

How To Find Startup Ideas - tansey
http://wesleytansey.com/how-to-find-startup-ideas/

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jasonkolb
I routinely trip over them getting out of the shower, preparing lunch, and
getting into bed. Seriously, I didn't realize that a shortage of ideas was a
problem for anyone--for me it's much harder to focus on a single one long
enough to execute it well.

~~~
andrewflnr
There seems to be something similar going on with "side project" ideas, where
there aree (I'm told) people who want to have a fun side project but don't
have any ideas. I wish there was a good place where idea people can stick
their excess ideas for other people to pick up. You could vote for ideas you
want to see implemented, link to your own implementation, etc. I would
probably do it myself, if I didn't have too many ideas already.

~~~
feralmoan
It's been an ongoing meta for nearly 10 years now, between ideatorrent,
brainstorm, ideaswatch et al which have all failed to engage for one reason or
another (I suppose because good ideas are something people don't want to
share?). Can always keep a watch on un(der) funded projects on kickstarter or
angellist to gain insights also.

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heliodor
I encounter plenty of engineers who are saying they can't come up with good
ideas. I think the problem for us engineers is that we're trained to work
around problems, not confront them head on. The list on this blog post is
great, but it takes time for the habit to form once you change your mindset to
pay attention to problems you encounter. It's a habit, and it takes time to
form, but you'll notice it more and more as the months pass if you're
committed to it.

~~~
rmATinnovafy
They have a problem deciding on a idea. I share the same problem.

I just focus on bulding it to a MVP and putting it out. If it sticks, it was a
good idea. If not, I move on to the other.

People, stop worrying about the idea and get working.

Here, let me help you with getting ideas.

Write the first three words that come to mind.

Example: Fruit, baby, car.

Now, think about each one.

I'd say fruit: Apple, car: app.

An app to use in the car? For the car? Baby

Hmm.

I got a couple of ideas already.

An app to unlock your car (through an afyermarket alarm) if your baby is
locked inside with the keys.

An app that allows you to watch your kids through the in car navigation.

An app that plays a given set of songs for babies depending on the mood of the
baby. Crying? hit the crying button. Sleepy? hit the sleepy button. etc.

And so on.

That's just stuff I came up while writing this post.

Use the technique, it works.

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famousactress
In my experience the best way to come across startup ideas is to work at a
startup. There's an pretty awful irony to the situation of being strapped for
cash, resources, and sleep. Just about all I see are problems that I'd love
for someone to take my money and solve!

Seriously. Just come sit by my desk with a notebook and scribble down what I'm
doing anytime I curse at my computer.

More practically... join a startup, or tickle people who are knee-deep in one
for ideas.

~~~
polemic
Not just startups, either!

At any organisation you'll experience this if you have your mind open.

The difference, I think (and from my own experience), is that at a start-up
you are far more receptive to the opportunities.

The other side of the coin is this: don't forget the value of domain
knowledge. Sometimes you need to work in an industry for a bit to understand
what's holding people back. Not every startup has to be the next big consumer
product - there are (and have always been) a lot of people quietly doing very
well for themselves servicing specific industry needs.

 _(a gentle troll to some HN readers: Of course, that might involve building a
"real" revenue driven business instead of hunting for a big close-out paycheck
;D)_

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sasha-dv
Looking for an idea? Please follow this link:
<https://twitter.com/#!/search/software%20sucks>

Listen to what people are complaining about. Can you do something about it?

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amirmansour
This list is a nice analysis. However, coming up with a start-up idea is not
something that should be forced. If you see a problem or a need for something,
pursue a solution if you're passionate about it. If you have no passion and
just want a business for the sake of having a business, you will eventually
fail. Any successful company has some passionate people behind it. That's my 2
cents.

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bdunn
Make something less annoying to do, or help make your customers more money.
Make sure the person keying in the card is using a business credit card.

Then profit.

------
sparknlaunch12
Great article. There are various views on the best method of finding that
startup idea.

The trap is getting caught up with the solution (the what) too soon. The
process should really start with the problem and who you believe it impacts.

Next you get out the building (as described by Steve Blank) and speak to
potential customers. This way you quickly evaluate your early idea and
determine if anyone will use it and importantly buy it.

Usually a strong sign of a winner is when customers are willing to buy the
product before it is even built - sell first, build second. 1

For more inspiration, read up on customer development and Steve Blank.

[1] [http://sparknlaunch.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/a-smart-bear-
ja...](http://sparknlaunch.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/a-smart-bear-jason-cohen-
on-startups/)

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prawn
I have idea overflow so finding something to work on isn't my problem, but I
once wondered if browsing Twitter for #firstworldproblems might reveal some
ideas. Turns out it doesn't really. Just thought I'd save everyone the time!

<https://twitter.com/search/%23firstworldproblems>

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wamatt
This is actually a great conceptual list. Well done.

