
Ask HN: Teenager with an idea that I'm passionate about, should I pursue it? - austinprete
Hello everybody! A quick background about me, I&#x27;m a 17 year old interested in programming. Recently I thought of an idea for a web&#x2F;mobile start-up that I&#x27;m really passionate about. I&#x27;m hesitant to disclose the full idea at this point because if it really is a good idea there are people on here who have far more resources and talent that could potentially build it much quicker than I could. Basically, it&#x27;d be a website&#x2F;apps that I believe could greatly aid the treatment of mood disorders.<p>Why am I passionate about that? Well, I&#x27;ve dealt with serious depression over the past few years that has almost taken my life. If the service that I want to create had existed I think my treatment could have been far more effective. In any given year about 10% of the US population (at least among adults), suffers from a mood disorder.<p>However, even though I&#x27;m very passionate about this idea, there are some major obstacles involved. Namely, my service would need to be HIPAA compliant in the US. The more I&#x27;ve read into that process the more I&#x27;ve been discouraged. Ultimately after I build an initial version of the service I hope to run a Kickstarter, but I&#x27;m not sure how I would go about achieving the funding I would need to run the site in production. I&#x27;m estimating the cost at a few thousand in the first year alone, potentially more depending on the popularity achieved.<p>So this is where I want opinions, if you had an idea for something that you believed could potentially benefit many individuals&#x27; lives, would you pursue it regardless of the obstacles, costs, and time involved? I guess in my mind this could be my chance to change the world, and I don&#x27;t want to miss out on that, but I don&#x27;t know if I&#x27;m being realistic.
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stevep98
My observation is that when I talked to friends about my amazing ideas, they
are invariably less passionate about them than me. So, be prepared for
lukewarm reception. Or worse, 'devils advocates', etc.

You might even be more susceptible to this type of reaction given your
condition. So, be aware of it.

I would just do it anyway. Its worth it for the experience. A set of 4 or 5
solid projects from this age on a resume is likely to result in additional
interviews, which might find you jobs worth an extra $10,000/yr. So, consider
it an investment in your future.

~~~
austinprete
Thank you for your input! Having put some thought into it, I agree. I'm still
in high school, and even though I have a job, I'd say overall I probably have
a lot more time now than I will in two years. This might be the best chance I
have to build this. And whether it succeeds or not, it'll at the very least be
something I can throw on a Github repo and show potential employers in the
future.

------
atmosx
> _However, even though I 'm very passionate about this idea, there are some
> major obstacles involved. Namely, my service would need to be HIPAA
> compliant in the US. The more I've read into that process the more I've been
> discouraged._

Out of experience I know that one quality that serial-entrepreneurs (e.g. Elon
Musk) have is the ability to _fight successfully with the paperwork_. The laws
are written, some make sense, others do not. Doesn't really matter because you
can't change them. Most people are intimidated by the very sight of paperwork.
Especially the kind that is written in lawyer's language. You can only become
successful if you _learn to read_ this language. From what I've seen, it's
extremely valuable asset, no matter what kind of company you want to create.

Another thing I've noticed is that only 10% of the people you'll ever talk
about, no matter how they present themselves, really KNOWS what are they
talking about. So keep your faith no matter what others tell you.

I would say, go for it. The experience of driving any such venture up to a
point where you create _something_ or you _stop_ because you're over your
head, will prove extremely valuable anyway. It's the kind of experience that
you can't buy with money.

Wish you all the best :-)

ps. If you pursue this path, make sure to write a blog post a let us know how
it went in about 1 year or 2 from now.

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sithu
I've been giving your idea some thought, and would be happy to discuss further
over email if you like (in my profile).

I don't think HIPAA is the main problem you have. The biggest obstacle is
whether any healthcare provider would be willing to participate. People in
this area have little time, too much work/obligations, are generally not tech
savvy, have fixed workflows that they're unwilling to deviate from, and even
the smallest amount of friction in your product will make them give up.

If you're going to do this (and you probably should if you're passionate about
it), then you have to think of a way to integrate seamlessly into existing
workflows and minimize their time commitment. Your goal should be 5-10 mins
per day, max, regardless of the number of people being "monitored". Think
about the incentives to get providers to participate. How much turn-around
time is realistic? I don't see how this will be an "imminent suicide"
prevention system and there are already lots of hotlines for that, but it
could be great to monitor mood over days/weeks.

Perhaps have a single daily aggregated and anonymized email to a provider's
nurse at 7am (when most check their patient data) that updates them on all
patients in the practice who are potentially in trouble. They click a link,
enter a password, and see the non-anonymized data. Then the nurse can get on
the phone and start calling people.

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josephlord
If it is what you are passionate about go for it.

You describe it as a web/mobile start-up and later discuss the importance of
it and the opportunity to change the world. I think it is worth being clear in
your mind if this is a commercial project that you want to earn profits or a
social venture (that may pay its own bills).

I would think about why you want to be secretive about it though. Even with
businesses I think PG is largely right that secrecy isn't often worth it, you
need to show people how good the idea is before they realise it. See AirBNB
etc.

If you tell people what it is you can get some advice and maybe even help. At
the crowd funding stage at least you need to let people know what your plan
is.

~~~
austinprete
So I would say that it's a little of both. Profit wouldn't hurt, but primarily
it's about the idea. Even if I never made a dime from it and just broke even,
it would be worth it to me. And I say change the world, and I guess I mean it,
but a small subset of the world. Perhaps 10% of the population of developed
countries could gain benefit from my service. It's probably not even that good
of an idea, however I have gotten quite a bit of support from communities of
people with mood disorders that I've posted about it on.

