
Ask HN: Found cofounder, cant' find idea. What to do? - a_lifters_life
Has anyone been in this situation? How did you proceed?
======
pavornyoh
What do you mean "can't find idea"? If you didn't have an idea, why look for a
co-founder? I hope you are not looking to start a startup just because you
want to do one.

~~~
a_lifters_life
We've spoken about several domain areas, but non seem viable to us yet.

~~~
pavornyoh
Then it is not yet time for a startup. Why do you want to start up? What is
the underlying motivation for it?

~~~
a_lifters_life
To change something in a positive manner. A lesser, but still important thing
to me is to pave my own way in this world.

~~~
pavornyoh
>To change something in a positive manner.

Ok. What are you passionate about? What is your background now?

~~~
a_lifters_life
A lot of different industries . My background is SE

------
PythonDeveloper
You should have found an idea before a co-founder. Your co-founder should
complement the direction of the business and bring what's missing in your
personal skill set.

First step now, is to figure our what each of your strengths is/are, and then
create a list of potential ideas that spark each of you, then choose the one
that (a) ignites you both, (b) has a realistic revenue model, and (c) can be
built without the need for investor capital.

Make sure you choose something that actually has customers you can get to, not
something that has revenue potential when you say "If we can just get 1% of
the population..."

Lastly, enjoy the journey.

~~~
a_lifters_life
They do complement my skillset.

We did this list mentality to start, but after awhile had crossed off the
ideas in each industry we both were excited about.

------
PythonDeveloper
Perhaps I can help you "find" some ideas... they come so easily if one is open
to them...

For example, Uber appears to be the end of the taxi business, but it opens up
a whole market to developers. You have a beautiful imbalance now, all those
taxi drivers and cab companies are heavily incentivized to compete with Uber
or lose their companies/jobs.

If there was (and there might be, idk) a platform that allowed all the cab
companies to aggregate into an uber-Uber, there's a market for that with known
customers. The only obvious issue I see is that in order to make this work,
the cab companies would have to give up their fights to block Uber using
municipal codes as they are now.

Anywhere you have an imbalance, there's a potential market. The problem is, if
you're not on the demand side, your product has the potential of a short
lifespan unless it corrects the imbalance.

Google did this with ads, Uber with rides, AirBnB with rooms, tinder with..
well, you know.

Each of these markets had an unseen demand side which each of the companies
exploited. Find an unfilled demand and fill it. It doesn't need to be huge,
but if it's in the way of someone already moving there, you greatly increase
your chances of being acquired.

~~~
pavornyoh
>Perhaps I can help you "find" some ideas... they come so easily if one is
open to them...

The idea should not be a spur of the moment thing. It has be well researched,
pros and cons analyzed etc. I am curious if the creator of the thread can
elaborate on why the need for a startup. I am even more surprised he was able
to find a co-founder without an idea.

~~~
a_lifters_life
Please see my comments.

