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Ask HN: Where to bounce off ideas?

2 points by ElongatedTowel ↗ HN
Coming up with ideas is a problem in itself, but I find it very hard to verify whether an idea is worth pursuing, worth money, or even just an endevour to learn something on the way. I don't have many friends who have enough insight in the matter to really discuss something like that and the usual reaction is either "I don't even know what you're talking about" or "Sounds good, wouldn't pay for it though".

It seems the general mentality is "if you build it they will come". Whether that is a good idea or not doesn't really matter in the end because I personally don't believe in it.

I'm rather protective of my work and putting software in the open adds another level of required polish in the mix.

Honestly, I don't even know if that ever happens, but HN, reddit or similar feels too "open" to discuss such things and I'd fear someone would steal my idea (if it was good enough). I've personally came across a few "Look what we've build" posts which ended up in me thinking "Good idea, not so great implementation. Maybe I should copy and improve...".

How do you guys do it? Verify it? Do people go undercover and find the right forums? Ask questions like "you guys seem to have trouble with that tool, how about a better one?", "would you guys use an app for that"?

5 comments

[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 17.3 ms ] thread
hardwaresofton
So I think that people often make landing pages for this kind of thing.

Generally, you should be able to trust your decisions, but if you have an idea that you think would be a great service (a good indicator of this is real life need -- if you needed this thing, chances are someone else wants it too), you can make something like a landing page with a short walk through on how it works (or how it WILL work) and throw that out there, post it on the relevant forums and places, and see what comes of it.

OF course, if it's something that YOU personally need, you using it is the best indicator

ElongatedTowel
I find the way I use software to be very different from the way most people I know do. And then there is the Apple crowd which seems to be huge especially in the world of webdesign and development, but is absolutely foreign to me.

I have one idea for a tool which I use maybe once a month. What drives me nuts is that I need to install something do to this one thing just once a month and I usually end up with something that doesn't work quite right. Or it's a different tool than I used the last time because I usually throw it away after using it. But then I ask myself, if even 10k people have the same problem, are the 300 views a day even enough to pay for hosting?

I'm a builder, not a seller. And I think a lot of people have that problem. With no real insight on the monetary and marketing part of the equation it is hard to jump from "I use it sometimes" to "Other people need it too and often enough".

hardwaresofton
So if you think that you have something that's going to fix that pain point for people even once a month (and I'm assuming you're going to build it such that it solves the problem well) -- Then I think it's worth it to put something like a landing page (or heck, just go ahead and build it, I personally don't like sitting on my hands for too long about something like this, and you'll learn something anyway, so it's not all a waste)

Also, unless you are really trying to grow this into a business, maybe just get a cheap VPS and put it on there? depending on the hosting service, you can get away with <$20/month, and that is pretty small.

dossy
Ideas are worthless. Products are valuable. If you're afraid of being associated with a failed product attempt, then use a pseudonym.

The only way to verify whether an idea is worth pursuing, is to pursue it, and decide if it was worth it or not.

shawnreilly
My answer is Customer Validation. This is essentially what a Landing Page does, but I prefer a more personal approach. Before I begin building something I personally pitch at least 30 potential customers (excluding my network of friends/peers), and then follow up with a few questions. Consumer facing ideas are usually easier for me to validate than Enterprise or Business facing ideas, simply because it's easier to round up Consumers. What I'm basically doing is getting a feel for how people react to the idea (positive / negative). The follow up questions help me determine if I missed something and/or how valuable the idea might be. A successful validation usually results in positive feedback that I can document. A very successful validation results in actual customers, or people willing to pay for it on the spot (which HAS happened). This is something I continue to do while the Product is being built, and even after the Product is released.