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Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]

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Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]

#81

Post by Guest19023892 »

cercatrova wrote: post #20
systemvoltage wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All this hoo haa about startup ideas - Just make products that excel at every aspect of what it does and make sure there is a demand for such a product. I see people making a better soap dispenser, the hardware equivalent of what most SaaS startups are working on. You need to invent a new kind of soap that is better than anything else out there. It should take the grime off of everything from kitchen to bathroom scum…

Method soap is the example of a better soap dispenser like you say. It doesn't work on everything but it had the uniqueness that it was made with natural ingredients, so much that you could drink it, which the founders did to demonstrate that fact.

I used Method foaming hand soap for a while. I probably went through about 10 bottles, and I'd say at least half of the dispensers started experiencing pumping issues before they were empty. So, in my experience, they were actually the worst soap dispensers I ever purchased.

Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]

#82

Post by cercatrova »

Guest19023892 wrote: post #81
cercatrova wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Method soap is the example of a better soap dispenser like you say. It doesn't work on everything but it had the uniqueness that it was made with natural ingredients, so much that you could drink it, which the founders did to demonstrate that fact.

I used Method foaming hand soap for a while. I probably went through about 10 bottles, and I'd say at least half of the dispensers started experiencing pumping issues before they were empty. So, in my experience, they were actually the worst soap dispensers I ever purchased.

Well, I don't know about the dispenser but the soap is pretty good. What did you think of it?

Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]

#83

Post by pontus »

I keep hearing over and over again how the idea doesn't matter and it's all about "execution execution execution!". I get that execution is important, but can we also agree that the idea is important too? I get that good ideas are easier to come by than good execution, but I kind of feel like completely discounting the idea also missed the point.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a hard time coming up with a super successful company based on a bad idea.

Just to be clear, I'm not discounting execution at all, it's obviously incredibly important. All I'm saying is that it bugs me when people always discount ideas as unimportant.

Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]

#84

Post by Guest19023892 »

cercatrova wrote: post #82
Guest19023892 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used Method foaming hand soap for a while. I probably went through about 10 bottles, and I'd say at least half of the dispensers started experiencing pumping issues before they were empty. So, in my experience, they were actually the worst soap dispensers I ever purchased.

Well, I don't know about the dispenser but the soap is pretty good. What did you think of it?

The soap was great. However, I don't know how much of that was the soap itself and how much was simply the experience of using foaming soap compared to liquid soap for washing my hands. If the dispensers actually worked, I would have kept buying it.

Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]

#85

Post by throwaway1777 »

ChicagoDave wrote: post #68

I've had a couple, but couldn't tell you where they come from or how I get them. Ideas are easy (well, not really, but most smart, aware people have them). The differentiator is execution and the ability to network properly. Maybe try your ideas when you don't have five college-aged kids and debt. I had the idea for "Slack" 4 years before it came out. Seriously, _exactly_ the idea of Slack. I even semi-pitched it to…

You only had the idea for slack 4 years before it was launched? IRC had it long before that...

Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]

#86

Post by Manheim »

I think the one take from this short talk is this; "History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes" (M.Twain). Walking your own path is always important when it comes to creativity, whether it is about pursuing billion dollar startup ideas or writing a unique song.

Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]

#88

Post by garry »

pontus wrote: post #83

I keep hearing over and over again how the idea doesn't matter and it's all about "execution execution execution!". I get that execution is important, but can we also agree that the idea is important too? I get that good ideas are easier to come by than good execution, but I kind of feel like completely discounting the idea also missed the point. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a hard time coming up with a super successf…

Ideas are just a multiplier on execution. Derek Sivers was a big influence on startups when I came up in 2008. Classic: https://sive.rs/multiply

Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]

#89

Post by raverbashing »

pontus wrote: post #83

I keep hearing over and over again how the idea doesn't matter and it's all about "execution execution execution!". I get that execution is important, but can we also agree that the idea is important too? I get that good ideas are easier to come by than good execution, but I kind of feel like completely discounting the idea also missed the point. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a hard time coming up with a super successf…

True, and though selling soap and toothpaste is now 99.9% execution and 0.1% idea you probably won't get a billion dollar business out of it today.

I guess a good idea now also contains a good idea on how to execute it as well.

Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]

#90

Post by amandavinci »

pontus wrote: post #83

I keep hearing over and over again how the idea doesn't matter and it's all about "execution execution execution!". I get that execution is important, but can we also agree that the idea is important too? I get that good ideas are easier to come by than good execution, but I kind of feel like completely discounting the idea also missed the point. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a hard time coming up with a super successf…

Ideas must change in response to feedback from the problem to be solved.

The initial idea and its nth iteration are downstream from the real problem. What matters, therefore, is the iterative execution of those solutions. So instead of basing our judgment on the quality of the idea, we should rely on the execution ability because that is fairly constant in the development loop.

If you end up on the far-side of an idea-driven development process, you'll have solutions looking for a problem.

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