
Beg HN: Share some ideas. - jonne
I'm finishing my masters degree in computer science and I don't want to work from 9-5 in a boring company or from 9-11 in a consulting company.<p>I want to have my own startup but I don't have any good ideas! All I have is ideas for small web applications but not enough to make a living out of that nor to reject the offers I have.<p>So, can you please share some ideas with me? If you don't want to say them in public, please contact me at t57435 gmail.<p>Thank you!
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edw519
Here's an idea: get a job. After a year, you'll have plenty of ideas, maybe
even one of your own.

I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but the thought of begging for ideas in an
on-line forum is just so alien to me. The best predictor of your success in
any endeavor is your own determination. With someone else's idea, you're much
more likely to bail at the first sign of difficulty. Once you get a little
real world experience under your belt, you'll find plenty of opportunities to
encounter something for which you'll have real passion.

Your chances of success increase astronomically when you're working on
something you "have to do". The only way to know if you "have to do it" is to
have a little background and experience with it. Trading ideas like
commodities in a place like this seems like the least likely way to find
something you'll be passionate about.

OTOH, a "boring job" can be an incredibly fertile environment for start-up
ideas. You'll learn what people want, see what works and what doesn't, and be
much more adept at identifying opportunities. Oh, and get a chance to bank
some money so that when you do start working on your passion, you can
concentrate on that instead of begging for funding.

Sometimes the easy way out is just that: the easy way _out_. Get a job and pay
your dues. You'll probably be very glad that you did.

~~~
icey
I'd like to add a caveat to this: If you go out and get a job, do yourself a
favor and live as lean as possible while working it. Save every dime you can.
That cushion will make startup life significantly easier.

Plus, you won't have a huge overhead draining you when you do finally make the
leap. It's very easy to spend up to your income level when you start making
decent money... but it's a trap! Keep your eye on the prize if you really want
to start up.

~~~
biggitybones
Can't emphasize this enough. I've talked to countless people unhappy in their
career that can't get out of it because of a family and an addiction to their
current lifestyle. They continued to expand their spending as their income
incremented, leaving them in a risk averse position.

The lesson I take from every conversation I have with these people is live
simply and lean even as your income grows, and when you have that great idea
or urge to try something radically different, you can.

~~~
rphlx
As someone who followed this advice excessively, I have to counter it a bit.
Through most of my 20s I lived in the cheapest, shittiest apartment I could
find, ate cheap (which in the US means extremely unhealthy) food, rarely went
out partying with friends, never went on a vacation, never dated, etc. This
kills your network and your health. Frugal is fine, but don't be so freaking
cheap that when you're 30, you hate your 20s, and need to spend 2 years fixing
your life.

~~~
noname123
I'm curious the specifics that you did in the last 2 years to fix your life.
Specifically, how did you transition from your frugal ways to your current
living? Expand your network and improve your health? This would be very
helpful to the rest of us who are going through the same thing that you have
accomplished.

~~~
rphlx
I'm still only a couple weeks into actually fixing it. I've started going to
the gym 3-4X/wk, and switched to a clean high protein/low carb diet.

------
mazuhl
It's not great ideas you should be after, it's great problems. If someone has
a great idea for a website, I might use it. If you can solve a problem I've
got, I'll pay you.

Here are 4 problems I've got that I'd happily pay money to have solved for me.

1\. I can't find good podcasts about the things I'm interested in. I should be
able to say "give me any podcast about 'yiddish'" and a neat server would
collate them all.

2\. I want something between a university course and Ruby learning, without
having to be 'present' or leaving my job, but with small, bite-sized chunks of
learning. Amy Hoy/Thomas Fuchs and Michael Hartl are kind of their with their
smaller groups/sessions. I'd like sessions on Apache, jQuery, Ruby, testing,
CS fundamentals, etc. This could be something as simple as facilitated self-
study.

3\. A Twitter iPad app for note-taking and live-blogging at conferences. It
should focus on note-taking and allow you to send out tweets of particular
parts and easily follow hash tags.

4\. A web interface that brings together all the different recommended writing
rules (like this: [http://matt.might.net/articles/shell-scripts-for-passive-
voi...](http://matt.might.net/articles/shell-scripts-for-passive-voice-weasel-
words-duplicates/) and this:
[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/07/janet-
fit...](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/07/janet-
fitchs-10-rules-for-writers.html)) and some readability scores, etc. Paid
users could set a consistent rules/styles/brand voice and possibly integrate
with Google Docs or something similar.

------
icey
Every time someone brings up the idea of starting an site based around giving
away ideas, someone else brings up halfbakery, so I suppose you could start
there:

<http://www.halfbakery.com/>

I personally don't think the ideas there are all that great. Fortunately there
are lots of places where people post ideas that they'd love to see
implemented:

<http://www.reddit.com/r/somebodymakethis/>

<http://search.twitter.com/search?q=i+need+software+that>

<http://ycombinator.com/rfs1.html>

<http://ycombinator.com/rfs2.html>

<http://ycombinator.com/rfs2.html>

<http://ycombinator.com/rfs3.html>

<http://ycombinator.com/rfs4.html>

<http://ycombinator.com/rfs5.html>

<http://ycombinator.com/rfs6.html>

