trade magazines, basic keyword research, etc.

That's just scratching the surface, you can and should obviously do a lot more to validate an idea, like dry testing.

Usually I just use the Google keyword tool to see what the market is like.

1. come up with 10 keywords you'd use to look for something like that 2. see how much exact match traffic happens for each keyword 3. see what the average CPC is for each keyword.

Most ideas get thrown out, since they aren't a must haves. If they were...people would actually be searching for them.

Think about:

- potential customers: businesses or consumers? If you're targetting businesses be aware of a large sales cycle; that means you'll need more working capital. Lots of customers or just a few? If there are lots you have more power, but it also means a certain type of business model. If there are few, they will have more power, namely to negotiate prices. The worst situation: you have one customer, government.

- potential suppliers: businesses or consumers (eg user generated content)? These mean different business models. Lots of them or just a few? If there are lots of them you'll have more power (eg. price negotiation). If there are just a few (or worse, just one), you might have problems down the line.

- potential competitors: are there any (if none, perfect!). Are there just a few or lots of them? Just a few might mean that its an available market but it might mean that it's a difficult market to get into, namely in terms of initial investment. Lots of competitors means that its easy to enter that market, competition his big and that means a constant price fight.

-- MV

I will ask a few close friends about the idea, then build a quick landing page than explains the idea and asks for email signups.

I post on Hacker News and analyze feedback. After looking at the feedback, I decide if I should proceed with the idea.

I ask my friends what they think but that's mostly to get excited. The truth be told is that my friends are not my target market. I build a landing page using UnBounce.com and then throw $200 of AdWords at it.

When I get any sufficiently-interesting idea (generally, I decide to write it down when I'm trying to code but find myself distracted by the new idea), I open ~/random/ideas.md and start writing down the premise.

A lot of outcomes may follow. I may get a few sentences in, look at it, say "that's stupid", delete it, and go on with my life. I may just write down the basic idea that I've been thinking about, push it up to the private GitHub repo that holds it, and come back to it later if I have more thoughts on it. Or I may get on a run where I keep expanding on the idea and making it better; then I may start researching to see if it's already been done, how doable it looks, etc. Then I'll usually send that fleshed-out writeup to a few trusted friends to see their thoughts.

Then, if it's a small enough idea, I'll try to find time to hack together some kind of MVP soon. If it's a bigger idea or it's a busy time for me, it'll sit in my ideas file 'til I get to it, if I get to it.

The most important thing is to translate idea (typically, a solution) into an underlying problem. Then, validate the problem:

    Who has this problem?
    Talk to them, do they really have this problem?
    How many people have this problem? Would they pay for a solution?
    Is there another solution for the same problem
    that is easier than your initial solution?

After that I just make a pause. After a few days/weeks I revisit the idea with a fresh look.

I just posted a news link about it. Here it goes again: http://www.symbyoz.com/render.jsp?assetID=e8a873cc-df75-4de9...

I go through a process called "Will the Dog Eat the Dog Food." It was taught to me by my entrepreneurial mentors.

After you have the idea and thought out the product some, you test whether the market will respond to it. I start with a few key friends and my two entrepreneurial mentors. If it passes them, then I go a wider test. I determine potential target markets and I survey them or I literally pull out the phone book and I call strangers. I even stood at a mall once with a candy bowl and talked with people about my idea.

If you don't talk to customers, you won't ever know what the customers want.

I email it to myself and label it for perusal. Every once in a while I go through my idea folder and apply it to current situations.

Here's mine.

  1. Ding! "Woah, what a great idea..."
  2. Research. Spend the whole night up researching.
  3. Brainstorm. (On paper!!)
  4. Share with someone you trust or might be interested in working at the project. *Be careful here
  5. Start looking for a domain. (I find this part the hardest lol)
  6. Start sketching on paper. Logo and UI.
  7. Research again, this time for logo and UI inspiration.
  8. Design > xhtml > code > launch v1 ASAP!
  9. Get feedback.
  10. SEO
  11. Repeat 9 and 10.
  12. Repeat 12. 
  13. Improve > fix > launch more features.

