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Ask HN: How do you come up with a good startup idea?

4 points by mrlase ↗ HN
I've been trying to unravel the process of coming up with an idea for a startup for a couple of weeks now but to no luck. Sure I have some ideas, but they're not targetted enough for my first startup.

I've read Paul Graham's essays and have lurked around here a little for the past few months as well. Technology wise, I'm ready to go. Coding it wouldn't be the hard part, that'd just take time.

Ive tried coming up with organic ideas but they don't seem to be quite good enough yet. Ive tried actively thinking up ideas but thy just isn't working.

Does anyone have advice for finding a startup idea?

14 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 45.2 ms ] thread
RiderOfGiraffes
You've lurked for the past few months? Have you read these:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1974726 - 6 days ago, 27 comments

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1750877 - 71 days ago, 35 comments

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1916801 - 25 days ago, 32 comments

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1870456 - 38 days ago, 1 comment

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1796372 - 57 days ago, entire blog post.

You're asking the same question that's been asked a dozen times. Have you read the previous replies?

Try reading these:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1996830

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1994998

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1360665

If you're serious about a startup then one thing you'll need is hard work, lots of time, and dedication. Start by showing some of those qualities. Read the above advice, find more, then summarise it properly. ON the way, ask yourself what you're finding annoying, awkward, tedious or painful.

There's your idea - solve that problem.

mrlase
Really not sure how I missed these.. I wish I could search YC. Thanks for those links, taking a look through them now.
dholowiski
You can search yc using google. Just scroll aaaaall the way down to the bottom of yc and click on the tiny search link in the footer. I wish it was more prominent.
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dholowiski
Well, I havent had any successes yet, but here is how I come up with mist of my ideas- by mis-understanding an existing product or service, and thinking, wow that's a great idea. When I finally realize how the product works, i think "my way was better". This isn't something you can just make happen, but reading about as many great ideas as possible helps.
david_shaw
Thanks to another HN comment, I recently purchased the book Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation in order to answer just such a question. I'll leave that recommendation there, but I will admit that I haven't yet had a chance to crack the book--been too busy on my December project. I figure that's a pretty good excuse though, so I'm letting myself off the hook for awhile.

The most common and useful answer I've ever gotten for this type of a question is to simply find the smallest possible problem that you could solve, and solve it. I personally find it easiest to solve a problem from which I am suffering. This has a couple nice advantages, primarily that I can usually tell if I solved the problem sufficiently or not, and also if it flops, at least I've saved myself some trouble.

I launched http://sleepyti.me on November 8th because I personally always wake up tired. I didn't really expect much out of it, but I'm averaging about 10k visitors per day and between $15-$20 in Adsense revenue per day. Maybe not "successful startup" money, but for a free webapp that only took me a few days to write up (and only costs $20/month to host on Linode, along with all my other sites/shells), I consider it a pretty big success.

I don't think that there's a secret that can foster brilliant, successful ideas, otherwise we'd all use it and be billionaires. For me anyway, it's just the tried and true combination of persistence and solving problems.

Good luck!

mrlase
I'm looking up that book on Amazon in another tab now. I took a look at sleepyti.me and actually found it very useful as I also have a tough time with being tired in the morning. Maybe that'll help me get up at 6:00 AM if I follow its advice! Totally sharing your site on FB.
dholowiski
Another suggestion, which is something I have done- take your best idea that you have right now, no matter how bad it is, and start building it. Don't spend much money on it. It might turn out to be a great idea, but more likely that project will spin off more 'great' ideas than you have time to pursue.

Start doing something, even if it's stupid, and the ideas will start flowing n

minalecs
this is best idea, but I would suggest do something in an area you either have a lot of knowledge in or are passionate in. Because you will that find its very hard and difficult, and will probably not get an easy win.. so you have to be passionate about whatever it is you start doing, and just keep going. Keep reading about other startups, and try to form connections and ask yourself what is the next step .. not just what is hot now.
dholowiski
Agreed- if it's not that great an idea but it's super fun to build, you're more likely to stick it out until a better idea comes to you.

And double agreed with your second Point- don't do something just because everyone else is. Just because everyone else is doing mobile local group buying checkins doesn't mean you shouldn't build that text to speech WordPress plugin you've been dreaming about (shameless castmyblog plug).

aneth
Great suggestion, just don't get too married to the idea or spend too much time without feedback. Great products come from iterating and improving your understanding of the customers. And remember success comes from distribution, not just product.
malandrew
Focus on a real problem. Especially problems for which people are willing to pay to solve. Design a solution for real people and not just yourself.

Solutions that create markets are very rare and are best tackled once you know how to create a solution to a real problem first.