

Ask HN: is finding an idea a major bottleneck for you? - skarmklart

Just thought this would be a neat topic for HN since my recent research shows that there are surprisingly many programmers out there (two thirds of responders in my survey) who want to start a side project for profit, but their main problem is just finding the initial idea.<p>Full disclosure: I am working on a book on how to find and test Software-as-a-Service ideas.
======
DanBC
No, I have very many ideas. I have neither the time nor skill to do anything
with them. I write them down and I'll put them on a bit of WWW space sometime.

EDIT: Some of the more sensible are around behaviour modification. They're all
a bit UK-centric, but modifiable.

EG

1) drink diaries. People aren't aware of how much they actually drink, so an
easy way of keeping track and then converting that into the UK standard
"units" would be good.

2) Budgeting for poor people claiming benefits. Benefits might be changing to
monthly payments (from fortnightly). People say this is going to be very hard
to adjust to. A simple app to help people keep track of money in and out is
handy. What makes this "fun" is the need to make it work on not-smart phones
and non-data plans.

~~~
pknerd
I have skills, I have ideas, I might even have time. It's just I am not sure
which one will give me money

~~~
skarmklart
Shameless plug: sign up for my book here:
[http://howtofindsaasideas.com/](http://howtofindsaasideas.com/)

I'll give you an additional $5 discount if you also complete my survey:
[https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1UAHE1ifh81JyPhmEhpIPy7Ee0pH...](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1UAHE1ifh81JyPhmEhpIPy7Ee0pH_Y_1VkoeYjuxvVlc/viewform?pli=1)

Helps me create a better book FWIW :)

~~~
nyddle
sign up doesn't work in Firefox22/Ubuntu

------
wikwocket
Finding a (good) idea is challenging, but I feel there's lots of good advice
(especially from some of HN's more prolific posters) on how to vet good ideas
with some rigor.

I feel the bottleneck is in the validation phase. You can be brainstorming
dozens of ideas, but to go anywhere with them, I feel you should research,
talk to people, look at stats/trends, maybe build a brochure site/MVP and
capture some leads, etc. These all take time, effort, (some) cost, and of
course require the dreaded act of communicating with other human beings.

Idea work comes naturally to hackers, but communication doesn't. Plus, once
you're considering communicate an idea to others, subconsciously you
acknowledge that it might not be well-received or fail to take off. I believe
that (in my case at least) this causes a big bottleneck. I'm always happy to
ponder ideas, but seem to have less enthusiasm to do the legwork to validate
them!

~~~
skarmklart
How do you usually go about communicating with people when validating the
idea? Emails? Cold calling? Something else?

To whom do you reach out?

I hope to provide the reader with a good arsenal of tips and tricks on
communication in my upcoming book, might be worth signing up for updates :)
/shamelessplug

~~~
wikwocket
If I could completely answer this question, it would not be my bottleneck! ;)

What I have done: post a brochure site, promising more to come, and offering a
free whitepaper/guidebook in exchange for an email subscription. Use free $100
Adwords coupon to send traffic there. Count email signups. Send out a
newsletter to them, try to gauge engagement.

Other tactics I know of:

    
    
      - Offer pre-sales
      - Talk to business owners casually
      - Go to trade shows and chat
      - Offer surveys
      - Ask mechanical turk for feedback
      - Lurk in forums to see what people are discussing
      - Surf Amazon reviews to gauge how people feel about X

~~~
skarmklart
Can I do an interview with you for my book?

info@howtofindsaasideas.com :)

------
meerita
My situation is like this:

1- I have 3 good ideas. 2\. I've researched a lot and worked hard on specs,
UX, UI, pitch, branding 3\. Started to bootstrap as much as I can do (i'm not
100% engineer) 4\. Looking for angel investment and vc.

My problemas are not the ideas, I ditch every single idea I can't validate it,
my single problems are: finding a good co-founder, heavy coder so we can
venture both in the ways of nerdism with the proyect and capital. I can't do
code + capital search + company administration, etc. etc.

Every time I pitch my 2 biggest ideas people get shock but they're too
ambitious and requiere, maybe 10 people working full time on it. After we
validate the model with real people, the lean way, ofc.

~~~
skarmklart
What ways have you tried to find a co-founder?

Not trying to be snarky, I honestly want to know.

~~~
meerita
Well, because you need a partner who believe and want to sail in the same
ship. Because that partner will suffer the same penalties you can suffer, like
working for free for some time, having a low salary at the start, working
extra hours, etc. Hiring someone to do the job is simply a problem because you
can't afford paying one if you want quality.

