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Bad Startup Idea - Your next weekend project

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Re: Bad Startup Idea - Your next weekend project

#13

Post by justin_vanw »

All actually good startup ideas are bad ideas when they are started. Everybody thought twitter was retarded, and nobody had any idea social networking was even going to be a thing when facebook launched. If you only work on things that people agree seem like a good idea, you are probably the 5th team that is working on it, and you probably started about 3 years too late.

This actually ends up giving many real successful startup ideas or just good ideas. It also gives a lot of bad ones, but here are some I noticed:

OKCupid, for music. (Pandora) Github, but for knowledge. (Wikipedia) Hacker News, but for knowledge (Stack Overflow, Stack Exchange) FourSquare, but for photography (is that Instagram?) and a bunch that are more of a stretch.

So, here are some ideas it had that I think are are actually good:

OKCupid, but for shopping (better, hyper personalized product recommendations).

LinkedIn, but for beer (more like "it's Just lunch" for professional relationships, set up one on one beers and such, foster mentor relationships, etc).

Github, but for fashion (imagine something like paper dolls, where users can mix and match shirts, pants, accessories and share the combinations with each other, and then purchase complete outfits).

Re: Bad Startup Idea - Your next weekend project

#14

Post by hayksaakian »

droidist2 wrote: post #9
sgdesign wrote: post #6

To be fair, any of those ideas could produce a great startup with the right team behind it… That's the thing, the idea alone is pretty much meaningless one way or another.

I hear people say this often and never quite understood it. The idea is very important. Having a bad idea vs. a good idea is like the difference between trying to sell snow to an Eskimo and trying to sell a glass of water to a man dying of thirst. Given the right salesperson, both can be theoretically done and both can be screwed up, but that doesn't mean that execution is everything.

He means that execution is more powerful in general. If you can sell snow to an Eskimo, imagine what you could do with a good idea.

Re: Bad Startup Idea - Your next weekend project

#15

Post by droidist2 »

hayksaakian wrote: post #14
droidist2 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear people say this often and never quite understood it. The idea is very important. Having a bad idea vs. a good idea is like the difference between trying to sell snow to an Eskimo and trying to sell a glass of water to a man dying of thirst. Given the right salesperson, both can be theoretically done and both can be screwed up, but that doesn't mean that execution is everything.

He means that execution is more powerful in general. If you can sell snow to an Eskimo, imagine what you could do with a good idea.

Absolutely, you need both. I'm not sure how to quantify which one is more powerful or important, especially since "idea" can mean many things, from a very vague concept to a fully fleshed out and vetted business plan. I was just taking issue with the "ideas are worth nothing, execution is everything" mantra.

Re: Bad Startup Idea - Your next weekend project

#19

Post by rooshdi »

flexxaeon wrote: post #10
flexxaeon wrote: post #5

Spotify, but for business Motivational audiobooks? Hmmm....

So I refreshed and got "Github for Cooking" which sounded funny at first, until I thought about it. Which then led into a 15 minute discussion with the wife expanding on the idea. Now I wanna build it.

Forking food in more ways than one....interesting..

Re: Bad Startup Idea - Your next weekend project

#20

Post by rachelbythebay »

flexxaeon wrote: post #10
flexxaeon wrote: post #5

Spotify, but for business Motivational audiobooks? Hmmm....

So I refreshed and got "Github for Cooking" which sounded funny at first, until I thought about it. Which then led into a 15 minute discussion with the wife expanding on the idea. Now I wanna build it.

As in, here is my pizza recipe, you can have it or you can "fork it" and modify it?

forkitrecipes.com isn't taken ... yet.

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