
Startup Idea Generation - rockstar9
http://www.sproutly.com/2008/04/24/startup-idea-generation/
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edw519
"Thinking of an idea is the first step and also the one of the hardest parts
of a startup."

If you are isolated, maybe. But not if you are already among your customers.
They have so many ideas, I can't keep up. And I come up with many more
watching them struggle. They're the ones stuck with crappy software, trying to
get stuff done every day. They always tell me, "If I only had this, then I
could do that..."

Because I'm already so close to my customers, my problem isn't coming up with
ideas; it's deciding which ones to run with.

Got technical skills but having trouble coming up with ideas? Get away from
your terminal and out into the field. Problem solved.

~~~
dpapathanasiou
True, but you need to do a bit of filtering: clients tend to go on flights of
fancy for things they _say_ they want but would never pay for if you actually
produced it for them.

~~~
meredydd
Granted - but the important point edw519 is getting at, I'd say, is that
getting close to clients is a way of reducing the problem from thinking of an
idea _de novo_ to filtering out the good ones. I'd count that as a major win.

Unfortunately, some of us don't have that luxury. In my current gig, I'm
insulated from actual customers by a substantial distance and half a mile of
extremely cautious beaurocracy. This is not conducive to customer sensitivity,
to put it mildly.

~~~
edw519
"In my current gig, I'm insulated from actual customers..."

Probably one of the many reasons this board is so popular. Hang in there.

