

Ask HN: What is your new idea routine? - oldmanstan

Put another way, once you come upon what appears to be a legit startup idea, what steps do you take (in order)?<p>For instance, do you first scour the market for similar startups? Do you ask friends what they think, or whether or not your idea is technically feasible?<p>What's your process?
======
JangoSteve
Here is my typical routine:

    
    
      1. DON'T write it down*
      2. Write it down
      3. Look for existing services
      4a. If any exist from step 3, start using them.
          -If satisfied => keep using it and get on with life.
      4b. If no services exist, or I am dissatisfied with existing services, 
          => share idea with friends and colleagues.
      5a. If ( feedback is overwhelmingly positive OR I need it right now ) 
          AND ( I have time ) => start developing.
      5b. Otherwise, add it to the long list of things I'd like to make some day.
    

* I don't write it down for the first few days, because it's a simple way for me to filter out all the fleeting uninspiring ideas that probably wouldn't have taken off. If I forget about them, then I must not have been that inspired by it; and if I wasn't inspired by it, then there is no way I could have inspired others with it or created any passion for it.

It's hard for me to otherwise filter out these uninspiring ideas, because when
I first have them, I'm inherently biased. I tend to be in love with the idea
that I thought of something novel, and it's difficult to distinguish between
that excitement and excitement for the idea itself.

~~~
AmitinLA
1\. DON'T write it down

2\. Think about it for weeks and months and years.

3\. Tell my various entrepreneurial friends about it and bask in the glow of
their compliments.

4\. Congratulate myself on being smart.

5\. Dream about making so much money I could punch a cop and get away with it.

6\. Dream about how great my life is going to be when I'm harpooning great
white sharks from a helicopter that can turn into a boat.

7\. Curse the idiots who came out with a product months or even years after my
idea except it's executed all wrong and I woulda done it so much better.

8\. Curse the same idiots who are now making so much money they can punch a
cop and get away with it plus have that boat-helicopter thing.

9\. A few weeks later I come up with a great idea. See step 1.

------
Mystalic
I go through a process called "Will the Dog Eat the Dog Food." It was taught
to me by my entrepreneurial mentors.

After you have the idea and thought out the product some, you test whether the
market will respond to it. I start with a few key friends and my two
entrepreneurial mentors. If it passes them, then I go a wider test. I
determine potential target markets and I survey them or I literally pull out
the phone book and I call strangers. I even stood at a mall once with a candy
bowl and talked with people about my idea.

If you don't talk to customers, you won't ever know what the customers want.

~~~
stretchwithme
great approach. if you can't find 10 people or even 5 that would pay for the
product, there's no point.

and if you can't even get yourself to go look, there definitely no point

------
yurylifshits
The most important thing is to translate idea (typically, a solution) into an
underlying problem. Then, validate the problem:

    
    
        Who has this problem?
        Talk to them, do they really have this problem?
        How many people have this problem? Would they pay for a solution?
        Is there another solution for the same problem
        that is easier than your initial solution?
    

After that I just make a pause. After a few days/weeks I revisit the idea with
a fresh look.

------
willheim
I highly recommend you read "Making Ideas Happen" by Scott Belsky
(the99percent). I was already using Evernote for much of my idea-keeping but
this inspired me to organize it better. The initial idea is but one piece of
the puzzle. As you brainstorm (no matter where) you need to record the ideas
and then take action. Too many ideas die not because they were bad but because
a plan of action failed to take root.

My routine: 1) write down the idea and all related points in Evernote and that
goes in backburner tagged appropriately. 2) Mindmap the idea out. 3) Start
wireframing

\- note this is just fleshing the idea out. All the while be searching for
competitors and testing out what they have done. Take note of likes, dislikes,
and not implemented differences with you.

4) Check google trends and keyword generator to see how many people have been
searching for your solution. Do not be discouraged if you don't find a lot
here... sometimes things really are novel (like, what keywords would one
search for if looking up a twitter like service?). 5) Start talking to
everyone about your idea. Hit up tech meet-ups and anyone who would be your
potential client regarding the idea. People will be really nice and say
nothing but good things. Do not let this idea ego-stroking go to your head
(think about it... when have you ever asked another entrepreneur the hard
question "why?" when you're really thinking the idea is without merit?). Ask
everyone you share the idea with "How would you improve upon this?" or "Is
there anything out there that you've seen like this?" or "Is there anything
about this that you think is off?". When asked people will volunteer their
honest opinion (or complete misunderstanding of the concept). Again, don't
take any of this wrong... you may just be lead in a whole new direction or be
given some great ideas to add to it that you never considered. 6) Take it all
in and break it down to its absolute core. Then take that core and break it
down again. Take all the esoteric meaning you've given it out and break it
right down to the true MVP. Then get coding.

------
amanuel
Ze Frank summed up the way I deal with ideas as I don't want to get addicted
to brain crack.

<http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/07/071106.html>

1\. Take a shower and think it over.

2\. Tell a few friends I trust.

3\. Create the quickest and dirtiest version to see if it even has legs. This
includes looking up who is doing something similar...

4\. Show that to friends in #2

5\. Walk away for 3 days and not think about it.

6\. Come back and review the thing again and decide if I want to continue with
it.

One thing I've learned is it is best to get others involved...early before you
waste too much of your energy. If you can get someone else excited enough to
want to help that usually means your idea has possible legs....or you are a
good salesman/woman/person.

Regardless...engage early and engage often. Nothing is built in a vacuum.

------
niico
Here's mine.

