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Ask HN: How do you store and organize your startup ideas?

29 points by dennybritz ↗ HN
A text file? Google doc? Spreadsheet? What questions do you ask when you write down a new idea?

Edit: Thanks guys, I didn't expect to get that many responses. Some interesting approaches in here :) Personally I put them into regular text documents. For each of my ideas I try to answer the six product-focused YC application questions as a sanity check.

65 comments

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edmack
I'm a big fan of Trello for a visual way to lay them out and share them. It's a nice balance of feature rich but visually simple.
franze
I.M.B.S. - in memory brain storage (if it's a good idea, it sticks until it becomes a project)
JimmaDaRustla
Thought this was sarcasm at first.

Maybe I should create a startup for an app that helps organize startups! ;)

uqimu
Trello and Evernote work for me
logicallee
In order: I find a cofounder [EDIT: who is as on board with the idea as I am], set up an agreement with them, incorporate the idea into a company, find product-market fit, launch, and grow the company.

Pretty much you should think of each idea in these terms.

If you don't even have a cofounder, you don't really have much of an idea. [EDIT: Clarification, the following refers to OP's complete, detailed list of many ideas:] Anyone could list enough things to do in a paragraph for it to take all the resources you'll ever come into possession of. Ummm...great. Until you have a cofounder on board with an execution on at least one of them, you don't have shit.

jasallen
So, it's infinite work for one person, but infinity / 2 is manageable?
logicallee
I meant that in reference to the fact that the OP has a "list" of ideas. I might (or might not) have a "list" of ideas and if the list, in addition to easy or more difficult web startup ideas, so much as hinted at asteroid mining (whatever the idea is) or something like the HyperLoop (again no matter what the idea is) - then the overall list is now more resources than I would ever come into contact with through any path.

But if instead, I only have a list of cofounders who are on board with specific plans, then I would only have manageable ideas. That is to say, perhaps it is possible to cofound a private space company. But actually doing so is a helluvalot different from putting it in a bulletted list. And I probably wouldn't do so under any circumstances, even if I did have an idea in that space.

jasallen
So I agree, some ideas are more manageable than others. But the only thing I'm getting out of your description is that a co-founder validates ideas, because you don't trust yourself to know that Hyperloop is harder than a Reddit clone?

Also not sure if you could be fooled into thinking Hyperloop was easy, why you wouldn't be able to find an equally optimistic co-founder.

logicallee
Your last sentence gets at the heart of my point. If you wanted me to come on board with your idea that builds on hyperloop, I wouldn't be "agreeing that that's a pretty cool idea and should be on your list." I'd be agreeing to actually build it somehow.

So the standard for cofounding something is a million times higher than the standard for putting it into some list of ideas.

conroy
Trello for me. I have an ideas board with lists for blog posts, apps, startups, and video games.
icefox
Every few months when something that seems good enought comes along I post it on a blog http://ideasfrommydreams.blogspot.com/ Then I get to share all my silly ideas with my 138 rss subscribers. And I can go back and add notes as I find new information. And if I never work on them at least I got to write down something. And once in a blue moon I get a comment.
sosha
Workflowy does it for me
Tichy
Google Keep atm, but it's not perfect.
sharmanaetor
I maintain a Google Document of the format

Summary:

Inspiration:

Description:

Trello was another place I considered storing my ideas, but Google Docs was just easier.

davewasthere
A shared google doc with a mate. We combine our ideas for world domination. He's the only one executing though. I seem to be completely busy with client work in the short term...
icedchai
i use a text file.

i google around to see who else is doing something like it, and how they are making money. generally i only look at SaaS and B2B ideas.

uniclaude
Text (actually markdown) files: ~/docs/idea-someDescriptiveName

Obviously automatically backed up.

Aarvay
Evernote. Trello. Google Docs. Three top tools I use / have used for this purpose.
AznHisoka
I don't usually have a ton of ideas so I just keep them in my brain.

What questions do I ask? I usually ask potential customers whether it's something they'd find useful in their day to day lives, and what their pains are.

jaredstenquist
Trello. I organize them in lists and revisit weekly. I'm an idea guy that needs to focus on execution, so I revisit the list weekly.

* Needs Validating (basic market research, customer exploration)

* Hot list (validated. would like to spend more time on it)

* Dead pool (didn't pass validation, or interests/resources/priorities shifted)

My deadpool list will be turned into an interesting book one day. Most likely one of those funny single page story books that are bought for bathroom reading.

bhousel
I buy a domain and then sit on it forever. So, namecheap.
wickedchap
It's a very expensive to-do app. I know, I do the same.
brothe2000
I do this too. Is this common or are we weird?
amerkhalid
Google Spreadsheet with difficulty scores and other parameters.