Do contract work as a mini agency. Seeing others problems may be helpful.
Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
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Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#92AREAS
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Software Quality or Fintech. Don't waste a good team on something like a Kale Smoothie Delivery Service For Beardy Hipsters. Software Quality is a huge, growing issue - we have more and more young/new coders arriving, massively increasing demand for code, and yet no government enforced standards (such as those found in Law, Architecture and Accounting). The industry is suffering the exact same issues that Fred Brooks wrote about 50 years ago, despite all our modern frameworks and IDEs, because we're just doing more stuff with fewer people. Starting points: The Open Group (and TOGAF), ITIL, MinistryofTesting.com
INSPIRATION ------ Hari Seldon, hero of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, was deliberately put into a wide variety of situations and experiences to inspire his imagination and fuel his emotional responses. Get out of starbucks, do crazy shit and get uncomfortable - allow it to fuse emotion and desire for change, because that's where motivation comes from. (related: read Think and Grow Rich if you haven't already)
FROM IDEA TO BUSINESS --------------- Read 'The E-myth revisited' and 'The Lean Startup'
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#93There is the inevitability of paying for stuff with our watches, (ala Apple Pay but global, not just 1% of market share) so there is a small chance for a newcomer to disrupt a multi-trillion dollar market. And for those who don't use watches, then a small pocket device, be it a ring, cell phone or something like old Motorola pagers. Those who miss the boat will blame themselves not being the next Whatsapp.
"And for those who don't use watches, then a small pocket device, be it a ring, cell phone or something like old Motorola pagers."
You mean like a credit card...?
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#94I have a couple of ideas. I know everyone thinks they are an “idea” person when they aren’t, but I actually have some pretty decent validation over a long time frame that my ideas have a better than average hit rate.
If I believed in the team I would probably just give away my ideas for free, or for the pleasure of being an advisor. I have almost no interest in going through the steps of doing a startup myself at this juncture.
I would love to see a couple of these come in to the world through any route.
If that sounds plausible feel free to reach out at me directly and I’d be happy to chat.
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#95Why not any of the ideas here: https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs/
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#96If you are in the Pittsburgh area, there is a startup weekend coming up in two weeks which I am super excited for as there will be tons of great ideas tossed around. You may be able to get some great ideas through the prototype phase. Otherwise maybe join a startup weekend or something to that effect in your area.
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#97Find an under served niche and then build something to service that specific niche.
I do just that about four years ago and have a stable client base of about a dozen clients who are all on our subscription based billing (instead of the costlier hourly billing) we have. Because of what we bill out, and the ability to work with my partners remotely even though we all live in the same city; we have zero overhead which increases our profit margin considerably.
We started with websites and SEO. Now we're building enterprise level apps for these firms and they can't get enough of it. The industry we're in is also a tight-knight small community so once word starting getting around about the stuff we did and how we helped these other firms, we started getting a lot of calls. When we started, it was all cold calling, doing local industry conferences, and reaching out to their professional organizations and doing educational seminars and talks to increase exposure.
Start small and then go after the big stuff. Otherwise, you're diving into a huge pool for competition. Focus on a small niche, own it, then duplicate that model to other industries.
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#98Group buys for real estate rentals. NYC is perfect for it.
Remember how in college, you'd fill in your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. housing options and get a match? Do that with groups of friends who are all graduating college at the same time and moving to NYC. Landlords would love you, as you'd rent out entire floors/buildings all at the same time.
Then build an ongoing matching service to fill the spots of individuals who move out.
NYC real estate is physically shitty, so you can add value by focusing on the social aspect of living.
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#99With that setup why not just take over some early company and 10x it?
Most have ideas, some have MVP and some have early customers. Pick the third one and bigulate it.
Re: Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea
#100I have a proven, novel means to gain insight about System1 response. Issued a patent for it (which I think is reasonably well written). Worked great applying it improve response to P&G's branded ads (then was part of McD's SG&A cuts). Would love to use it to improve romantic outcomes (better than survey response measures; e.g. "love at first [System1] sight" would make Kahneman/Tversky proud). Etc. Same coin, opposite side. If I was you, I would hang around some grabybeards who are 50+ and have been working in logistical positions for corporations, expand your network, and hire a great salesman. The GB's will have ideas, but not the where-with-all to act -- notably if they have a family HC plan. The network (also a good GB win), and your sales team are more important than a great idea. You really just need a "good enough" idea, execution, plus sales to get started, then adjust. HTH.