Struggling to come up with product ideas
Does anyone have any advice for someone who rarely has problems in their life? I generally make do with what I have and am generally a happy person. I dont need more, I dont really want for anything. (Other than much money of course)
How can someone like me come up with problems to solve when I myself have none?
14 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 47.9 ms ] threadWrite an app that summarizes complaints from around the web and collates them into an organized list. That should help.
Do you have any examples / tips on how to see problems in a world where you don't see many?
Likewise take a look at what problems businesses have and come up with solutions.
Edit: Woops! I HN-stalked you and realized my assumption was horribly wrong. Sorry. I bet you solve problems in your life all the time using tools most people can't use (i.e. grep). Here's a problem you might solve: How to determine and deal with all the phones, tablets, computers, dvd players, and TVs on your home network 'dialing home' and pushing data you might or might not want pushed? In other words, a cheap firewall/IDS/IPS that is easy to use without overwhelming a laymen with things they don't understand.
what are you really good at, or interested in? work hard at that. many ways to contribute in a startup than being the founder / idea man. In fact, it seems there are a fair share of tech startups whose engineers really helped the founders make the service/product marketable. without them it would have been just an idea.
I feel I'm so entrenched with solutions to every problem I don't need anymore solutions. I need problems.
I think I need to go against my assumptions and do what many have said: start to focus on other people, start looking outward. Looking inward hasn't really helped anything.
Perhaps you could offer something that doesn't solve a problem, but instead offers something nice that didn't exist before. Writing, art, comedy, and other things fall under that umbrella (one can make money off of these, though you have to be good).
Trying to find a problem in need of a solution just so you can develop a solution is nearly always a recipe for future failure and disappointment.