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Ask HN: Is there a platform for sharing ideas that people want to “give away”?

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Re: Ask HN: Is there a platform for sharing ideas that people want to “give away”?

#21

Post by balzss »

Razengan wrote: post #20

> I'm in the camp of ”Ideas are worthless” Then why ask people here for ideas for a platform? You are here because you couldn’t think of all possibilities yourself. Ideas are the first step, without which everything that comes after, wouldn’t.

I didn't used the expression in a literal sense (which I tried to state but maybe I didn't do it well enough). For me "ideas are worthless" represents the opposite of the mindset where people get secretive about their ideas or not wanting to give them away because they are afraid that someone will make good money with it.

I clearly care about ideas if I want everybody to share theirs. I just want to do it openly and freely without people thinking that others will steal them and make advantage of them.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a platform for sharing ideas that people want to “give away”?

#22

Post by svrtknst »

Razengan wrote: post #20

> I'm in the camp of ”Ideas are worthless” Then why ask people here for ideas for a platform? You are here because you couldn’t think of all possibilities yourself. Ideas are the first step, without which everything that comes after, wouldn’t.

It seems you misread the comment, no? There's little gain in being this standoffish, especially when your interpretation is off.

They're obvioulsy not saying that ideas are worthless, period - They're saying that ideas alone don't go anywhere unless you execute them. Furthermore, it seems they're here to share ideas, not to execute others.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a platform for sharing ideas that people want to “give away”?

#23

Post by NateEag »

I just maintain such a list on my website:

http://www.nateeag.com/software/ideas.html

I haven't tried to publicize it at all (well, until this post).

Start the list on a website somewhere, and if you want people to look at it, submit it to HN, Reddit, et al.

That should give you everything you need.

Not everything needs to be a platform.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a platform for sharing ideas that people want to “give away”?

#24

Post by nabnob »

Follow up question - Does anyone have advice for changing your mindset so you actually notice a potential idea when you have some pain point? I feel like I ignore my own ideas that seem insignificant. It just isn't a reflex to think "hey I should write a program to solve this".

Re: Ask HN: Is there a platform for sharing ideas that people want to “give away”?

#25

Post by elicash »

A more honest way to say "ideas are worthless" would be to claim that there's no such thing as a first mover advantage.

Here's a take that looks into that question fairly: https://hbr.org/2005/04/the-half-truth-of-first-mover-advant...

Re: Ask HN: Is there a platform for sharing ideas that people want to “give away”?

#28

Post by lidHanteyk »

balzss wrote: post #21
Razengan wrote: post #20

> I'm in the camp of ”Ideas are worthless” Then why ask people here for ideas for a platform? You are here because you couldn’t think of all possibilities yourself. Ideas are the first step, without which everything that comes after, wouldn’t.

I didn't used the expression in a literal sense (which I tried to state but maybe I didn't do it well enough). For me "ideas are worthless" represents the opposite of the mindset where people get secretive about their ideas or not wanting to give them away because they are afraid that someone will make good money with it. I clearly care about ideas if I want everybody to share theirs. I just want to do it openly and…

Grandparent is right, though; everybody starts out as an ideas-first person. That's because having ideas is really easy and anybody can do it.

It sounds like you want the validation and esteem of your peers on the basis of your ideas. The cold reality is that having an idea does not at all entitle you to a reward; other people will also have your idea, and you'll feel like they have "stolen" or "made advantage of" your dream.

Many ideas are counterproductive; if they were carried out to fruition, they would either need to be retrofitted to the point of being a different idea entirely, or consume too many resources in proportion to the resources being saved. It is completely reasonable, therefore, to insist that ideas are not enough and that prototypes are required before designs can be considered for production.

Finally, consider a Kantian perspective. We can't all be ideas-first people. Therefore it'd be a lot more moral of you if you developed some programming skills.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a platform for sharing ideas that people want to “give away”?

#29

Post by gamerDude »

nabnob wrote: post #24

Follow up question - Does anyone have advice for changing your mindset so you actually notice a potential idea when you have some pain point? I feel like I ignore my own ideas that seem insignificant. It just isn't a reflex to think "hey I should write a program to solve this".

You could take a route similar to how you train your brain to notice that you are dreaming.

Basically, start making it a priority in your mind to notice these ideas by creating a habit to think about them intentionally. Take some time everyday to write down any and every idea you have for a software that would help solve something, anything. It's not the ideas the matter, it's about training your brain to make them important. If possible, do it multiple times a day.

Fast forward a couple weeks and you'll be writing down that "insignificant" idea you just had!

Re: Ask HN: Is there a platform for sharing ideas that people want to “give away”?

#30

Post by NateEag »

Iv wrote: post #26

Ideas are not just cheap, the huge majority of them are actually bad. Most ideas are actually not worth the time to consider them. If you want a repository for good ideas, I think first you need to find a way to filter the bad ones.

And if you could do that reliably, you should already be a billionaire from your many successful startups.
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