~~~
ojbyrne
The first one in the "Computer" category - "copy and paste between computers."
can be done with Synergy.

------
kloncks
Ideas are everywhere, man. There are a few common important themes going on
right now in the technology world that we all know about.

What I'm getting at is that you should start thinking about how you're solving
these problems or tackling these ideas, rather than simply ask for an idea
generator.

Case in point: <http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html>

There's about as many ideas there as anyone can handle. If you solve any of
them, you'll be very well off.

But just remember that ideas are cheap and a dime-a-dozen. Pyra, before
starting Blogger, was working on Project Management software. eBay was selling
auction software to other companies. Twitter's company had been a podcast
database before.

It's less about the idea and more about 1) You. and 2) Your execution.

One more really important thing to think about is that virtually all
(immensely) successful ideas arise from a founder's need. Look around your
life? What around you do you hate and want fixed? Take that and solve that
problem. If anything, it will make your life a lot better ;)

Excellent essay here on the subject: <http://www.paulgraham.com/organic.html>

Good luck, though :)

\----------------------------

Also, more detailed YComb ideas:

<http://ycombinator.com/rfs1.html> <http://ycombinator.com/rfs2.html>
<http://ycombinator.com/rfs2.html> <http://ycombinator.com/rfs3.html>
<http://ycombinator.com/rfs4.html> <http://ycombinator.com/rfs5.html>
<http://ycombinator.com/rfs6.html>

------
RiderOfGiraffes
You need to have experience in trying stuff out before you stake your future
on "The One Big Idea." Unless you've tried and implemented several, perhaps
lots, of ideas, you won't know where the hard bits are.

When writing a thesis you have two problems: writing and the ideas you are
trying to convey. When you need to write a thesis, start by writing something,
anything, every single day. Non-trivial amounts, and expect to throw it away.
by the time you have to write the important stuff for real, the writing is
second nature and you can concentrate on the bits that really matter.

So it is with implementation of startups. Do it several times over. Pick
something and see it through to launch. Don't expect to make money from it,
but get a minimally working, not too shabby version actually working with
other people using it for real. Until you have that experience, making a
product to make money requires that you solve more problems at once than you
have time for.

Experience failure to learn about success.

------
siculars
Ideas are a dime a dozen, or cheaper still. Execution is what counts. I would
tell you to get a soul sucking job, volunteer your time at a worth while,
human helper, dogoodnik organization of your choosing or even whacking some
bugs off some open source software you use or want to get to know better.

All those things will broaden your horizons, open your eyes to new problems
and give you an appreciation for the suck that certain things can be and get
you thinking about how to fix them.

------
alinajaf
I would suggest building and launching one of those web app ideas. It doesn't
have to be brilliant.

