If you see this and you’re open for ideas to be developed ping me here.
I have a bunch of them, and I have the ability to execute them, but I need a good team. I haven’t had much luck in the past (and present) with partners.
I’ve started some startups which are running, but for a particular project I need a smart team.
Let’s talk.
Regards
Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
341–350 of 580 posts
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#342You could just launch an ICO, doesn't seem to really matter what it does. A platform that helps launch platforms that launch ICOs?
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#343Disrupt Standardized Testing We spend ~2 billion on standardized testing in the U.S.; however, perceived drawbacks in how these tests are structured and administered prevent more widespread adoption (though expansion would provide valuable data that is currently unavailable to front line educational staff). The need for standardized testing is largely predicated on a lack of trust in the assessments that classroom in…
This is a bit like saying "disrupt the federal contracting business, so much money for such crap software!"
Standardized tests are a highly political product, and in most states the creation of a standardized test has very little to do with creating an optimal (or even good) assessment.
The idea of using teachers as part of the vetting process for questions is a nice one, but your actual customer sit in state capitols, not classrooms.
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#344My simple advice is to stop looking for ideas and to start looking for problems. Look for the pain, and to do that talk to people. The challenge will be that most people accommodate the pain in order to get something done, but they don't like it. A recent pain point I came across was that 501.c(3) organizations are good at organizing but often poor at "the Internet". That suggested that if you talked to a half dozen…
i was the Lead Product Designer in this space - creating a marketplace for NGOs and remote digital talent ( all cohorts ). Its a noble space to be in. https://Catchafire.org — if you need a 15yr pro that has built solid products ( from ideation > UX > MVP > growth ) hit me up. Also happen to be doing some Ai UX in the DoD app space.
* You will also need a seasoned full-stack agile dev team that can hit the ground running with your CTO at the helm. I got that too for you -;)
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#345I hope the three of you get equally excited about whatever idea you choose. That’s the real issue. You need passion, not thought exercises.
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#346FWIW, my partner and I were in a similar position after winding down our first company together ~1.5 years ago. We decided to just interview our friends and friends of friends companies asking about their biggest pain points. This gave us two things:
1. A common pain point across a sample of ~10 companies (the pain point was customer support, which lead us to the problem of automating first responses to customer support queries and our solution is https://ada.support)
2. A group of early, paying customers to help us build the product they needed. Paying because we wanted to make sure what we were building was actually valuable.
I don’t know if my partner would be comfortable with me disclosing our financials, but I’ll just say we’re close to being profitable with a team of 16.
Hope that helps ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#347There's a really simple idea that's kind of a... why hasn't anybody done this yet? A simple abstract surveillance fence. A weave of drones + infrared + vision and other such tech (perhaps directional mics?) could create a highly secure border around an area. Uses would include states/nations, private households, company facilities, public works, maybe even things like sea observation (navy please stop running into things, preventing illegal fishing / human trafficking / drug trafficking / etc) and so much more.
Seems like it would be a really fun problem to solve as well.
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#348What about general-purpose software? I've been toying with a software idea for years that has as guaranteed a user base as you could get.
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#349Valuable function for a niche.
Function ideas: scheduling, workforce mgmt, payments, commerce, task management, workflow, ordering, marketing/advertising, customer mgmt
Niche ideas: restaurants, dentists, construction, financial advisors, teachers, parents, event planners, handypeople
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#350Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mark Cuban once said (something like) "If you're looking where everyone else is looking then you're looking in the wrong place." I think that trumps Parsons. That said, looking at ideas that "didn't work" can be a solid approach. That is, sometimes (for example) the idea was solid but the team failed. The market also changes and some ideas can be ahead of their time (and poorly executed).
I think that trumps Parsons. I have a tremendous degree of regard for mcuban, and I think his advice has merit. But I wouldn't say either "trumps" the other. These pithy sayings are handy, but there's a lot of nuance to both of them (IMO) and the devil is in the details. Should Google have decided not to pursue search because of Altavista, Dogpile, Magellan, Northern Light, Yahoo, and DMOZ? Should Facebook have esche…
Very minor detail, but Yahoo! didn't have a "search engine" when Google came to be. Yahoo! was still a manually curated "directory" at the time.