Ask HN: Which project idea should I pursue?

[lupatus]

I am suffering from paralysis of analysis and would like HN's advice on which of the ideas listed below I should develop.

A) Video voice mail Facebook App. Most of my extended family, whom I have not seen physically in years because of geographic diversity, is on Facebook. This app would enable us to send each other multimedia messages via the Facebook interface.

B) Telecommuting online workspace. I enjoy telecommuting, but have found that managers are fearful of losing the ability to monitor my work progress if my butt isn't in a chair in an office. This tool would allow the definition of project tasks, track my time on those tasks, report this information to my managers and myself, and have a document sharing facility.

C) Kid-friendly knowledge app. My Dad used to just hand me the encyclopedia when I wanted to read about saber-toothed tigers, but I feel uncomfortable sitting my son in front of a computer when he has similar questions. This app would contain a filtered sub-set of resources like Wikipedia, Project Gutenberg, and public domain MP3s.

I would personally use each of these ideas. And, I would probably turn whichever project I choose into a business if others found it had utility.

So, HN, which idea do you think is best?

[callmeed]

C) especially if you can do it as an iPad app or at least iPad friendly HTML site.

Have "daily features" and my kids would be going there a lot.

I'd open my wallet for that.

[rmason → callmeed]

Having recently seen a three year old with his own iPad I think that's a worthy pivot of the original idea.

[lupatus → rmason]

A few years ago I met a youmg cousin of a college friend who had his own computer at home. I had my first compy at 17, this kid had his at 5.

[jules]

Everyone here seems to pick C, which is the one that I am least enthusiastic about. I'm not convinced that the dangers of a kid browsing the internet are significant. Though of course what matters is what parents of these kids think. Still aren't there enough internet for kids filters already?

Make something more unique, like a quiz where the kids have to find the answers on Wikipedia. Or custom made videos a la sixty symbols or kahn academy that explain something. Or a site like reddit for kids for sharing "hey this is cool!"-stuff. Or a community site where kids can work and discuss projects they're working on. As a kid I'd have loved a site for discussing and sharing experience with other kids how to make the best water rocket, making a water electrolysis apparatus, making trebuchets, making websites, fun chemistry experiments etc.

B seems like a good idea to me, though I wonder how many competitors already exist. A simple tool where multiple people can create a tree of tasks and indicate that they are working on a certain task and set expected time of completion would be useful to me. Though for me personally the collaboration aspect wouldn't be so useful, more useful would be something tailored to freelancers: a website that published certain parts of the task tree password protected to help show clients what you're working on and what progress you're making. Of course you're in an incredibly crowded space here.

[foob → jules]

I'm not convinced that the dangers of a kid browsing the internet are significant.

I think that they are significant. I'm saying this as someone who grew up during the time period when parents had little to no idea of what sort of deranged things were on the internet. A kid could erase the history and clear the cache and their parents would be none the wiser. I'm not in general a supporter of censorship on the internet but I saw some things that are frankly ridiculous for a 7 year old to see. I'm not talking about nipples or vaginas either, you all know that there is some really weird stuff out there. There is a large gray area but I strongly believe that there are things on the internet that an elementary school child shouldn't see.

[lupatus → foob]

That is why I would be uncomfortable just putting him in front of a computer to find out about saber-toothed tigers.

[jenniart → jules]

I think that safety is only one issue when it comes to kids using the internet. The other is their ability to find credible sources. A lot of kids struggle with being able to tell what's fact and fiction. (Think of that teacher who asked his students to write a report on the pacific northwest tree octopus and later couldn't convince them it was a hoax). I think if there was a way to ensure that you only provide really credible information, it's a great idea.

But I really like what you're saying though about making it more interactive and unique and adding a community.

[callmeed → jules]

I didn't like C because of safety issues. I like the idea of making engaging + educational content in a semi-automatic fashion. Making original content is time consuming, so I see a good business opportunity if you can make the creation part super efficient.

[jules → callmeed]

It depends on how semi the semi in semi-automatic is. The problem is that there are other people making educational content by hand. They are going to do a better job than your automatic algorithm.

[rmason]

A. Interesting idea but how would you make money? Advertising inside an app that carries advertising itself doesn't sound viable. If you charge for subscriptions how do you compete when Skype comes bundled into Windows?