The idea by the way, I'll write a more detailed explanation about it when I'm
on my computer, is basically a mood tracker that your therapist/psychiatrist,
and potentially friends and family, has access to if you as the user grant
them that access. They can view your check-ins and mood graphs at any time
from a professional/support account. It also automatically notifies your
supports, mainly your mental health professional(s), but also family and
friends if you're linked to them through a support account, through text and
email if you mark yourself as having suicidal feelings, or feelings of harming
somebody else.

Having dealt with depression I know for a fact that actively seeking help was
not a concern of mine at my lowest points. However, something as passive as
marking my mood as suicidal on an app or website, that's something I could do.
And it would in turn have the same effect as if I texted my therapist about my
feelings. Along with those features there's a bit more to it that separates it
from other mood trackers but I'll only explain those if you're interested in
hearing more.

So it's probably not the world changing idea I made it out to be, but I think
it could help in the treatment of those facing mood disorders, by allowing
their psychiatrist or therapist as well as family and friends to play an
active role in monitoring their mood and helping at the lows or highs (for
those with bipolar). Maybe it'll never catch on, but even if it got a few
hundred users whose well-being was benefited by it, then it's worth it. If it
helped saved even ONE life, then it's worth it.

~~~
josephlord
Yes something like this can change the world at least for some people, I
wasn't trying to mock or belittle the ambition just get you to think about
where your priority lay between business and world changing.

There are other players in the market but that doesn't matter if you know what
yours is better at. Have a short answer for someone that says "Why should I
use your product rather than xxx". That can be that all the others suck or
that yours is easy to use or more private or many other things but you should
have an answer.

If I was trying to build a business around such an idea I think I would try to
sell the to the medical professionals/practices. I'm sure it would be easier
for them to track all their patients on one system than many different ones so
they could hand out codes to their patients that would allow easy sign up and
associate them with the correct doctor.

Good luck!

------
austinprete
Also, I'm aware that there are huge technical challenges involved in creating
the service that I want to create. However, I'm fairly confident in my ability
to overcome these if I put the time and effort in and am willing to learn. I
already have an idea about how I'd go about creating what I want to. It's just
that in figuring all of that out I've realized that it's going to be a very
expensive endeavor. And if I do things wrong I could potentially break privacy
laws, which could have very negative results.

------
JSeymourATL
Answer to whether you're being realistic? No, but so what.

It's instructive to know that the most innovative leaders behind game-changing
ideas in arts, science, & business-- often pursued unrealistic goals. Many of
them toiled & tinkered for years.

Here's a good read to keep you going> [http://www.amazon.com/Mastery-Robert-
Greene/dp/014312417X/re...](http://www.amazon.com/Mastery-Robert-
Greene/dp/014312417X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1403286483&sr=8-2&keywords=robert+greene%2C)

------
ecohen16
If you're interested in discussing the crowdfunding aspect, I'm happy to help.
I manage the Hardware, Design and Tech team at Indiegogo. Software is
generally more difficult to crowdfund, as it requires a very active community
to get that initial momentum. Strategy will be key to success, and it's not
going to be a walk in the park. But, if you're passionate about it, it's
absolutely not impossible.

If you're seriously considering this, shoot me an email at evan (at) indiegogo
dot com.

~~~
austinprete
Thank you for your willingness to help out. I am passionate about it, and I'll
definitely send you an email and see if we can discuss strategy. I had never
seen your company before. Definitely could be a great alternative to
Kickstarter for me!

------
pskittle
[https://www.truevault.com/](https://www.truevault.com/) , You may wanto check
them out for hippa compliance.

Look asking for permission for pursuing your passion isn't ideal. the best
that can happen is you're going to make it and realize your vision . The next
best is you can learn way more than you would have by just thinking about
whether to do it or not. Either way it's going to be a fruitful experience.

~~~
austinprete
I have checked them out and am planning on using them for the technical and
physical requirements involved with HIPAA. But thanks for the link, would have
been extremely useful to me had I not found them a week or so ago in a jobs
post on HN haha. Also I am going to be using a start-up called Accountable
that helps with the administrative requirements of HIPAA. The problem is just
that neither of those services is cheap (TrueVault is cheaper at first than
Accountable) once you actually release a public website. I don't expect them
to be considering that they save a lot of time and money compared to becoming
HIPAA compliant on your own. But as a 17 year old I just don't have a lot of
money, which is why crowdfunding will be necessary most likely.

Yeah, I asked kinda planning to do it either way, unless there was a really
strong negative reaction, which might have talked me out of it. I think it
will be worth it in a lot of ways, even if it never succeeds.

~~~
pskittle
Good luck! And as cliche as it sounds get started, things have a way of
working out eventually.

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DanBC
Where are you?

Would it be possible to create a MVP and show that to commissioners /
researchers / etc in your country?

You might want to get good quality research to support your idea. Good quality
in this context means a cochrane review, or information from NICE (the UK
organisation) or something equally rigorous.

I would be keen to hear your idea. Please feel free to email me.

Have you seen the Australian website "Moodgym"? And there are similar other
sites.

~~~
austinprete
I'm in the United States.

MVP referring to what exactly? Haha, sorry I'm not familiar with that term
outside of it's usual usage and it's web programming usage.

Hmm, I'm not sure how useful that would be to me. I'll send you an email about
my idea. It's really not that novel though, just a new take on an existing
concept.

And I hadn't, interesting website. Not really a competitor to my idea, but
still interesting!

------
nthState
"if you had an idea for something that you believed could potentially benefit
many individuals' lives, would you pursue it regardless of the obstacles,
costs, and time involved?" \- without a doubt in my mind

~~~
austinprete
Thanks for the input! I think that's what I need to do. It's easy to get
discouraged though when it feels like you don't have the resources to
accomplish something you want to. That said, I think this is possible if I go
about it in the right way.