Doing so will a) give you the experience of completing a product from start to
finish and b) probably give you a bunch of different ideas for a startup.

------
chegra
_smiles, and pulls out trusty phone full of ideas_

These are ideas that I wish to capitalize on in the future but since I dont
want to jump from project to project you can have them:

1) A language learning api- Website and games can add value to their service
by allowing people to learn a new language as they visit their site. I did a
small implementation of it in a Software Engineering Module.

2) Collective mnemonics - every single year, for university and highschool,
students learn the same thing over and over. Each one, creating their own
mnemonics to remember the material. Mnemonics take pretty long to devise. The
solution is people post their mnemonics for different course. Eliminate the
repetition of creating mnemonicss. And the goal is to obtain full course
coverage.

3) A site for poker bots to compete against each other or even chess bots.

~~~
iends
Regarding chess bots, there are a lot of places that already do this...ICC And
playchess to name two, plus there are lots of rating lists such as
<http://ssdf.bosjo.net/list.htm>

~~~
chegra
Great, now he knows there is a market for it.

------
mrduncan
The best way I've found to think of ideas is to keep track of everything that
annoys you. Periodically, sort through the list and think a little more about
those annoyances which are so great you'd pay real money to make go away.

For example: 37signals - All of their products have come from their own needs

------
Kaizyn
Google is currently using the model of try creating a service and see if it
sticks with users.

If you have ideas for a lot of small web applications, why don't you try the
really low risk approach of building them one at a time, polishing each one up
really well, and host these applications on the web? Internet web hosting is
dirt cheap and if these are all "small" applications, then you won't need a
lot of resources for any of them.

After you build a small collection of services in this way, you can then start
looking at cobbling them together into a single service brand like 37signals
for example. Alternatively, you may find that one or several of your web
properties really take off. You would then be able to let the users tell you
how to evolve/grow that service (or system).

Good luck.

------
arethuza
Can I have a MMO version of the game DefCon please?

Seriously - I would happily pay for that so I've solved the problem of you
finding your first customer as well. :-)

------
raquo
Generating (any kind of) ideas is the easiest and most important part of doing
a startup. If you can't do that, you shouldn't go further, but rather first
learn to generate ideas yourself. Business ideas are no different than
programming ideas, you just have to look for them. Talk to people, go
somewhere. Start with easiest ideas - identify problems that need solutions,
then think of solutions.

------
alain94040
You should try to think for yourself, attend meetups where other founders
discuss their ideas, and eventually you'll come up with something too.

As a reminder, a site designed for the purpose of discussing ideas is
<http://fairsoftware.net/startup-ideas-software-web-iphone>.

------
checker659
If you put out your ideas first, I am sure there will be plenty who will
follow. Also, there have been quite a lot of startup idea threads on HN in the
past. A quick search brings many like this one
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=250704>) up. Good luck!

------
Tichy
Start with the small web applications. They might turn out bigger than you
expected. There are lots of stupid web sites raking in money. And if they
don't turn out big, they still provide you with a lot of learning
opportunities. Also, you have something to demonstrate should you ever decide
to apply for a job.

------
erikstarck
It seems like you're looking for an idea. This is something that annoys you -
you can't come up with an idea of your own.

Other people probably have the same problem. Maybe you can help them (and
yourself) solve that problem? How about an idea management tool?

Maybe people are even willing to pay for something like that? Maybe an "idea
market" works better? I don't know. The point is that ideas are everywhere,
you just have to start looking. Sometimes it's easy to miss the forest because
of all the trees.

Here's another piece of advice on how to think about your idea:
[http://blog.opportunitycloud.com/2009/08/03/your-business-
id...](http://blog.opportunitycloud.com/2009/08/03/your-business-idea-as-a-
promise/)

------
mindcrime
There are a couple of "give away your unused ideas" threads floating around,
you might search them up.

That said, you should probably think more in terms of generating ideas than
begging for ideas. I bet you actually have plenty of good ideas floating
around in your brain, on some latent level. You just need something to bring
them out. Just look for problems people are having, and think about how to
apply the technologies that you know, to solving those problems.