    
    
      1. Ding! "Woah, what a great idea..."
      2. Research. Spend the whole night up researching.
      3. Brainstorm. (On paper!!)
      4. Share with someone you trust or might be interested in working at the project. *Be careful here
      5. Start looking for a domain. (I find this part the hardest lol)
      6. Start sketching on paper. Logo and UI.
      7. Research again, this time for logo and UI inspiration.
      8. Design > xhtml > code > launch v1 ASAP!
      9. Get feedback.
      10. SEO
      11. Repeat 9 and 10.
      12. Repeat 12. 
      13. Improve > fix > launch more features.
    

Goood luck amigo! :)

~~~
seancron
I got stuck in an infinite loop at 12 and never made it to 13 :)

~~~
catch404
I didn't make it past 11 :) i jott things down in my backpack account.. If it
Has any potential to make money I'll run it past my dad and a few mates.

~~~
niico
Heh, yeah. Add a 10.1 there then that says "Ignore future infinite loops" :)

There is something we all need to remember.

-Have a great time doing it.

It's one in a life time experience. Find good people to do it with and rock
the hell out of your market :P

Cheers!

------
il
Do basic market research. Of course, look at existing services but also, more
broadly, look at the target market as a whole. How big is it, who are the
customers, whether they would be willing to pay and how much, how competitive
and expensive advertising in the niche is, look at industry blogs and trade
magazines, basic keyword research, etc.

That's just scratching the surface, you can and should obviously do a lot more
to validate an idea, like dry testing.

------
mvalente
Think about:

\- potential customers: businesses or consumers? If you're targetting
businesses be aware of a large sales cycle; that means you'll need more
working capital. Lots of customers or just a few? If there are lots you have
more power, but it also means a certain type of business model. If there are
few, they will have more power, namely to negotiate prices. The worst
situation: you have one customer, government.

\- potential suppliers: businesses or consumers (eg user generated content)?
These mean different business models. Lots of them or just a few? If there are
lots of them you'll have more power (eg. price negotiation). If there are just
a few (or worse, just one), you might have problems down the line.

\- potential competitors: are there any (if none, perfect!). Are there just a
few or lots of them? Just a few might mean that its an available market but it
might mean that it's a difficult market to get into, namely in terms of
initial investment. Lots of competitors means that its easy to enter that
market, competition his big and that means a constant price fight.

\-- MV

~~~
c1sc0
"potential competitors: are there any (if none, perfect!)." ... or it could
indicate that there is simply no market for this idea. Seeing a few
competitors at least validates the idea & proves that at least some other
companies think there is a market for this.

------
jackowayed
When I get any sufficiently-interesting idea (generally, I decide to write it
down when I'm trying to code but find myself distracted by the new idea), I
open ~/random/ideas.md and start writing down the premise.

A lot of outcomes may follow. I may get a few sentences in, look at it, say
"that's stupid", delete it, and go on with my life. I may just write down the
basic idea that I've been thinking about, push it up to the private GitHub
repo that holds it, and come back to it later if I have more thoughts on it.
Or I may get on a run where I keep expanding on the idea and making it better;
then I may start researching to see if it's already been done, how doable it
looks, etc. Then I'll usually send that fleshed-out writeup to a few trusted
friends to see their thoughts.

Then, if it's a small enough idea, I'll try to find time to hack together some
kind of MVP soon. If it's a bigger idea or it's a busy time for me, it'll sit
in my ideas file 'til I get to it, if I get to it.

------
kimnguyen247
I have a book consisting of archived ideas that are either useless, intriguing
, or the could have been or the could become the next 'big' thing. Perhaps.

Rather than write down and archive, ACT NOW, cause making yourself believe
that ten other people have wireless connections to your mind and can steal any
thoughts from you will ensure that you are outraged and encourage you to set
out with a goal in mind; make your product ten times better than what you
originally set out with.

------
markkat
1\. Think to myself, "I wish I could do (something outlandish and probably
impossible, like teleport)." 2\. Keep thinking that for a few days. 3\. Break
down the idea into components that would enable me to do it. 4\. Cycle through
those components in my mind for a few days. 5\. See if a component arises that
is particularly compelling. 6\. Start the usual process of searching to see if
it exists, validate with friends, etc...

------
vaksel
Usually I just use the Google keyword tool to see what the market is like.

1\. come up with 10 keywords you'd use to look for something like that 2\. see
how much exact match traffic happens for each keyword 3\. see what the average
CPC is for each keyword.

Most ideas get thrown out, since they aren't a must haves. If they
were...people would actually be searching for them.

------
foxtrot
I recently purchased some Crayola Window Crayons, if something pops into my
head I will take a crayon and write it on my mirror, luckily my wardrobes have
large mirros on them so got a lot of space to write with. I then leave it up
there for a while, where I will always glance at it, then work it slowly out
in my head, either remove it completely or add to the idea.

------
rcavezza
I will ask a few close friends about the idea, then build a quick landing page
than explains the idea and asks for email signups.

I post on Hacker News and analyze feedback. After looking at the feedback, I
decide if I should proceed with the idea.

------
ct
Ask yourself does it really solve at least one of the three:

1) Fix a PAIN point that people will pay money to make the PAIN go away.

2) Make them more money.

3) Entertain them enough that they'll be willing to pay.

------
zackattack
I ask my friends what they think but that's mostly to get excited. The truth
be told is that my friends are not my target market. I build a landing page
using UnBounce.com and then throw $200 of AdWords at it.

~~~
yurylifshits
Thanks for Ubounce link! Really a cool tool.

Will use for my next project :)

------
klbarry
I email it to myself and label it for perusal. Every once in a while I go
through my idea folder and apply it to current situations.

------
metysj
I just posted a news link about it. Here it goes again:
[http://www.symbyoz.com/render.jsp?assetID=e8a873cc-
df75-4de9...](http://www.symbyoz.com/render.jsp?assetID=e8a873cc-
df75-4de9-b890-52638e42fccc)

