I'm planning to venture out on my own but I simply don't understand what to build. It seems like everything that could be done with software has been done. How can I know "what" to build?
Ask HN: How to Identify a Need in the Market?
1–10 of 17 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to Identify a Need in the Market?
#2If you're trying to make money, just make useless shit that panders to whatever is the venture capitalists' golden goose of the year, rather than anything the market actually needs. You missed blockchains, but you're just in time to proxy user requests to an OpenAI API after wrapping it in a paragraph that boils down to "do what I told my customers my service does"
Re: Ask HN: How to Identify a Need in the Market?
#3What market? Too vague.
Generally you either need deep expertise in some business domain, or you have an idea that you think other people will benefit from.
Re: Ask HN: How to Identify a Need in the Market?
#4If you're trying to make money, just make useless shit that panders to whatever is the venture capitalists' golden goose of the year, rather than anything the market actually needs. You missed blockchains, but you're just in time to proxy user requests to an OpenAI API after wrapping it in a paragraph that boils down to "do what I told my customers my service does"
Also make sure to register an Anguilla domain name rather than the .network tld, or god forbid British Indian Ocean Teritory. How early 2010s!
Re: Ask HN: How to Identify a Need in the Market?
#5If you're trying to make money, just make useless shit that panders to whatever is the venture capitalists' golden goose of the year, rather than anything the market actually needs. You missed blockchains, but you're just in time to proxy user requests to an OpenAI API after wrapping it in a paragraph that boils down to "do what I told my customers my service does"
Going that route one needs a prestigious name on one’s resume, though.
Re: Ask HN: How to Identify a Need in the Market?
#6You can only do it from what you observe and know about. Either start from where you are or find out about stuff you don't yet know, ideally excluding current trends.
Re: Ask HN: How to Identify a Need in the Market?
#7IMO trying to sell a new idea has quite low chances of being successful. There could be hundreds who've tried bringing this specific idea to market, but nobody ever heard about them because the idea went belly up.
On the other hand, there are already plenty of established markets with a healthy amount of competition. A plumber doesn't have to worry about coming up with new ideas. Neither does someone creating and maintaining websites for restaurants. Or ERP consultants. Or process automation engineers.
Re: Ask HN: How to Identify a Need in the Market?
#8https://startfromzero.com "Where Entrepreneurs Get Their Start When They Have No Ideas..."
Dane Maxwell teaches/uses a concept called Idea Extraction:
1. Pick a niche.
2. Contact that niche and let them tell you the pains worth solving.
Idea Extraction is a form of market research, which is important to ensure you don't build something no one wants to buy.
However, I would argue marketing/sales is more important than the idea itself. You can make money selling products/services that already exist; no need to build something new!
For example, one common mistake is to start marketing after your product is completed; you should start marketing even before you begin development!
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Amy Hoy teaches a similar concept, which she calls "Sales Safari:" https://shop.stackingthebricks.com/sales-safari-101
(Also take a look at the full course: https://30x500.com)
Re: Ask HN: How to Identify a Need in the Market?
#9solve a problem you have yourself. Chances are that other people have the same problem. The good thing about solving your own problem is that you know when it solved. This might not be the case if you try to solve someone elses problem instead
Re: Ask HN: How to Identify a Need in the Market?
#10If this is how you’re thinking about the world you should absolutely not become an entrepreneur. Let’s say you happen upon a real problem. How are you going to solve it? “With technology?”