Ask HN: Tons of ideas, zero products.

Hi.

I have a problems which I don't know how to solve. I consider myself a creative person and some time ago I had 2 ideas which I think have potential to succeed (I did short evaluation of those ideas: there is a market, there is no/very little competition, people I talked to say good things about my ideas). However, I don't know how to/where to start.

My first problem is my personality: I always procrastinated a lot, I always had ideas which I dind't implement, very often I started project and abandoned it, I always had a lot of dreams and done just a few of them. Some time ago I decided to change this and I'm really doing this with my life. I procrastinate very seldom, I'm very motivated to succeed, I study a lot (I'm in college), every day I'm a better person. But I still can't find cure for my "not-starting"/"starting-and-abandoning" project problem. I really want to change this, I'd really appreciate your ideas/suggestions. I'm sure I'm not the only one with such issue.

My second problem: I'm located in Eastern Europe, which is not the best place for startups. I don't need much money to implement my idea(s), but I have no idea how to promote it. I think USA (and SV especially) is the best to start a company not because it's easier to find investors, but because of connections/people you can meet which can be very helpful to promote your products. YC companies succeed because of the attention they get from the tech/business world (at least in my humble opinion). So: let's say I build my product - what's next? How to promote it (with no/little money)?

I'm young, I'm ignorant, I have a lot of flaws. I've been reading HN for more than a year now, I know most of you are waaay intelligent than me (and it's very good for me -- I love learning from people who are better). I hope you can help me. Posting here is my first step to defeat my biggest flaw and, maybe, changing my life.

Thank you.

(Sorry for bad spelling, feel free to correct my errors).

So simple, heh. Thank you for this advice, I'm going to try and check if it works for me.

For problem one: Pick one of your ideas (your favorite, or the one with the least competition, bonus if it's both of those things) and then ignore the other(s). Work the one project until you feel you've done all you can do. At some point, getting project A off the ground is going to get hard, and this is when you'll be tempted to move onto project B. This is also when you must focus on A even harder, and act like B doesn't even exist. If you don't learn with A, you'll run into the same issues with B and will be holding onto 2 abandoned projects eventually.

For problem two: You're right that connections are key but don't think that these connections only exist in SV or the USA. Go to every startup/tech/niche related event that you can in your area. Even if you never meet someone that is 'directly' connected, you're likely to meet people who are connected indirectly, or with access to a hub/outlet that you may have never thought of. If you make enough noise in Easter Europe, SV will come to you.

First: If you can't even start something, no amount of "connections" will do you any good whatsoever. But it sure is nice to fantasize that if you were somewhere else, it'd be easy. (It wouldn't be.) That's one insidious kind of excuse.

Your whole posts makes it sound like you're making excuses instead of actually trying to change.

Asking for advice from strangers is not really taking a step, is it? You're putting your salvation in their hands. There's no guarantee you'll get a single useful response. And if you don't, what will your natural reaction be? To go "OH well, same thing again"?

You're giving up power, instead of taking it.

Which sounds like your core problem.

How can you take power, take control?

> If you can't even start something, no amount of "connections" will do you any good whatsoever.

I know this. Second question is not directely connected to the first one, I wrote "let's say I build my product" and asked about its promotion.

> Your whole posts makes it sound like you're making excuses instead of actually trying to change.

I don't think I'm making excuses. I'm aware I have problem and ask for some possible solutions. However you are (at least partialy) right about giving up power. This is a good point. I'm in the proccess of taking control, I'm really changing for better. I've changed some parts of my life I couldn't change in the past (because in the past I was just talking about that, without any real action), and still there is a lot to improve. And you know what? Responses here are really valuable for me, now I see the path I should go to change one of the worst of my flaws.

Thanks for your input.