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Beg HN: Share some ideas.

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#21

Post by erikstarck »

It seems like you're looking for an idea. This is something that annoys you - you can't come up with an idea of your own.

Other people probably have the same problem. Maybe you can help them (and yourself) solve that problem? How about an idea management tool?

Maybe people are even willing to pay for something like that? Maybe an "idea market" works better? I don't know. The point is that ideas are everywhere, you just have to start looking. Sometimes it's easy to miss the forest because of all the trees.

Here's another piece of advice on how to think about your idea: http://blog.opportunitycloud.com/2009/08/03/your-business-id...

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#22

Post by siculars »

Ideas are a dime a dozen, or cheaper still. Execution is what counts. I would tell you to get a soul sucking job, volunteer your time at a worth while, human helper, dogoodnik organization of your choosing or even whacking some bugs off some open source software you use or want to get to know better.

All those things will broaden your horizons, open your eyes to new problems and give you an appreciation for the suck that certain things can be and get you thinking about how to fix them.

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#23

Post by ctkrohn »

edw519 wrote: post #10

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 expe…

100% agree with this. I worked on Wall Street for almost three years, and ended up with a good idea for mortgage bond analytics software. Most jobs out there use some antiquated, terrible, but really expensive niche software. Most people would love to upgrade to something better, but there's often only one company in that particular space.

The following article provided some helpful inspiration for me. Hope you enjoy it:

http://nukemanbill.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-to-sell-your-sof...

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#25

Post by RyanONeill1970 »

Ideas by proxy don't work, you have to have something that matters to you. If I gave you my list of ideas, you'd laugh at 'em and say how crap they are even though I reckon I could turn them into decent businesses.

If you are in the UK and want to work with me for a year, I'd consider it. I've got too much on my plate and plenty of ideas to explore.

Ryan

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#27

Post by chegra »

iends wrote: post #20
chegra wrote: post #6

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…

Regarding chess bots, there are a lot of places that already do this...ICC And playchess to name two, plus there are lots of rating lists such as http://ssdf.bosjo.net/list.htm

Great, now he knows there is a market for it.

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#29

Post by mahmud »

mstevens wrote: post #19

Filtered internet connections. Buy DSL from us, get a connection with only productive, work related content, or no porn, or defeat the tvtropes addiction...

Do people really have a problem with internet addiction? or is this just another meme?

Re: Beg HN: Share some ideas.

#30

Post by mazuhl »

It's not great ideas you should be after, it's great problems. If someone has a great idea for a website, I might use it. If you can solve a problem I've got, I'll pay you.

Here are 4 problems I've got that I'd happily pay money to have solved for me.

1. I can't find good podcasts about the things I'm interested in. I should be able to say "give me any podcast about 'yiddish'" and a neat server would collate them all.

2. I want something between a university course and Ruby learning, without having to be 'present' or leaving my job, but with small, bite-sized chunks of learning. Amy Hoy/Thomas Fuchs and Michael Hartl are kind of their with their smaller groups/sessions. I'd like sessions on Apache, jQuery, Ruby, testing, CS fundamentals, etc. This could be something as simple as facilitated self-study.

3. A Twitter iPad app for note-taking and live-blogging at conferences. It should focus on note-taking and allow you to send out tweets of particular parts and easily follow hash tags.

4. A web interface that brings together all the different recommended writing rules (like this: http://matt.might.net/articles/shell-scripts-for-passive-voi... and this: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/07/janet-fit...) and some readability scores, etc. Paid users could set a consistent rules/styles/brand voice and possibly integrate with Google Docs or something similar.

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