
Ask HN: How did you choose an idea to work on? - slugiscool99
I have a ton of ideas and no issues executing them (I have the technical ability and drive to work on things). My problem is figuring out how to pick <i>one thing</i> to focus on. They&#x27;re all generally good ideas, and with dedication each one could become something useful. However, I&#x27;m constantly doing multiple projects because everything interests me. I know if I put all my effort into one thing I&#x27;d get so much more done.<p>Does anyone have experience with this? Any methods on how to choose an idea to pursue? Maybe specific criteria to evaluate each one on? I would appreciate any guidance or advice on this.
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molsongolden
They aren't all good ideas. Start with your goals.

Do you want to "build something" where you follow through all the way to
launch and hit some # of users that will feel like you "did it"?

Do you want to replace your day job? Do you want to raise funding and explode
into the sun? Do you want to learn specific things throughout the process?

After you know _why_ you want to work something, then rank your possible
projects through the lens of "most likely to achieve my goals".

Lots to consider during that process: how excited you are about the thing,
dogfooding opportunities, market size, competitive landscape, problem scale,
technical challenges, business overhead (admin required beyond just coding the
product).

Without any additional context I'd suggest building something that: you'll use
(helps with motivation and you are your first user), will stretch your skills
and challenge you to improve weaknesses (even if it fails, you've grown), can
be launched then improved and extended through incremental iteration (avoid an
all-or-nothing megaproject).

~~~
codegeek
"Start with your goals"

Very well said and I am amazed to see that a lot of us fail to realize this
key thing about life. If you don't have goals of some sort, it becomes a lot
harder to do anything with a purpose. I am not saying everyone needs to have
some crazy goals but you need to ask yourself: where do I see myself in next
2,5,7,10 years and you work your way through it then.

Starting a side project also should follow this. Yes we all have lot of ideas
that are similar, nothing new. We all struggle to focus on that ONE thing to
start with. The reason is because we are fearful. We fear what if that ONE
thing fails since we have so many ideas. We analyze and paralyze. Result is:
we do nothing.

Ok so lets say you have your 2,5 years goal set. Now lets say multiple ideas
could take you there in theory (since you don't know for sure without trying
execeution). In that case, give yourself few days.

Day 1: Make a list of all your best ideas that you want to execute on.

Day 2: You have a gun to your head. Take 1 idea off that list. Only one. leave
the rest. Once you discard the idea, you can not add it back to the list.

Day 3-n: Repeat Day 2 until you are left with that 1 idea.

Final day: execute, execute, execute. No remorse. No guilt on dropping other
ideas.

------
muzani
Most ideas will just happen without me. Those ideas are either not worth
doing, because someone else can do the work and I can still reap some of the
benefits. Or they might result in more competition.

So the way I pick, is the hardest idea I can carry. The one that is least
likely to happen without me. This also tends to be the most valuable, because
I wouldn't even be pondering doing it if it weren't worth it. It ends up being
the easiest idea to pitch for funding, and the easiest kind of company to
sell, if that's the goal. It's the one that some tech giant like Facebook or
Tencent can't just come in and throw a million dollars at to do- and as such
they might even throw a million dollars at you to buy it. Sometimes current
revenue doesn't even really matter; something like YouTube is worthless on its
own, but plugged into the behemoth that is Google Ads, the revenue gushes in.

The next step I do is work on it every day. As in actual work, not just
planning. This filters out some ideas; I can't reform the education system or
work on nuclear fusion one day at a time, but there are things I can do.

~~~
keiferski
> So the way I pick, is the hardest idea I can carry. The one that is least
> likely to happen without me.

This was a really useful metric. Thanks.

------
k00b
I've been trying to do this for a few years (admittedly failing).

You can come up with complicated models as some do, but I prefer simple models
(3 dimensions or less): What do you want? What are you willing to
build/iterate on for years? What can you find feedback on fast?

(1) because if you're using it you'll build something nice and have a lot of
insight internally.

(2) because you'll need to work hard, fast, and for a long time to make
something great.

(3) your reward systems depend on feedback.

Sometimes answering these questions isn't straightforward so I recommend
building a lot of smallish things without an outcome in mind before answers to
these questions become clear. You tend to know when you're well suited to
something because you can't stop yourself from coming up with ideas and
working on it.

Example: I spent a long time building/understanding
[http://choremate.co](http://choremate.co) because it's something I NEEDED.
Despite finding insight, (1) I found the work hard to do because it was boring
(I don't enjoy CRUDing web apps), (2) I'm not innately interested in the
research domain (behavioral and institutional economics), (3) feedback is best
found living in a large shared household like a coop or fraternity and I don't
live in that situation.

------
mindcrime
I wish I had a good answer for you. All I can really offer is commiseration,
by way of saying that I have the same issue. I spread myself way too thin,
trying to work on multiple projects at the same time, instead of picking on
and working on it exclusively (or even _near_ exclusively).

That said, to the extent that I _have_ gotten any better at this over the
years, I did the following:

I created a page on my personal wiki, with a "todo list". At the very top,
before any of the todo items are a series of questions. Every time I look at
the list, I'm reminded to ask myself those questions.

I don't have the list in front of me right this second, and I'm not sure I'd
want to share the exact list anyway, as it's kinda subjective and personal.
But assume it includes things like:

 _1\. What is the single most important thing I could be doing RIGHT NOW, vis-
a-vis creating revenue?_

 _2\. Whatever I 'm about to do, WHY am I doing it NOW?_

etc.