But also, the few investors I've been talking in the past they want a formal
team with a commitment thinking, and by saying you will just hire someone to
do something is not enough, at least even on leaning.

~~~
skarmklart
Fair enough.

------
Jeremy1026
Yes. That is my biggest hurdle in software development. I can't ever seem to
come up with an idea that I feel will be worth the time and resources to bring
to life.

------
grrowl
Some excellent ideas, but not enough time to develop them, and too risky or
not obviously profitable enough for me to be able to quit full-time agency
work (which would obviously be the goal). Ideas come easy, the kind that
intersect with "potentially profitable within 6-12 months" are much rarer.

~~~
skarmklart
So you'd be interested in various tactics for testing if an idea is
potentially profitable before you start developing?

------
rubiquity
Yes! I definitely have that entrepreneurial burn inside of me but I haven't
had any idea that I feel strongly about yet. I think I'm going to start trying
to opening up my mind more and engaging in new things, reading about topics
that maybe I wouldn't have before, etc.

------
joonix
I have a few solid ideas that I believe I could execute well, in a wide
variety of industries. Mind you this is after purging many ideas that fail
vetting. However, my limitation is lack of capital. I'm not well connected and
wouldn't know where to begin to look for funds.

~~~
skarmklart
Why would you need a lot of funds?

(Honest question, I want to know).

~~~
joonix
I don't need a lot. I'm talking $50-$100k here, not millions in VC. I am
pretty resourceful. Only one idea is solely web-based and could be
bootstrapped. The others are B&M and require signing retail leases and
building out storefront, etc. I also have to pay my own bare living expenses
in the meantime.

~~~
skarmklart
Fair enough!

------
rcavezza
I have a few ideas but none I'm passionate enough about to work on. I don't
want to go down the rabbit hole of building something people don't want again.

Btw, I'm not able to fill in the email field on your website. (Firefox on
Windows)

~~~
skarmklart
Thanks for the heads-up :)

If it still doesn't work then email me at info@howtofindsaasideas.com

------
zapu
Yes. I'm looking for a subtle idea, that doesn't necessarily make me millions,
but keeps occupied and pays the rent. I have many ideas but they are too hard
or need too much money to bootstrap.

~~~
skarmklart
Have you looked at any existing find-an-idea courses like Dane Maxwell's The
Foundation, Amy Hoy's 30x500, Ramit Sethi's Earn1k, etc?

------
netman21
My problem is too many ideas. They overwhelm me. I have started 18 companies.
Most of them fail to take off. As I get older I have succeeded in fighting the
idea-a-day syndrome.

~~~
skarmklart
Maybe post them on Firespotting.com then, clear out the gunk from your psychic
RAM :)

------
silverlake
Yes, because I'd prefer an idea that can be bootstrapped into a profitable
company. No dependency on ad revenue. No stupid consumer app that goes big or
bust.

~~~
skarmklart
What's your financial goal? Lifestyle business?

------
chudi
Yes, it isn't something about actually ideas, it's that somehow I don't think
there is a market for them, they seem to be just dumb ideas.

------
lifeisstillgood
Can I suggest you use this forum as a way to test your ideas, publicise the
book and get tons of real life examples

in short - how do I, with an idea, test it? How do I use AdWords, keyword
search, mailchimp etc etc

Got a process - validate it here

(As I suspect you are)

~~~
skarmklart
Yes, I am :)

Book link: [http://howtofindsaasideas.com/](http://howtofindsaasideas.com/)

------
magicmarkker
yes

------
Ultron
No, but finding the right idea is.

~~~
hashtree
My situation as well. There are some beautiful, and often little known,
business models/ideas out there. Sometimes in industries which few have
interest in. I focus on long term, sustainable, profitable business models.
But they must scale. It works out well.

No lottery odds type instagram ideas which couldn't be a thriving business
without being bought out. I also favor long term revenue models over ones that
peak and have a very quick decline for all but the top 1% (e.g. app stores).
That isn't to say I don't have app store apps, but they compliment the primary
offering to expand the audience rather than being a revenue driver.

You see many going for the billion dollar ideas, which is cool. I'll stick
with the "easily" attainable and interesting models/ideas that make six to
seven figures a year. With the scalability that I require, I can do two or
three (via having world-class talent on retainer from time-to-time). There you
go, set for life. Do what you want and truly help people.

OP: Good luck on the book!

~~~
skarmklart
_My situation as well. There are some beautiful, and often little known,
business models /ideas out there. Sometimes in industries which few have
interest in. I focus on long term, sustainable, profitable business models.
But they must scale. It works out well._

Mind telling us more? Sounds interesting :)

 _OP: Good luck on the book!_

Thanks!

