

Ask HN: How did you come up with your startup idea? - jeandenis

I am interested in the (non-)processes behind innovation and building a startup.<p>There is some overlap between the two (some startups are based on innovative ideas, others aren’t), but also a large disconnect -- execution, luck, connections, partners, geography, funding, and so on.<p>Ignoring the complexity behind the latter elements for now, I’d love to hear from HN readers how you came up with your startup or side-project idea.<p>Was it luck, conversations with peers and entrepreneurs, predicting a technology trend (how?), simply better technology...
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jeandenis
I’ll start. Basic process: Applying solution from one domain to another +
luck.

When I was working as a corporate lawyer, I noticed that both our clients and
we could be a lot better at capturing institutional memory. The problem wasn’t
that we didn’t have systems in place (we had email search, a wiki, an up-to-
date website, top-notch on-staff researchers, etc.), but that there were no
incentives for those with knowledge to take half an hour out of their day to
contribute this knowledge to the systems. With size, the non-processes that
work for smaller firms (coffee break, knowing what everyone’s working on,
etc.) were failing.

From /. to StackOverflow via HN, Foursquare, etc. there are many examples and
templates of how to use karma and game-elements (e.g. badges) to incentivize
contributions. Moreover, many of these elements should be compatible with the
work environment as they would permit management to identify contributors
(high-karma and badges) and domain experts (subject-area of contribution
versus job-title). The incentive-element should be very strong: if management
is on board, employees are on board (e.g., if karma matters as part of one’s
work-review).

The second part in my process was to speak to future clients (management at
mid-sized companies), users (lower-level employees who would use the system)
and other entrepreneurs to gauge whether the problem was actually a need
(i.e., would anyone be willing to pay for it).

~~~
nudge
That's an interesting idea. How's it working out?

~~~
jeandenis
Pretty well, but too early to tell. Closed-beta w/ 4 clients is very positive.
Hoping to open up to public in ~4-6 weeks.

Some issues: \- 40+ employee companies which would really benefit from
information retention / formalizing institutional memory require a real sales
effort and can be resistent to switch to our SaaS approach for information
which may be sensitive/private \- not as useful for companies < 12 employees
or for companies where everyone is colocated (obviously) \- search is tough;
it's easy to do ok, but we need it to be very very good; definitely stretching
brain \- unsurprisingly, for companies that user yammer / 37signals / web
services (2 of 4 clients), it's natural for employees to switch general
questions from email to our platform, but for other two clients much tougher;
unclear whether this is because of something cultural at the businesses or
what \- am not good at sales (yet...) \- current implementation alone may not
be enough to warrant use (i.e., might do well to be integrated with existing
project management or CRM or other web services already in use)

I tried to stay with a MVP approach, but it's tough for a tinkerer like
myself. I always want to add this or that and constantly have to force myself
to stay simple. Big learning experience w/ that and with integrating user
feedback from the get-go (balancing act between what's in my head, what client
1 wants and what client 2 wants -- opening up to larger audience earlier is
probably better for MVP).

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nudge
Reading widely (i.e. not just technology blogs/forums), being genuinely
interested in what other people do and the problems they experience in doing
such things, dissecting a problem to see whether it can be avoided or
ameliorated, exploring existing attempts to do so, analysing their benefits
and failings, developing an alternative approach to the problem, discussing
this with people I trust who have different knowledge-bases (particularly if
they have knowledge of this area), reflecting on whether it still seems like a
good idea, doing some rough calculations about market size, pricing (or other
monetization route), and feasibility given my own skills and network,
concluding whether it is a good and implementable idea and, if so, getting to
work and continuing to work long after the initial excitement wears off.

tl;dr: Assuming until proven otherwise that everyone has something to teach me
about the world.

~~~
jeandenis
I doubly agree with reading widely (+outside of tech) and speaking with people
with expertize in other domains.

The less-sexy the domain, the more opportunities for innovation. Too many
(very smart) people out there looking at consumer internet and tech.

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chegra84
Three ways: 1) I see something I like and want it done better. 2) Randomly,
enters my head. Like connecting stuff. This happens alot when I walk. 3)
Observing a need 4) Testing out a new theory :D(I should stop doing these they
are unprofitable) \------ You should try to observe yourself when you are
creative and what you do. That's how I found out, that creativity is anchored
for me when walking[<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning>].

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seven
One project I am working on is the reimplementation of some old software I
wrote 8 years ago. It worked very well but had some conceptual problems and
got very bloated. New version offers more or less the same, but in a more
modern way using modern standards and fixing some old problems. I had the idea
to do this out of frustration about the old code and that we had no nice way
to build custom systems. So I wrote a prototype that covers most features of
the old system. Prayed to the flying spaghetti monster that my old client
would love the idea and give me some cash for development and to provide me
with his sales infrastructure in exchange for shares. Everything went well. :)

The other project I am working on is a mix of existing technologies with very
domain specific features for a very targeted niche. The idea came up because I
wanted my girlfriend to quit her job and work together with me. (solid
relationship since 10 years; we already worked together) So we started
brainstorming about how to combine my IT skills with her knowledge about the
specific niche to make something that could help people do their job better.
The initial idea has nearly nothing to do with our current product, but lead
to discussions with our target group and more ideas about how to make
something nice.

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uncoder
In one case I know, the founders wanted the company they were working with,
solve/improve their product using a new way of solving a problem. The company
management didn't think the idea would work. The founders had enough courage
to prove they were right, pitched in many, many hours to build a prototype and
demo, convinced a few seed investors and VCs for small amount of money, and
they were right. They then picked up enough market share for the competitors
of the original company to take notice, and acquire them. You may find this
path very common.

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samratjp
It's really like sowing seeds and waiting for it grow mature. You will get
some weeds, but that's part of the process.

For example, I would consider some ideas and just when it's getting so good, I
stop thinking about it to leave on a high note. This usually happens when you
least expect it at places such as the shower or during freeway hypnosis.

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gruseom
People at a company complaining about how existing software didn't do what
they want.

