

Ask HN: Picking a Project Idea - GB_001

Hello, I'm a young web developer who has been trained in marketing by a CEO of a successful business and I'm looking to do my first serious start-up.<p>The problem is that I'm extremely ADD when it comes to ideas and instead of one idea I came up with four.<p>I want to be able to create a product demo sometime before the end of January, but with no focus it's very difficult to work on something.<p>Can anyone who has been through something similar offer advice?
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dsoftware
* Choose the project that you find the most fun and interesting. If you do something that you enjoy and are passionate about, it becomes hard to pull away from it; hence, you'll get further on it. Set up small goals and milestones while for you to accomplish during the project. I try to break things down in a hierarchy, where I am looking at goal in a monthly, weekly, and daily perspective. These are not hard deadlines, but they give me metrics of success, and its ok to adjust these as the project matures.

* You will have to deal with the ADD, or you will not get anywhere, speaking from personal experience. In my case, I hit walls and managed to work around them. But sometimes new and easier things came along, and then I would pursue those interests. Unfortunately, when I did this, the work I did got tossed, and I started back at square one on the new stuff. Don't be me.

* In general, I begin an idea that may not be great or novel, but I try to build on it, iteratively, add new concepts or features to it. This process heavily depends on the project though. Generally, as I work along these lines, I am bumping into random problems that need to be solved or need a better solution. (this advice point may not be strong).

* Don't be afraid to fail. Failing is half the battle.

Hope these four points help.

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GB_001
Right, I think my biggest fear in putting alot of resources into a failed
project. But I guess it's better to start on something than to do nothing.
I'll try the one that takes the least resources.

The ADD on the other hand I believe it's just something I'm going to have to
deal with.

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bigiain
"I think my biggest fear in putting alot of resources into a failed project."

Do not fear this!*

Accept that it's actually the most likely outcome, and that down the track,
never having failed is quite likely to be viewed with suspicion or disbelief.
Be smart about it - limit your losses by failing early, but refusing to risk
failure means you're also refusing to risk success...

Big

* Well, be smart about it - it the resources you're planning on putting in are such that you're risking _serious_ _long term_ personal consequences in the event of failure, you need to weigh that against the benefits of success and the likelyhood of it being successful. If the "worst case" scenario is that you fail with 5 or 10k of credit card debt and need to move back in with you folks and get a day job to get back on your feet, you can quite likely afford to "risk everything" there...

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HedgeMage
First, understand that picking one at random will get you further than not
deciding at all. Thus, not having a "perfect" way to choose is no good excuse.

All else being equal (or just unknown), go with the one you'll get the most
immediate real-world feedback on. At least that way you'll know quickly if
it's viable, and if not, what made it not viable.

Learning++

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caw
I agree. All things being equal, picking one idea will get you somewhere. If
all 4 things will make you happy working on them, and now you're just trying
to figure out which is the "best" then just pick something so long as they
meet your criteria for potentially successful businesses.

And nothing says you can't validate more than one idea, but that is going to
cut into your resources.

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AznHisoka
Build a web app for people with ADD. You got domain expertise :)

