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Ask HN: Solopreneurs, how did you come up with your idea?

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Re: Ask HN: Solopreneurs, how did you come up with your idea?

#51

Post by altdataseller »

mamcx wrote: post #31

> but everything I create or try to do seems like there are already dozens of other solutions doing the same thing The major lesson I have after +20 years doing this: WHO CARES. This concern is valid for a huge company or anybody that wanna get like 70% of the whole market. For solo/small teams? Think of yourself as a street cart vendor that sells hamburgers, and is located on the front of mac donalds. They still sel…

Exactly, if you are waiting to make something that very very few ppl are doing, you will be waiting a lifetime. That or the market is extremely small to be profitable.

Re: Ask HN: Solopreneurs, how did you come up with your idea?

#52

Post by altdataseller »

ericmcer wrote: post #23
brotchie wrote: post #14

One sample point of one person's experience: Product's built based on brainstorming: NEVER worked. Product built around solution to actual problems I've experienced: Always worked, BUT may not have a large enough TAM. The best way to actually find problems to solve is to replicate something else (as a learning process to actually find the real product you need to build), or talk to people who have problems: e.g. Try…

That does seem like the best way to go about it, but I have family who are doctors and they frequently talk about how tired they are of tech guys who read "The Mom Test" who now skulk around asking probing questions about pain points in a doctors daily work. It just seems like any time there is a repeatable process for doing something, people will latch onto it and then do it until it is totally exhausted. Tech Entre…

That, and when people ask me about my problems, i tell them about it. But then i realize they want to know about problems that have a scalable or easy solution they can build.

In other words, I gave them my damn problem but they arent interested in solving them.

So no, i aint talking to you about my problems anymore

Re: Ask HN: Solopreneurs, how did you come up with your idea?

#53

Post by 35mm »

michaelteter wrote: post #46
fm2606 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For solo/small teams? Think of yourself as a street cart vendor that sells hamburgers, and is located on the front of mac donalds. What a great analogy! I always thought of how many lawyer offices there are, from single lawyer to multiple lawyers, but I like your take on it much better.

I like the dry cleaner example. How many dry cleaners are there? Do you go to the best one, or do you go to the one you know exists and is convenient.

Agreed, so maybe there is some value in being a ‘local’ software provider.

Re: Ask HN: Solopreneurs, how did you come up with your idea?

#54

Post by klabb3 »

mherrmann wrote: post #30
rglover wrote: post #25

Just fill needs that you have. Don't like how something existing works? Fix it. Think you can offer a better version of an existing idea? Go for it. Also: ideas are far less important than execution [1]. That's why it's best to work on problems you actually care about. If you don't, you'll end up cutting corners or burning out well in advance of success. [1] https://sive.rs/multiply

I agree with the first half, but strongly disagree with the second half of what you wrote. Ideas matter immensely. If you work on the wrong thing, perfect execution is not going to get you anywhere. If you work on the right thing, then even with mediocre execution will bring you at least some success.

One man’s idea is another man’s execution. It’s a useless phrase, in my experience, because there is nothing that determines the difference. For instance, was git a novel idea of applied distributed merkle trees or simply the existing idea of version control executed better? I see it as primarily a matter of ideas, but to someone else, maybe not?

Re: Ask HN: Solopreneurs, how did you come up with your idea?

#55

Post by nocommandline »

I usually try to solve my own problem.

E.g. I use/used Google App Engine (GAE)[1] a lot. When Google deprecated the GUI, I found it inconveniencing using the CLI. Secondly, there was no GUI for the Datastore Emulator. So, I set out to build something for both of them [2] and then decided to put it out there for others.

Along the line, it turned out that Google didn't support using one of their tools "dev_appserver.py" for building Python 3 Apps on Windows and so I also built a patch for it [3]

1) https://cloud.google.com/appengine/docs/standard

2) https://nocommandline.com

3) https://github.com/NoCommandLine/dev_appserver-python3-windo...

Re: Ask HN: Solopreneurs, how did you come up with your idea?

#56

Post by rglover »

Lyngbakr wrote: post #48
rglover wrote: post #25

Just fill needs that you have. Don't like how something existing works? Fix it. Think you can offer a better version of an existing idea? Go for it. Also: ideas are far less important than execution [1]. That's why it's best to work on problems you actually care about. If you don't, you'll end up cutting corners or burning out well in advance of success. [1] https://sive.rs/multiply

> Just fill needs that you have. Don't like how something existing works? Fix it. Think you can offer a better version of an existing idea? Go for it. While I don't disagree with this point, what it often leads to is developers creating developer tools, which is a crowded and competitive area. There are fields out there that are crying out for tech solutions because they are lumbering dinosaurs that haven't changed w…

> While I don't disagree with this point, what it often leads to is developers creating developer tools, which is a crowded and competitive area.

That can certainly happen. But you should at least have some domain experience or have a partner who does. Otherwise, not only will it be hard to come to the correct solution, you'll struggle to get your foot in the door to the industry.

Re: Ask HN: Solopreneurs, how did you come up with your idea?

#57

Post by rglover »

mherrmann wrote: post #30
rglover wrote: post #25

Just fill needs that you have. Don't like how something existing works? Fix it. Think you can offer a better version of an existing idea? Go for it. Also: ideas are far less important than execution [1]. That's why it's best to work on problems you actually care about. If you don't, you'll end up cutting corners or burning out well in advance of success. [1] https://sive.rs/multiply

I agree with the first half, but strongly disagree with the second half of what you wrote. Ideas matter immensely. If you work on the wrong thing, perfect execution is not going to get you anywhere. If you work on the right thing, then even with mediocre execution will bring you at least some success.

> If you work on the wrong thing, perfect execution is not going to get you anywhere. If you work on the right thing, then even with mediocre execution will bring you at least some success.

You're not wrong but that should be self-evident. Most people know when they have a bad idea, they just lack the humility to admit it.

Re: Ask HN: Solopreneurs, how did you come up with your idea?

#59

Post by coffeeaddict1 »

michaelteter wrote: post #46
fm2606 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For solo/small teams? Think of yourself as a street cart vendor that sells hamburgers, and is located on the front of mac donalds. What a great analogy! I always thought of how many lawyer offices there are, from single lawyer to multiple lawyers, but I like your take on it much better.

I like the dry cleaner example. How many dry cleaners are there? Do you go to the best one, or do you go to the one you know exists and is convenient.

The problem with this analogy is that in the case of software, you basically have teleportation so you can go to any dry cleaner you want instantaneously.
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