B. I've looked hard at that space. Software isn't going to suddenly make managers become telecommuting friendly. I thought the market would eventually make it happen but that doesn't seem to be the case. There's a pretty large differential in coders wages between the Valley and the Midwest but you don't see companies embracing telecommuting in large numbers.

C. This is the best idea in my opinion. There are multiple revenue options but you've got answer how you will distribute it? I would also consider seriously marketing to the school at home market. It's a sizeable niche that you could target inexpensively and once you're successful you can build out from that beachhead.

[systemtrigger]

Facebook already has video voicemail. Half the time it breaks during a recording and you have to start your message over again. If you can program better than the Facebook team, success! Even if you build a worse product a lot of people might nevertheless try it, and there's your ad opportunity.

The project collaboration management space is pretty crowded. If you go down that road, differentiate. Own a segment. The work of a telecommuter is identical in most ways to the work of a commuter. Go niche or don't play.

Parents can't buy enough toys and crap for their kids. Make something that will truly engage kids. Your idea of filtering public domain search results has limited financial potential. Make a game. People pay for games, no one pays for search.

[toksogun]

A. Skype and Facebook are close on that and you would be on Facebook's platform.

B. Has good promise. Workers wouldn't like it but it may put managers as ease.

C. Has good promise. You could make it into an app and focus on some niche content.

[lupatus → toksogun]

I used something like B at my last job, in which our office was in Virginia and I worked from the Alaskan Bush, but the system we used was a bit cobbled-together.

With C I purposefully would not make it niche so that my son could explore a wide-array of resource. The novel aspect would be automatically rating/filtering public domain content to exclude non-kid-friendly material.

[Mz]

No suggestion as to which to go with, but if you go with C, drop me a line when you have an MVP and I will promote it a little. (I still belong to some homeschooling lists.)

[Serene]

I think the kids/young parents market is underserved, I'd pick C

[petervandijck]

A)

An app that increases monitoring by managers isn't going to make anyone happy, and kid-friendly apps are pretty hard (because their users grow out of them so fast).

[lupatus]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

So far, Project C is the winner. Frankly, I am surprised about the positive responses to it. I was hypothesizing that A would get the best response. So, I am a bit surprised. But, pleasantly surprised nonetheless. :)

Now, I am going to start sketching out details about just what Project C would be and how it would work. I'll let HN know when I have something to review.

Thanks again everyone!

[noarchy]

I'd say A, though I wouldn't be surprised if Facebook were working on something similar as we speak.

B meanwhile, just bothers me (I wouldn't want to work under such circumstances), but perhaps there is a market for such a thing. If I'm not mistaken, ODesk has a similar, Big Brothery package of their own....check what theirs does, and see if you can improve it.

I can't comment much on C, so I won't.

[13rules]

B is awful idea ... A and C are great. I would go for C - parents will spent money for an app for their kids without even thinking about it. And with A you might be going up against something that FB is going to release in the future which will just crush your business.

[calebamsden]

I think a) is the most unique - there are already quite a few companies going after b) (FengOffice, Zoho Project, etc), and c) seems like it would be more difficult to monetize. It also might be easier to develop and market a Facebook App, depending on your skill-set.

[arctangent]

Assuming you have equal passion for each of the ideas, I think you should choose the one which you feel:

- has the biggest possible market - has the lowest costs (e.g. maintenance, support, marketing) - is easiest/quickest to implement

[BasilAwad → arctangent]

market penetration strategies can be more important than market size.

for example, a smaller market with better acquisition strategies could be better than a larger market with nebulous or not unique acquisition strategies.

[abcd_f]

Not (B), the space is already over-saturated. Every second designer on Dribbble appears to be working on some sort of online collaboration / team management / invoicing something for telecommuters.

[teyc]

A) Pros - viral, Cons - monetization, fickle hardware/drivers/bandwidth

B) Pros - enterprise space, Cons - enterprise space

C) Pros - Would run well on tablets, a growth market. Cons - You are trying to build a search engine.

[aymeric]

A: You can integrate tokbox for that.

B: What is the difference between your idea and a classic online project management solution?

C: Buy your kid an ipad :)

My vote: start with A.