It's interesting that both Twitter and Facebook evolved quite a bit from where they started. The newsfeed and chat have both altered how I use Facebook and made it much more like twitter for me. When twitter first came out though I don't really see how anyone could have claimed it was a Facebook clone.
Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)
11–20 of 108 posts
Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)
#12Assuming your goal is to have a successful startup company, I've often wondered what the optimal trade-off between time-per-startup idea and number of startup attempts is. For instance, I could spend a year working on two really big, elaborate ideas that I have, but if they fail (likely), then I've wasted ("learned what not to do" if you're the optimistic type) a year working on only two ideas. Or... I could invest m…
Hopefully you've found one of the 52 ideas awesome enough to spend a little longer on. How enthusiastic / passionate you are about it is a big factor in how successful will be.
Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)
#13Assuming your goal is to have a successful startup company, I've often wondered what the optimal trade-off between time-per-startup idea and number of startup attempts is. For instance, I could spend a year working on two really big, elaborate ideas that I have, but if they fail (likely), then I've wasted ("learned what not to do" if you're the optimistic type) a year working on only two ideas. Or... I could invest m…
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Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)
#14No two ideas are ever the same; in the details... Sure Abraham Lincoln filed for a patent on the essence of 'friendster' and other followed suit; but the details make the difference.
True, though the Abe Lincoln social-networking thing was a hoax.
(Lincoln held a patent, but it was for a method for helping boats navigate sandbars).
Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)
#15Assuming your goal is to have a successful startup company, I've often wondered what the optimal trade-off between time-per-startup idea and number of startup attempts is. For instance, I could spend a year working on two really big, elaborate ideas that I have, but if they fail (likely), then I've wasted ("learned what not to do" if you're the optimistic type) a year working on only two ideas. Or... I could invest m…
I think you're right. Building the next twitter would require a huge gamble that's unlikely to pay off. But from what I can tell neither of Twitter, Facebook, Google started out with the intention to be the next big thing. All of them started as something much smaller and focused, even though they eventually grew into behemoths.
Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)
#16Assuming your goal is to have a successful startup company, I've often wondered what the optimal trade-off between time-per-startup idea and number of startup attempts is. For instance, I could spend a year working on two really big, elaborate ideas that I have, but if they fail (likely), then I've wasted ("learned what not to do" if you're the optimistic type) a year working on only two ideas. Or... I could invest m…
"If you look at which companies have historically been successful (FB, Twitter, Instagram), you see that the founder spent almost all of their time on that one idea."
Where does that info come from and what do you mean with "all of their time"?
I would expect that the first iteration of those websites have been coded in a few days or weeks.
Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)
#17The problem with so many "startup ideas" is that they are a solution to the problem, "I want to create a startup and don't have an idea." Not surprisingly, this tends to produce copycat concepts, products with no real market fit, services that target sexy but oversaturated markets, etc.
There are lots and lots of problems that are either unsolved or are being solved in ways that are less efficient and cost-effective than they could be, particularly outside of the consumer space. In many cases, these problems can be solved with relatively unsophisticated applications. But the folks who sit around thinking about the usual consumer internet suspects (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) never discover these problems because more often than not, they have no domain expertise.
Sadly, it seems to me that many technical wantrepreneurs have no real interest in developing domain expertise because they believe there's more value in mastering the framework du jour than focusing in on a vertical and developing a real understanding of it over time.
Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)
#18Assuming your goal is to have a successful startup company, I've often wondered what the optimal trade-off between time-per-startup idea and number of startup attempts is. For instance, I could spend a year working on two really big, elaborate ideas that I have, but if they fail (likely), then I've wasted ("learned what not to do" if you're the optimistic type) a year working on only two ideas. Or... I could invest m…
Hopefully you've found one of the 52 ideas awesome enough to spend a little longer on. How enthusiastic / passionate you are about it is a big factor in how successful will be.
I really like the idea of making a web app every week and seeing whats sticks. Its seems like it would be a much more diverse learning experience.
Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)
#19Assuming your goal is to have a successful startup company, I've often wondered what the optimal trade-off between time-per-startup idea and number of startup attempts is. For instance, I could spend a year working on two really big, elaborate ideas that I have, but if they fail (likely), then I've wasted ("learned what not to do" if you're the optimistic type) a year working on only two ideas. Or... I could invest m…
"If you look at which companies have historically been successful (FB, Twitter, Instagram), you see that the founder spent almost all of their time on that one idea." Where does that info come from and what do you mean with "all of their time"? I would expect that the first iteration of those websites have been coded in a few days or weeks.
> Where does that info come from and what do you mean with "all of their time"?
It came from my memory of various articles I've read; but that's certainly a fallible source, so correct me if I'm wrong.
And with "all of their time", I didn't literally mean "all of it". I meant, with time appropriated towards working on a star-up, it was spent on only one idea rather than multiple ones.
Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)
#20Assuming your goal is to have a successful startup company, I've often wondered what the optimal trade-off between time-per-startup idea and number of startup attempts is. For instance, I could spend a year working on two really big, elaborate ideas that I have, but if they fail (likely), then I've wasted ("learned what not to do" if you're the optimistic type) a year working on only two ideas. Or... I could invest m…
Twitter was not a founder-focused idea - it was a side project for a video service.