There are many more strategies and it can be refined but as a core set in one
place, that's pretty handy.

Personally however I've found great strategy to be, "solve for x".

Where x is some fucking annoying thing day in and day out, and no-one is doing
anything about it.

------
fuzzythinker
Very similar to this categorization:
[http://blog.rongarret.info/2009/10/catalog-of-wealth-
creatio...](http://blog.rongarret.info/2009/10/catalog-of-wealth-creation-
mechanisms.html)

------
tomblomfield
These labels feel problematic - they don't seem to accurately describe any of
the companies listed, nor do they really offer much in the way of analysing
new ideas.

------
atirip
How To Find Startup Ideas?

Well, apply to YC of course, they'll give you an idea. It's that simple.

------
ilaksh
OK, I can understand not being able to decide which idea to pursue, or not
being sure if your idea is going to be popular. But not being able to come up
with "good" ideas in the first place? Unless you are discarding ideas because
you think that you did not come up with them out of the sky on your own, or
you only are interested in completely unique ideas, which is ridiculous, then
I just don't see how that can be.

If you can't come up with good ideas for a startup, then you shouldn't be
running a startup. There are enough startups. Find someone who is smarter than
you, or creative enough to come up with their own ideas, and help them.

Or maybe you are just confused about what an idea is. "Creativity is taking
known elements and putting them together in unique ways."
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKEgf0BV7Qg>

Anyway I love talking about my many ideas, and if I had lots and lots of
money, I think I would have several very interesting projects going on. But
since I don't have money, I am just working alone trying to get a prototype
ready for one particular idea.

Here are some free ideas:

justkittens.com : web page that just shows kittens on camera all day.. you can
sign up and show off your own kittens, or browse kitten cams. Probably could
make a hundred bucks a month just from Google Ads. Now, is this the first time
that anyone thought of this, or the only one of its kind? No, but you could
make it better than most, and probably popular. Is it a "good" idea? Sure, if
you like kittens and have time to build it out.

justpuppies.com ..

Completely open source weebly/wix competitors: I am working on something like
this, but I believe there is always room for better website/web application
builders, especially if they are totally open source and easily extensible
like WordPress and you can get some people authoring plugins/components. Mine
is being built on Node.

Hydroponic gardening for your apartment/any sort of ultralocal food
production: inspired by <http://www.windowfarms.org/> .. or maybe even
something more high-tech, based on in-depth knowledge of human nutritional
needs and bioprogramming or something .. along those lines, fiber optic solar
lighting, I don't see a lot of that at Walmart yet.

Solar panels you can install yourself.

A new non-linux, non-unix based operating system with a 3D HMD and VR glove
interface.. like a "deck" from a cyberpunk novel/movie.. Maybe write the whole
OS in CoffeeScript or something (slightly modified to allow for types or
pointers to be inserted where necessary) . Find the specs and linux code for
interfacing with SATA and ATI/Nvidia and start with that. I want to boot up to
a wizard's tower or whatever 3D scene I specify, rather than a flat desktop.

Electric/Hydrogen fuel cell conversions for cars. Or little cars that run on
electricity. Or charging stations for electric cars. Better batteries for
electric cars.

An inexpensive LIDAR system.

~~~
scott_w
>A new non-linux, non-unix based operating system with a 3D HMD and VR glove
interface.. like a "deck" from a cyberpunk novel/movie.. Maybe write the whole
OS in CoffeeScript or something (slightly modified to allow for types or
pointers to be inserted where necessary) . Find the specs and linux code for
interfacing with SATA and ATI/Nvidia and start with that. I want to boot up to
a wizard's tower or whatever 3D scene I specify, rather than a flat desktop.

I'm curious as to why it has to be "non-linux, non-unix". Going with that
would leave you rewriting large portions of code for little gain.

If you're concerned about licensing, then BSD would be a good start. However,
even using Linux, you'd only really have to release the hardware drivers. You
can build your own GUI on top of Linux and not be bound by the GPL.

~~~
ilaksh
You could build your own GUI on top of Linux.. really doesn't have to be so
from-scratch, and I am also interested in pursuing that idea if I ever have
the time or resources, but doing everything sort of from scratch is just a
more seductive fantasy for me I guess, because it would be fun to see how much
I could optimize things and fun to get down to the lowest level.

The other reason is just to get rid of the legacy complexity.. true that a lot
of stuff that is in Unix you really do have to have for an operating system,
but there are also a number of different varying approaches to problems that
have been duplicated over the years so that there is extra complexity that
really isn't necessary. Also doing things from scratch would allow me to take
exactly the approach that I wanted to every major decision, which in some
cases really might be better served by taking a different approach from linux.
Also I could just say "well, not going to support any of this other Linux
stuff, you have to use a remote desktop for that" which would eliminate a huge
amount of code.

There is actually some stuff for Compiz loading models in the middle of the
cube, I could just start messing with that, would be the most straightforward.