------
GBKS
My best ideas come from playing and tinkering and being engaged in the fields
that interest me. That way, complete product concepts and prototypes form, not
just ideas.

Also nothing wrong with small web apps. A solid one-person app can pay your
bills and get you the freedom to build more products on your own terms.

I mean, Tweetie was built by one guy. No revolutionary concept, just a great
product. And he got picked up by Twitter.

------
RyanONeill1970
Ideas by proxy don't work, you have to have something that matters to you. If
I gave you my list of ideas, you'd laugh at 'em and say how crap they are even
though I reckon I could turn them into decent businesses.

If you are in the UK and want to work with me for a year, I'd consider it.
I've got too much on my plate and plenty of ideas to explore.

Ryan

------
imgabe
Start with your own small ideas. Maybe they won't make a whole living, but
like 1/10th of a living. Make ten of them.

------
Kilimanjaro
Alexa top 100 sites can give you plenty of ideas to steal and improve.

If you deliver you'll be an instant billionaire.

~~~
culled
Sure if by "deliver" you mean a lot more than just making the site and by
"instant" you mean a long fucking time.

------
khangtoh
Fresh out of school, go join a startup. Get some experience, learn what it's
like to be a startup and when you have that big idea, you will be 100% more
ready than now.

Oh, make sure you start saving now, have 6 months of living expenses in your
pocket.

We're hiring, drop me an email if you are interested.

------
reallygoodstuff
In fact many try to get a winner startup. I see a flow of online intensive
startups, think in a way to connect people in the real World. Try to see this
way, instead to get people from the real World to the online World, look the
other way around.

------
jacquesm
The only hint I can give you here is that you should look for frustrated
people, and then ask them very specifically what it would take to fix their
frustration, then go do that, you already have your first customer.

Frustration = a business waiting to happen.

------
terra_t
I want to build a factory for efficiently copying other people's ideas and
executing them; that's goal #2, after I execute #1, the project that will get
enough revenue that I can put together the team capable of doing #2.

------
dwag
The best ways to come up with ideas is to get out there and talk to people.
Work. Try new things. Some of the best ideas I have ever come up with had to
do with what I hated or took up so much time in my work.

------
mstevens
Filtered internet connections.

Buy DSL from us, get a connection with only productive, work related content,
or no porn, or defeat the tvtropes addiction...

~~~
mahmud
Do people _really_ have a problem with internet addiction? or is this just
another meme?

~~~
mstevens
I certainly have problems myself. pg clearly does too. I get the feeling it's
widespread beyond that.

------
p01nd3xt3r
Don't look for ideas, find problems (that more people than just you have) and
solve them.

------
neutronicus
I sent you an e-mail. Let me know if you're interested.

------
0x47
I asked something like this not to long ago here:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1486240>

Sorry, not many willing to share ideas here.

------
mynameishere
Take an existing product and put a clock on it.

------
jgervin
Find some of mine here. www.flairjax.com

~~~
jbf
The "Continue Reading..." link on your "OK, THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS." post
sets off malware detection in Firefox & Chrome. I don't know much about
WordPress, but judging from their main page, 2.2.1 seems a bit out-of-date.

~~~
jgervin
thx jbf

------
known
You need a customer first.

~~~
jgervin
What interests you? Start big and work your way down. Do you want to disrupt
the Enterprise? Or social? What your personality? Do you hate an industry and
want to take it down? Or do you care about something so much you want to bring
attention to it? Funnel down from there. Let me know what interests you and I
can give you 5 ideas.

------
matrixownsyou
i may be starting a web project in August, if you'd be interested.

------
hotmind
My idea for you? Make RandomRunners.com happen. I'll even give you the domain
name.

The concept is here: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1554144>

~~~
stoney
I've often thought about something along these lines - not to run a whole
marathon as was originally suggested, more like: "I'm going to run 4 miles
after work tonight at an 8:00 min/mi pace, anyone want to join me?"

I definitely think this idea's got legs...

