I think meeting new people is a great way to find startup ideas if you personally don't have any. I am collaborating with two different friends that were complete strangers prior to a couple a months for fun and both the ideas are not mine. I am working hard to make sure both gets good traction.
Ask HN: What are good ways to find startup problems to solve?
11–20 of 47 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are good ways to find startup problems to solve?
#121) think of frustrating situations that you encounter in your daily life 2) determine if that is a situation other people also find frustrating 3) if so, there is probably an underlying problem to the situation, just waiting to be solved.
Lots of people talk about this, but do they really occur that often? I don't seem to encounter many such situations that can be solved much better than current offerings. As a fresh graduate there is a lack of domain experience as well for me to understand (or know at all) the pain points in various industries.
Perhaps I'm just not thinking out of the box enough.
Re: Ask HN: What are good ways to find startup problems to solve?
#13This question has also been in my head for a while.
I suggest maybe we stop looking for problems to solve and start solving problems we have.
A simple problem that I have right now is ,
I am in need of a high quality technical text book that is in my local language (swahili).
First I can't buy anything from amazon or the other online retailers because I don't have a credit card.
Second, even if I am able to order from amazon I wont be able to get a Swahili version of the book ( Due to a myriad of corporate reasons).
Third, I'm broke I can't afford the dollars that also accompany the shipping costs and the tax that my government has just raised.
So, I sit down and think. Maybe it is about time, we start giving some love to the millions os swahili speakers eager to contribute to the recipes of this big cake called internet.
I find static sites cheap, and elegant. I mix the solution with strong security, and use modern tools to bring speed and relevancy. Many people start to use my platform, a new eco system is born and bam there goes a new amazon, solving a real problem and I'm sure as hell I can afford to pay in my local currency.
The company gets acquired by, guess who? Then you zero the clock and start the whole process again.
From the example above, you can notice, I never looked for a problem to solve but I just solved the problem I had.
Re: Ask HN: What are good ways to find startup problems to solve?
#14Solve a problem for yourself! Ideas are in our everyday lives - look closely, those things/services/tools you 'wish' could exist, you just might spot a niche - then build it for 'you', and you'll realise how many people needs this product/tools/services!
That's good advice! But I've been trying to do this and I might be too content with my life cause I can't find these frustrating problems / 'itches'.
Re: Ask HN: What are good ways to find startup problems to solve?
#15Paul Graham wrote an essay on this topic which might help you. http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html
I love this article. I'm very much inspired by what is written here, but for the most part can't find an 'itch' to scratch.
Right now I'm just building stuff I consider is cool / fun and see how it goes from there.
Re: Ask HN: What are good ways to find startup problems to solve?
#161) think of frustrating situations that you encounter in your daily life 2) determine if that is a situation other people also find frustrating 3) if so, there is probably an underlying problem to the situation, just waiting to be solved.
Lots of people talk about this, but do they really occur that often? I don't seem to encounter many such situations that can be solved much better than current offerings. As a fresh graduate there is a lack of domain experience as well for me to understand (or know at all) the pain points in various industries. Perhaps I'm just not thinking out of the box enough.
I tend to notice lots of inefficiencies at small businesses that I frequent. When the front desk person says they're having computer problems; that's a great time to strike up a conversation and see what they think about the software they use every day and how they think it could be better. If you think you could fix that problem, you're on the right track.
Re: Ask HN: What are good ways to find startup problems to solve?
#17If you are looking for problems, it's very easy: Do stuff.
Not doing anything you don't know any real problems and can only think about the next photo sharing app.
Working with others on actual customer tasks lets you learn to know the customers situation and problems.
Re: Ask HN: What are good ways to find startup problems to solve?
#18Paul Graham wrote an essay on this topic which might help you. http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html
I love this article. I'm very much inspired by what is written here, but for the most part can't find an 'itch' to scratch. Right now I'm just building stuff I consider is cool / fun and see how it goes from there.
Just curious, what do you find cool / fun?
Re: Ask HN: What are good ways to find startup problems to solve?
#19From your follow-on comments I'm not sure whether the challenge for you is finding problems or identifying that it's a problem that is worth working on. Providing a little more information on the sort of problems you have seen and then why you have decided to not work on them would help others be more specific with their guidance.
Re: Ask HN: What are good ways to find startup problems to solve?
#20Solve a problem for yourself! Ideas are in our everyday lives - look closely, those things/services/tools you 'wish' could exist, you just might spot a niche - then build it for 'you', and you'll realise how many people needs this product/tools/services!
That's good advice! But I've been trying to do this and I might be too content with my life cause I can't find these frustrating problems / 'itches'.
Too content with your life? Think bigger. eg... http://worrydream.com/ClimateChange/
...it doesn't have to be climate change per se. The point is that if you don't see things to improve on a given level, look at a higher level. Or a longer time horizon.
A lot of this is going to be hard to solve on the level of software. But not all! And maybe you can team up with people with other skills.