

What's a good idea? - chrischen

Is a good idea something that no one's thought of yet, or something that everyone's thought of? I come up with ideas, only to find them implemented almost exactly as I had imagined them. Would it be a good <i>idea</i> to just take the one with least competition, try to improve it, and go with it?
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rw
Regarding the competition: if a competitor is doing a good job, but there are
still customers out there waiting to be found, then replicating their
technology and capturing that unfound part of the market would be a good idea.
Try to get a feel for how many people want that product/service. See the
following for links on the infamous parrot ebook:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=520887>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=516215>

I suggest delving into a subject that interests you, but that isn't too
difficult for you to both understand, and make a contribution to; e.g.
focusing on cryptography itself would be a bad choice, but maybe you have a
novel idea about how to use crypto in a P2P application. You can then apply
your domain-specific knowledge in order to implement your idea faster and
better.

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NEPatriot
To me, a great idea is one that is solving a big problem in a large market.
But that alone is not enough because if you don't execute it, competitors can
come in and perfect your idea to its full potential.

This problem usually tends to exist because nobody has solved it yet or has
not solved it in a manner that is practical enough for the masses to pick it
up.

The fact that your ideas are implemented exactly as you thought of them
confirms that if the company that is currently doing this becomes successful
your ideas are good.

If the company doing your idea is being successful it confirms the market
exists and I would look for innovative ways to improve on their offering - or
execute better than they do. You want a strategic advantage when entering the
competition.

It would also help knowing what kind of team/resources they have available. So
that if you show up and take market share how quickly can they respond?

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blackdog
Twenty bucks, same as in town.

