Ask HN: My idea is already taken. What should I do?

#1

Post by vsakos » Sun, Mar 15, 2015, 4:27 PM UTC

A few months ago a friend of mine and I had an idea for a smartphone oriented social networkish project. We did some research, but it looked like it's unique (it isn't, we just didn't know the right keywords for searching). We started documenting the idea, writing down everything we thought about so that we don't miss any piece of the idea during development, but we didn't wrote any code.

Today I did some more digging, and found out that the idea is far from unique. I found some projects/apps that are mostly the same as our would be, but almost all of them are dead, it seems like no one is using them.

Now, I'm wondering what should we do. Why are these apps dead? Is it the realization or the idea? If the first, there might be chances that we can create something good that people will love, but if it's the idea, then maybe there is no market for that and we should abandon it too.

Re: Ask HN: My idea is already taken. What should I do?

#2

Post by PaulHoule » Sun, Mar 15, 2015, 4:57 PM UTC

It's an interesting situation to be in and it takes deep thinking.

Before 2000 a large number of services that offered bookmarks on the server-side had failed, up to the point where it was on everybody's list of "ideas that don't work".

Then delicious came along and it did work. (Then Yahoo got involved, and...)

If these apps are dead, the people behind them might be interested in talking about their experience and you might learn something. It is worth a shot.

Re: Ask HN: My idea is already taken. What should I do?

#3

Post by theophrastus » Sun, Mar 15, 2015, 5:05 PM UTC

I had a boss who was fond of saying: "If you have (only) one idea, you deserve to have it taken from you", (he also had other similar cheery pronouncements). That being said, if you're confident of the "almost all of [the others] are dead" then full steam ahead while trying to advertise why "this time it's different."

Re: Ask HN: My idea is already taken. What should I do?

#4

Post by techjuice » Sun, Mar 15, 2015, 5:15 PM UTC

Most of the time it is not the idea it is the implementation and follow through to make something successful. Most give up or do not have the proper base to follow through for the long term in nurturing and building the idea into a production ready product, market, advertise and get users engaged into it. The worst part about implementation is normally adding too many features cutting quality for quantity.

Re: Ask HN: My idea is already taken. What should I do?

#5

Post by webstartupper » Sun, Mar 15, 2015, 5:21 PM UTC

If you can find the contact information for the app owners, you could maybe email them directly and find out what went wrong. There could be some pitfalls that you only get to see once you execute the idea.

Re: Ask HN: My idea is already taken. What should I do?

#6

Post by seekingcharlie » Sun, Mar 15, 2015, 5:48 PM UTC

Have you actually spoken to any users that would use this app? Would you use this app yourself?

I only ask because generally competition in a market is never a bad thing, rather, it means that there is a true user need.

Why are these previously release apps now dead?

Re: Ask HN: My idea is already taken. What should I do?

#7

Post by jordsmi » Sun, Mar 15, 2015, 7:09 PM UTC

Almost every idea is taken. Do it better than the people who have done it before

Re: Ask HN: My idea is already taken. What should I do?

#8

Post by z3t4 » Sun, Mar 15, 2015, 8:07 PM UTC

Try the apps out and use them for a while. You will soon know what is wrong.

But sometimes, it's just about timing and luck. As an example, articles on HN often get reposted. And the amount of up-votes they receive can vary a lot. Some times front news articles are re-posts from last month that didn't receive any up-votes.

Re: Ask HN: My idea is already taken. What should I do?

#9

Post by australis » Mon, Mar 16, 2015, 12:49 AM UTC

Ideas are worth $0

Find out why the other apps failed. Firstly just the two of you thinking, then perhaps try contacting the previous builders (though initially, maybe not from the angle of "we're going to make it work better this time"). You might think of things they didn't.

Re: Ask HN: My idea is already taken. What should I do?

#10

Post by Throwaway90283 » Mon, Mar 16, 2015, 4:00 AM UTC

Simple answer. Download the apps from your top competitors and start using them. When you get bored of them and quit in an hour, or a week, you'll know why they're dead.