It helps a little bit, but not completely since so much of what I do is kept
in my head and I don't consult this page all that often. But at least I get a
little reminder every now and then of what I'm supposed to be focusing on, in
terms of the strategy I wrote down.

~~~
slugiscool99
Thank you, I appreciate your perspective. Sounds like you've worked on this
problem yourself by working at it from a different direction, namely starting
from what you want to do/why you want it and moving back towards the thing to
be doing.

~~~
mindcrime
Sort of. I have several projects I'm working on, and in a sense I don't "know"
which one to focus on. But underneath everything, I know that I ultimately
want to build a company that makes money. Not that "make money" is the _only_
thing I want to do, but it matters for $REASONS.

Anyway, given that, I can work backwards from "what action(s) are most likely
to lead to somebody paying me even 1 dollar for any of this?" And if I keep
that "time to first dollar" in mind as a north-star of sorts, it helps me
focus. To a degree.

In reality I don't always actually _know_ what is going to minimize "time to
first dollar", and sometimes I just say "screw it" and work on what seems like
the most fun. So it's a really rough sort of heuristic at best. This is
probably one reason why we _aren 't_ making any money yet. But that's OK,
because other goals besides "make money" include "learn cool new stuff" and
"have fun."

------
kleer001
> I have a ton of ideas and no issues executing them

Branch out to ideas that skirt the edges of your knowledge. If you're too
comfortable you're not growing stronger.

> They're all generally good ideas, and with dedication each one could become
> something useful

Then they need to battle. Think evolutionary. Find a concrete set of resources
for them to fight over (money, time, space, popularity?) and score them.
Iterate them. Combine them. Kill them. May the best idea win!

If that doesn't work then find the most profitable and productive idea that
can serve the most people. Those tend to be few and far between.

------
jjoe
Select the top 3 ideas. Put out landing pages for each with mock demos. Don't
write code yet. Gently engage people online (ex: twitter) to gauge for
concrete interest. You'll naturally start focusing on the idea with the most
excitement and engagement.

Bonus point if you get people to commit to the idea with money.

~~~
FindMySocks
Honestly OP this is your best solution. First find out if there's an easy
accessible market for your project, and if it had costumes interested in it.

I promise you that is better to start off with validation of your concept, and
an interested market (who you can then start testing your iterations with),
before you write a line of code.

If you can't get product market fit, then either there is no market, or you've
simply not found the market yet/sold the concept of your product well/or the
market just doesn't want what your offering.

------
bilinualcom
Let me start with the most obvious one. Start working on a project that you
actually need and are going to use, preferably in long term. That is how I
started Bilinual Project around 2 years ago:
[http://www.bilinual.com](http://www.bilinual.com)

------
phenkdo
Unfortunately, I don't have a clear cut answer for you either, but share my
experience:

1\. I didn't "choose" the idea, the idea chose me. i.e. It took on a life of
its own, and we had product market fit.

2\. The fact that you are dabbling might actually be a good thing i.e. the
explore-exploit dilemma.

------
pier25
Just determine the reason why you're working on these ideas.

Is it for fun? Education? Money?

You should be able to determine which of these ideas are more aligned with
your end goal.

------
poletopole
Over the years I've come to realize that the answers to your question is like
asking what the meaning of life is, it's very subjective. So instead of giving
you practical advice like "Write an essay on why not to make and idea." (which
is actually really effective by the way when done right), I will give you some
indirect advice:

1\. Know the difference between reasoning and logic. Reasoning is like telling
a story whereas logic is more like writing an axiomatic proof. Don't give in
to reason, only logic will help you find the right answer. I call reasoning
"scheming" when it's done in the context that the person doing it believes
they are thinking logically but are just fooling themselves.

2\. Shut the hell up! Stop your inner narrative in your life keeping you stuck
in life and just observe the world around you. I find it helpful when I’m
_doing_ something and not making progress to _not-do_ what I’m doing—it’s
quite magical and isn’t what it sounds like. What I mean is you assume an
indifferent mental state which frees up your brain's resources to take notice
and inventory of details you and others missed about a problem.

3\. Follow the path with heart! Is there a splinter in your mind but can't
quite put your finger on it? Don't expect to find your life's purpose
instantly, it takes time. The best advice I can give you is pursue what makes
you the most curious, not what will make the most money. This is because
things you are curious about take less energy to think and learn about.

4\. Be compassionate, not passionate. What I mean by that is don't pursue
"ideas" but pursue what makes you happy and others happy; be a buddha and end
the cycle of suffering. All that matters in this world is happiness. If making
money like Warren Buffett does makes you truly happy (but not for the money
itself) then become a stock investor first, programmer second--you see what
I'm saying? Too many programmers have paralysis when it comes to side project
ideas because what they enjoy most is programming and they are already
programmers, so shouldn't you be happy by now ;)

5\. Be patient! Don't try to think of an idea, rather find a problem (which
could just be a tedious task you do often) as a consumer, not a programmer,
that really bothers you. Then, rather than make a complete product at first,
do experiments first not by building a product but testing assumptions or
hypotheses, doing a trial, and draw conclusions from what you learned. Over
time, all those experiments will result in _learning_ which is the modus
operandi of business.

6\. Do your homework! Spend a good year at least researching all you can about
the problem you are solving (unless you're just making a metoo app) and why it
isn't solved yet, because you may find out for example the problem is
intentional which means it can't be fixed, it is corrupt by design. You may
discover a simpler way of solving the problem that incumbents were too fancy
to notice. Treat your problem like it's a real conspiracy which forces you to
think differently about the problem than others; rather than just being an
engineering challenge, it becomes web of even deeper problems, and you may
just find that your problem is just the tip of the iceberg.

