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Ask HN: How do you recognise a good idea?

2 points by helen842000 ↗ HN
I'm interested to find out if anyone has any specific ways they pick their next project to work on.

I've got a handful of ideas and I tend to do a bit, get disheartened when I hit a roadblock, move on to a different idea and generally spin my wheels. I make SOME progress on all of them but lack focus to ship an idea properly. I feel like I put a lot of effort in but it is spread across many things which dilutes it.

I've decided I'm going start becoming more selective, cutting the list down, then sticking on one until I ship it.

What criteria do your ideas have to have before you feel it's worth starting?

3 comments

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iambrakes
Are any of your ideas based around anything that you have a personal passion about? Are they based on hobbys are something you studied in school?

You are going to have your best chance at making it if you have a personal interest in it beyond just being a good idea for a business.

The startup I'm working on is based around musical instruments because that's the number one thing that I find interesting.

I'd suggest taking a good look at your list and seeing which of your ideas is most interesting to you outside of probable success in a general sense and see if you can move that forward. Or look for a totally new idea that is in your personal interest space. Cooking, reading, complex math equations, whatever that is.

helen842000
Thanks for your reply. I have started to think that following your passion leads to never making a profit.

I have made & shipped some very popular things - they were my passions but not built to make money. Perhaps I should look at ways to monetize these things.

I'm pleased with their success as they have helped a lot of people, however it was all set up out of my own pocket and I'm still paying to keep them running.

I'm just worried that if I follow my passions again, it'll just be another expense that I pay for.

I'm at a point where my next idea really does need to at least sustain itself. If I built something that could be my full time income - if it's providing value, no matter the industry it's in, that would become my passion.

iambrakes
Fair point. Passion and business don't often go hand in hand. But you will have at least a better chance of sticking with it if you care about it.

Not every idea is a good one, but at least parse through the ones you have and look for a personal angle that you can get excited about.

The other angle is not so much building on your passion, but building on your pain. If there is a pain point in something you do that is really a problem for you, then maybe you can solve it and stay energized because you are solving your own problem.