Is my startup idea good enough?

[amirkhella]

http://blog.amirkhella.com/2011/02/07/is-your-startup-idea-good-enough/

[TamDenholm]

The best advice, as always, is: just do it.

[chmike]

Bingo! This blog post just hit me right in the middle of my stomach.

I'm fighting with myself for months trying to determine if my idea is good, how to implement it, how to secure my business, how to leverage market, how to get time and money to implement it, how to proceed, what is the minimum viable product functionality subset, ... while not doing anything concrete and real.

[pkamb]

On http://keynotopia.com/ your "Browse the UI Libraries" button needs padding! No point in making a nice CTA button like that if you still can only click the actual text.

[amirkhella → pkamb]

Thanks for the feedback. Will fix.

[kgtm]

An interesting take. Even though the "just do it" mentality has merit, the crucial issue for me is identifying a startup area/idea that solves a real problem that real people are willing to pay real money to have solved.

[johniet → kgtm]

It's impossible to determine if the startup area solves a real world problem without talking to people who you think have the problem. And it helps if you can show them your potential solution, even if it's just a hand-drawn mockup. Go talk to the people who have the problem, and get their take.

[kgtm → johniet]

The obvious issue for me is how to arrive to that list of potential problems in order to be able to later benchmark a solution/product idea. Randomly brainstorm? Focus on areas i am passionate about? Professional domain? All of the above?

Maybe a new term should be coined akin to writer's block: The entrepreneur's block!

[vitorbal → kgtm]

1) Try thinking of things that happen during your day that piss you off and/or that you think could be easier to do. 2) Stop to think if they could be resolved by means of a computer. 3) Think of how a computer could help you resolve it. 4) Examine if your idea has any potential problems that could explain why no one has tried (and succeeded on) doing this before. 5) Start talking to your friends

[Macsenour → kgtm]

I'll splice it even thinner, I think there's a difference between starting a company with a potential $50 product, and a company with a $1 product.

Convincing someone to spend $1 on a crazy but needed solution is much easier than $50.

Add that to the mix.

[amirkhella → Macsenour]

Actually my experience is almost the opposite. Raising the price of the product made more people buy. There is something to be said about price/value perception.

[kirbman89 → amirkhella]

I agree. Read the book eBoys-The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work . The first few chapters reflect this message and may amaze you.

[amirkhella → kgtm]

I found two simple (but not necessarily easy) paths: - Solve a problem that YOU are suffering from. Just make sure enough people have the same problem. - Use Google keyword search ;)