HN Explorer

Ask HN: Which business idea do you go with?

2 points by wtracy ↗ HN
This is an intentionally open-ended question to spark a conversation.

I see lots of articles discussing what to do if you "can't think of a good idea". I rarely see mention of the opposite problem: The person with more ideas than (s)he knows what to do with. I know that lots of these people exist. (I think I'm one of them!)

How do you compare an idea you expect to be more profitable against one that't you expect to be more fun/personally fulfilling? I remember felixchan posting his story about selling his (booming) badge printing business to focus on an app he was passionate about. Many people here strongly disagreed with that decision.

Then again, maybe that's jumping too far ahead: Should you test multiple ideas to see what market traction they have? Maybe go so far as to produce several minimum viable products in parallel? How far can you go down this path without stretching yourself too thin?

4 comments

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tsycho
Why not create landing pages (with a good description) for all of your ideas? Then spend a small amount of money on adwords and see how many people respond/sign up? That will tell you which of your ideas have demand in the market.
G2789
Echo the idea about the landing page, but I wouldn't spend the money on adwords. You've got a lot of resources through forums and friends to push your idea and a ton of blogs to reach out to.

Peldi from Balsamiq has a great primer on how to market a new start-up on his blog titled Startup Marketing Advice. Read. Implement. Learn. Rinse. Repeat.

Travis
Perhaps the reason you rarely see it mentioned is because they are busy (or busier than the other group) at creating their product.

While there are no right answers, I find the following types of questions can help direct me.

1. Is one of the ideas time-sensitive?

2. Can you take a stab at getting traction now, with a quick trigger to quit if you don't see a positive reaction?

3. Suppose you succeed with one idea, without trying the others. In 30 years, even though you were successful, do you imagine regretting not pursuing the idea? (The "will future me dislike this decision" question)

4. Relatively weight the following on a 1-5 scale. Success ceiling (best case success level), personal fulfillment, balance with personal life, professional ambition, project difficulty/frustration, stability.

phlux
I have a ton of ideas. What I do is send them to a group of friends that serve as an echochamber and ask them to poke as many holes as they can. They ask questions or point hings out, ask how i monitize etc.