Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#1

Post by jonne » Thu, Jul 29, 2010, 2:04 PM UTC

I'm finishing my masters degree in computer science and I don't want to work from 9-5 in a boring company or from 9-11 in a consulting company.

I want to have my own startup but I don't have any good ideas! All I have is ideas for small web applications but not enough to make a living out of that nor to reject the offers I have.

So, can you please share some ideas with me? If you don't want to say them in public, please contact me at t57435 gmail.

Thank you!

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#2

Post by alain94040 » Thu, Jul 29, 2010, 2:29 PM UTC

You should try to think for yourself, attend meetups where other founders discuss their ideas, and eventually you'll come up with something too.

As a reminder, a site designed for the purpose of discussing ideas is http://fairsoftware.net/startup-ideas-software-web-iphone.

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#3

Post by checker659 » Thu, Jul 29, 2010, 2:29 PM UTC

If you put out your ideas first, I am sure there will be plenty who will follow. Also, there have been quite a lot of startup idea threads on HN in the past. A quick search brings many like this one (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=250704) up. Good luck!

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#4

Post by alinajaf » Thu, Jul 29, 2010, 2:31 PM UTC

I would suggest building and launching one of those web app ideas. It doesn't have to be brilliant.

Doing so will a) give you the experience of completing a product from start to finish and b) probably give you a bunch of different ideas for a startup.

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#5

Post by mindcrime » Thu, Jul 29, 2010, 2:32 PM UTC

There are a couple of "give away your unused ideas" threads floating around, you might search them up.

That said, you should probably think more in terms of generating ideas than begging for ideas. I bet you actually have plenty of good ideas floating around in your brain, on some latent level. You just need something to bring them out. Just look for problems people are having, and think about how to apply the technologies that you know, to solving those problems.

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#6

Post by chegra » Thu, Jul 29, 2010, 2:38 PM UTC

smiles, and pulls out trusty phone full of ideas

These are ideas that I wish to capitalize on in the future but since I dont want to jump from project to project you can have them:

1) A language learning api- Website and games can add value to their service by allowing people to learn a new language as they visit their site. I did a small implementation of it in a Software Engineering Module.

2) Collective mnemonics - every single year, for university and highschool, students learn the same thing over and over. Each one, creating their own mnemonics to remember the material. Mnemonics take pretty long to devise. The solution is people post their mnemonics for different course. Eliminate the repetition of creating mnemonicss. And the goal is to obtain full course coverage.

3) A site for poker bots to compete against each other or even chess bots.

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#7

Post by icey » Thu, Jul 29, 2010, 2:38 PM UTC

Every time someone brings up the idea of starting an site based around giving away ideas, someone else brings up halfbakery, so I suppose you could start there:

http://www.halfbakery.com/

I personally don't think the ideas there are all that great. Fortunately there are lots of places where people post ideas that they'd love to see implemented:

http://www.reddit.com/r/somebodymakethis/

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=i+need+software+that

http://ycombinator.com/rfs1.html

http://ycombinator.com/rfs2.html

http://ycombinator.com/rfs3.html

http://ycombinator.com/rfs4.html

http://ycombinator.com/rfs5.html

http://ycombinator.com/rfs6.html

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#8

Post by mrduncan » Thu, Jul 29, 2010, 2:39 PM UTC

The best way I've found to think of ideas is to keep track of everything that annoys you. Periodically, sort through the list and think a little more about those annoyances which are so great you'd pay real money to make go away.

For example: 37signals - All of their products have come from their own needs

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#9

Post by kloncks » Thu, Jul 29, 2010, 2:40 PM UTC

Ideas are everywhere, man. There are a few common important themes going on right now in the technology world that we all know about.

What I'm getting at is that you should start thinking about how you're solving these problems or tackling these ideas, rather than simply ask for an idea generator.

Case in point: http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html

There's about as many ideas there as anyone can handle. If you solve any of them, you'll be very well off.

But just remember that ideas are cheap and a dime-a-dozen. Pyra, before starting Blogger, was working on Project Management software. eBay was selling auction software to other companies. Twitter's company had been a podcast database before.

It's less about the idea and more about 1) You. and 2) Your execution.

One more really important thing to think about is that virtually all (immensely) successful ideas arise from a founder's need. Look around your life? What around you do you hate and want fixed? Take that and solve that problem. If anything, it will make your life a lot better ;)

Excellent essay here on the subject: http://www.paulgraham.com/organic.html

Good luck, though :)

----------------------------

Also, more detailed YComb ideas:

http://ycombinator.com/rfs1.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs2.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs2.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs3.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs4.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs5.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs6.html

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#10

Post by edw519 » Thu, Jul 29, 2010, 2:46 PM UTC

Here's an idea: get a job. After a year, you'll have plenty of ideas, maybe even one of your own.

I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but the thought of begging for ideas in an on-line forum is just so alien to me. The best predictor of your success in any endeavor is your own determination. With someone else's idea, you're much more likely to bail at the first sign of difficulty. Once you get a little real world experience under your belt, you'll find plenty of opportunities to encounter something for which you'll have real passion.

Your chances of success increase astronomically when you're working on something you "have to do". The only way to know if you "have to do it" is to have a little background and experience with it. Trading ideas like commodities in a place like this seems like the least likely way to find something you'll be passionate about.

OTOH, a "boring job" can be an incredibly fertile environment for start-up ideas. You'll learn what people want, see what works and what doesn't, and be much more adept at identifying opportunities. Oh, and get a chance to bank some money so that when you do start working on your passion, you can concentrate on that instead of begging for funding.

Sometimes the easy way out is just that: the easy way out. Get a job and pay your dues. You'll probably be very glad that you did.