
Ask HN: How to know when an idea is worth pursuing? - iio7
I have often found myself annoyed because of ideas that I never manage to pursue, sometimes because of a lack of time or money or honest interest, but they still resonate in the back of my mind causing minor stress.<p>Then again other ideas I manage to pursue, but for some reason or another find out they weren&#x27;t so good after all and time is wasted, with the exception if I learn something useful in the process.<p>What is a good way to determine whether an idea is a good idea worth pursuing before actually doing too much about it?
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ironfootnz
My approach is always like:

\- Donate 40 hours to that idea. Doesn't matter the goal. \- During this 40
hours evaluate the following: \- Feasibility \- Long term goal. \- Team needed
it. \- Create a score card (2x2 concept here positivexnegative, fastxslow). \-
Explore ideas for it(Design thinking approach here). \- Explore the feedback
from people you know. \- Now that you have spent 38 hours. Use the last 2
hours to pitch and collect from other people that you don't know and pitch the
idea, and place in the score card.

If you have enough evidence (data) you can discover insights (analysis) to
peruse or not not. If you still have other areas to cover, I will limit the
cut off time to 100 hours.

That's how I discover if ideas are worth my actions.

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gitgud
Well, there's many factors to consider, any of which could make the idea,
worthwhile or not:

\- The market, a new type of buggy whip might not have much demand anymore
[1].

\- The investment for an MVP, building a rocket for mars is a great _idea_ but
may take millions of dollars and years of time.

\- The competition, creating a new Search Engine is a great idea, but the
field is dominated by big powerful companies like; Google & Bing...

\- The novelty, a new JavaScript framework work web apps must be pretty
different to attract much attention these days.

\- Your expertise, creating a new baby toy with no knowledge of babies may
turn out terribly.

\- Your passion, if the idea doesn't excite you, then it's probably not worth
dedicating your time to.

Passion is probably the most influential factor in my opinion, because it
should keep you motivated when things get tough.

[1]
[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/10digi.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/10digi.html)

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daleholborow
It's amazing how many people e stumble across the Ask HN and manage to
navigate the sign-up-and-post procedure but fail to grasp how Google works.
Here's some suggested search terms "mvp" , "proof of concept", "how do I
validate my idea", or perhaps "is there anyone out there who can help me
Google"?

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yesenadam
> It's amazing how many people e stumble across the Ask HN and manage to
> navigate the sign-up-and-post procedure but fail to grasp how Google works.

That's 100% unhelpful, unkind snark. I see from your recent comment history
you've a habit of responding meanly to questions you don't think are good.
Please stop doing that.

~~~
daleholborow
Adam, the value of a community is somewhat diminished, in my opinion, if it's
encouraged to lazily throw your problems up in the air and yell "does anyone
know the answer to my question" before they've made even a cursory attempt to
research or solve the problem themselves. Why on earth pollute a forum with
more noise?

~~~
yesenadam
All totally beside the point. No-one suggested "encouraging" questions you
don't think are worthy. Flag them. But writing the horrible way you did has no
place on HN or anywhere. It's not much good _what_ you say being 100% valid if
_how_ you say is revolting and breaks every possible guideline. It may have
been a bad question, but it was far, far better than your comment.

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thedevindevops
I highly recommend you post your ideas somewhere - not necessarily here - but
somewhere you can get feedback on the idea. Ideas can't be copyrighted, only
implementations, so you don't loose anything by putting it out there and you
can bend the ear of real industry professionals to validate it.

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codingdave
It depends on your goals - if you are pursuing it for a business, you need to
validate that there is a market, and a monetization path. If you are doing it
as a mission-driven project, you need to evaluate what already exists to
fulfill that mission, and determine if your efforts will add to the solutions,
or if you should be collaborating with existing groups. Or if this is purely a
personal project, then it is all about your own prioritization of your own
time and energy.

Tell us more about what kinds of projects you are thinking of, and I'm sure
more detailed answers can be provided.

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kleer001
That is a good idea to pursue. The idea that the value of an idea can be
figured out before too much time is wasted on it.

Then again nothing is every truly wasted when you pursue what brings you joy.

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donnanorton
I guess there are two ways. 1\. Listen to your gut and be passionate about it.
If you truly believe in your idea, you won't give up that easily. Even if you
do, you won't feel bad about wasting that time. At least you tried and no
"what-ifs" will ever haunt you. 2\. Do some research. If you are a more
practical type of person, explore your idea from every angle. Collect the data
and analyze the potential. If you ask me, my personal approach is the first
one.

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this2shallPass
1) Validate that people are willing to pay something for the benefit you would
provide, or 2) validate that the benefit would help the people you want to
help, and it's a pain they acutely feel

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rl3
When it consumes you is the metric I use. That method is not without major
caveats of course.