Goood luck amigo! :)

Ze Frank summed up the way I deal with ideas as I don't want to get addicted to brain crack.

http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/07/071106.html

1. Take a shower and think it over.

2. Tell a few friends I trust.

3. Create the quickest and dirtiest version to see if it even has legs. This includes looking up who is doing something similar...

4. Show that to friends in #2

5. Walk away for 3 days and not think about it.

6. Come back and review the thing again and decide if I want to continue with it.

One thing I've learned is it is best to get others involved...early before you waste too much of your energy. If you can get someone else excited enough to want to help that usually means your idea has possible legs....or you are a good salesman/woman/person.

Regardless...engage early and engage often. Nothing is built in a vacuum.

Ask yourself does it really solve at least one of the three:

1) Fix a PAIN point that people will pay money to make the PAIN go away.

2) Make them more money.

3) Entertain them enough that they'll be willing to pay.

I have a book consisting of archived ideas that are either useless, intriguing , or the could have been or the could become the next 'big' thing. Perhaps.

Rather than write down and archive, ACT NOW, cause making yourself believe that ten other people have wireless connections to your mind and can steal any thoughts from you will ensure that you are outraged and encourage you to set out with a goal in mind; make your product ten times better than what you originally set out with.

1. Think to myself, "I wish I could do (something outlandish and probably impossible, like teleport)." 2. Keep thinking that for a few days. 3. Break down the idea into components that would enable me to do it. 4. Cycle through those components in my mind for a few days. 5. See if a component arises that is particularly compelling. 6. Start the usual process of searching to see if it exists, validate with friends, etc...

I recently purchased some Crayola Window Crayons, if something pops into my head I will take a crayon and write it on my mirror, luckily my wardrobes have large mirros on them so got a lot of space to write with. I then leave it up there for a while, where I will always glance at it, then work it slowly out in my head, either remove it completely or add to the idea.

I highly recommend you read "Making Ideas Happen" by Scott Belsky (the99percent). I was already using Evernote for much of my idea-keeping but this inspired me to organize it better. The initial idea is but one piece of the puzzle. As you brainstorm (no matter where) you need to record the ideas and then take action. Too many ideas die not because they were bad but because a plan of action failed to take root.

My routine: 1) write down the idea and all related points in Evernote and that goes in backburner tagged appropriately. 2) Mindmap the idea out. 3) Start wireframing

- note this is just fleshing the idea out. All the while be searching for competitors and testing out what they have done. Take note of likes, dislikes, and not implemented differences with you.

4) Check google trends and keyword generator to see how many people have been searching for your solution. Do not be discouraged if you don't find a lot here... sometimes things really are novel (like, what keywords would one search for if looking up a twitter like service?). 5) Start talking to everyone about your idea. Hit up tech meet-ups and anyone who would be your potential client regarding the idea. People will be really nice and say nothing but good things. Do not let this idea ego-stroking go to your head (think about it... when have you ever asked another entrepreneur the hard question "why?" when you're really thinking the idea is without merit?). Ask everyone you share the idea with "How would you improve upon this?" or "Is there anything out there that you've seen like this?" or "Is there anything about this that you think is off?". When asked people will volunteer their honest opinion (or complete misunderstanding of the concept). Again, don't take any of this wrong... you may just be lead in a whole new direction or be given some great ideas to add to it that you never considered. 6) Take it all in and break it down to its absolute core. Then take that core and break it down again. Take all the esoteric meaning you've given it out and break it right down to the true MVP. Then get coding.

Scribble it down, whiteboard it out as a process or set of processes, photographing the whiteboards along the way, save images in a directory dedicated to that idea, add text docs or additional whiteboard photographs as the idea progresses.. Out of 50 feasible startups, this process has helped me discard at least 45 of them