

I am depressed ... - trusko

Hi,<p>I had some really good ideas recently. Every time I got excited and was so looking forward to start working on it, just to learn that somebody already had a solid business running based on the same idea or at least executed some sort of website.<p>Should I still try to execute the idea myself since it's not original any more? Should I just move on and try to come up with new idea or try to compete, make it better, improve?<p>Sometimes I feel like it's not even worth thinking about, like everything was already done, patented ..<p>Any input welcome ...
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hodder
Original ideas are nice, but are by no means necessary to start a successful
business. Air bnb and Facebook are a couple successes that spring to mind that
are really just an improvement on other original ideas. Truly most businesses
(even in tech) are just a better mousetrap. Ignore patents and don't overly
focus on coming up with the next big thing and concentrate on how you might
execute something better. Better design, engineering, marketing... What do you
bring I the table?

In fact, this may even help you approach a more original idea from a tangent
or pivot from your original business.

Just look at PG's comments and essays. He looks for founders with potential
more than he looks for mind blowing ideas.

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israelyc
Do not look up patents as a strategy. Its a whole different lawsuit if you
infringed intentionally (and you don't want to get there). If it ever gets to
that, they can force you to disclose in discovery.

Just ignore patents. Patents are only good as their enforcer and if you did
not know, it's much easier to work things out (give or take :)..

Once you grow, register your own stuff (you will have, trust me), every idea
can have a lot variations of claims that were not claimed before. Get a good
patent attorney and you'll be fine.

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relaunched
Friendster > MySpace > Facebook A million search engines > Google

You have to know your competition and your market, not run from them. As a
matter of fact, most people will probably say that if there aren't
competitors, there probably isn't a market.

But, if you still can't shake your depression over not having an original
idea, go out and get a job, 'cuz you're not quite yet cut out for
entrepreneurship.

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wyred
You're giving up too easily.

If someone has already implemented your idea and built a business around it,
analyze their business and see if you can provide something even better (it's
also a good learning process anyway).

There's no rule stating you can't challenge them for a share of the market (or
is there?).

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centdev
Its much harder to execute an idea that has no proven business model. Much
easier to see what the competition is doing, and do it better. Photo sharing
is a crowded field, for example, but its one that some apps accelerate in
growth while others remain stagnant. Just do it better.

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gcmartinelli
I believe you should do it. I'm going through the same issue but I'll keep
going, trying to execute it better. In the worst case, I'll learn something by
doing that.

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trusko
Thanks. I will go for it. I will try to build better product and see.

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trusko
Thank you all for support. I am more frustrated than depressed. It was wrong
choice of words.

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techslam
What is you can provide far better service than the original one. You can
attract your own customer base and give stiff competition. Good Luck

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trusko
I think I could do better, I have some ideas that other party didn't get a
chance to implement or better - they didn't think about yet.

