If you're thinking along the lines of mash-ups, I'd Google search for a web 2.0 API list, and then pick a couple to put together that would be really slick.
Ask HN: How do I come up with an idea?
21–30 of 36 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do I come up with an idea?
#22I think ideas come with life experience, so get out and experience the world.
Really take notice of your surroundings and the people in them, and then most importantly notice how the people interact with the surroundings. Then ask yourself, is there a better way to do this?
Re: Ask HN: How do I come up with an idea?
#23Try thinking about things in life that you want to do but can't. Usually there's no reason, it's just the way things have always been. You can disrupt these things. Look at the global fallout of the film and music industries. We did that. Us geeks. The really, really hard problems are: governments; banks (finance in general); telcos. I'd avoid those until you've made your first billion. But they are great targets. Th…
You can disrupt these things. Look at the global fallout of the film and music industries. We did that. Us geeks.
I can't upvote you enough. That's the single most inspiring thing I've ever read on HN. It's easy to take for granted, but it's everywhere. Newspapers. Manufacturing. Communications. Hell, even ask an old engineer how they did things in their field before CAD. (Engineers used to make a living wage reducing logic expressions by hand.)
We wrought this creative destruction, tearing this world down and building it back up again so it runs better.
Re: Ask HN: How do I come up with an idea?
#24Try thinking about things in life that you want to do but can't. Usually there's no reason, it's just the way things have always been. You can disrupt these things. Look at the global fallout of the film and music industries. We did that. Us geeks. The really, really hard problems are: governments; banks (finance in general); telcos. I'd avoid those until you've made your first billion. But they are great targets. Th…
Why not Craigslist? I've had so many good experiences with Craigslist that it is my default solution to anything involving "stuff".
Re: Ask HN: How do I come up with an idea?
#25Start coding the flickr mashup and keep your mind open during the process. It'll morph - you'll see something you can do. Other advice in this thread is sound on the general idea creation process - I would also add talk to people! Talk to people with problems, talk to an underserved group, talk to your friends and family, etc.
Re: Ask HN: How do I come up with an idea?
#26Ideas come with experience, you push something to the edge and you realize the next stage doesn't exist and it's up to you to create it if you want it to.
Re: Ask HN: How do I come up with an idea?
#27Don't look for ideas. Look for problems.
Re: Ask HN: How do I come up with an idea?
#28I would assume that you've already heard it some times, but I find this way of finding an idea to be very good: Take a shower, and what your mind thinks about during the shower could lead you into some pretty interesting ideas. Of course, they have to be relevant to your study, but they may not immediately look like they are: That's usually how great ideas come to life.
That is a decent idea. Also, showering regularly to generate new ideas has some useful side effects. ;)
Re: Ask HN: How do I come up with an idea?
#29The data visualization realm might be something for you. Take a look at Stamen Design for inspiration (http://stamen.com).
There is so much more interesting data than maps and Flickr photos out there, from government data to the data that New York City makes available, to Twitter streams or Facebooks social graph, etc. Take a look at this list of popular APIs on programmable web for some inspiration - http://www.programmableweb.com/apis/directory/1?sort=mashups
If you make a cool visualization that makes an interesting topic easy to understand, you can be sure that it will get some nice coverage, too.
Hope that helps.
Re: Ask HN: How do I come up with an idea?
#30Some random thoughts:
1. Good ideas are cheap. You sound like you're after a killer idea. There are very few killer ideas. Amazon was originally just buying booms online. Google? A search engine. eBay? An auction site.
2. What matters is execution not the idea.
3. Just because someone else is doing it doesn't mean it's already done. You can have a different (better) take or simply do it better.
4. Pain points are a good starting point. Look at your life. What hires? What could be better?
5. Software is a great starting point because a decade an onternet startup took $5 million whereas now it is as little as $20k.
6. Don't get caught up in hype. For example social media is now (IMHO) hugely overhyped. You need to be somewhat contrarian.
7. Realize when a field is "done". For example, location. You would need a veru different take at this point to compete in this very crowded market.
8. Timing is everything. There was a video on demand startup or two every month before Youtube struck gold.
9. Success will take longer than you think it will.