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Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

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Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#81

Post by greedo »

asdasf wrote: post #68
ef4 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, you have the difficulty backward. It's just fear of the unknown that keeps too many technical people from attempting it. If your product has a demonstrable return on investment, then it is far easier to sell to businesses. Because businesses actually make decisions based on ROI, and consumers mostly don't. Remember that to make a fair comparison, you need to do it per dollar, not per sale. Even if i…

>Because businesses actually make decisions based on ROI They like to say they do, but they very frequently don't. I'd say easily 80% of the software and hardware purchases I've seen corporate clients make are based on things other than ROI. Things like "the sales person for product X always takes me to nice lunches" or "everyone else is using Y so we need to use Y too".

ie Gartner's Magic Quadrant...

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#82

Post by energyboy »

[deleted] wrote: post #80
7Figures2Commas wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This seems a little harsh or judgemental. It wasn't. My statement was prefaced with "If that's the case..." > Big Co's don't care about your 10pc better product, because it may be 10% of a cost center that is maybe 15% of revenues. That makes it a 1.5% margin business for them, which is literally not material. You're missing the point: you realistically aren't going to know what product to build, or be able to asse…

[deleted]

i agree and am also a big believer in the notion that your product usually needs to be 10x better to displace the competition. however, sometimes there is benefit in not being a "domain" expert. naivety can drive an entrepreneur to do what industry insiders have been conditioned to believe is impossible. while young entrepreneurs are inexperienced, their age also works to their advantage in certain situations.

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#84

Post by kennywinker »

VLM wrote: post #46
unono wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By that standard few startups are 'important'. Twitter (sms on web), Facebook (another myspace), Microsoft (another OS). InstaToiletPaper is a pretty good startup if existed. When you run out of toilet paper you really want it quick. A drone could fly through a small window and it get it to you. You'd pay $10 for a single roll.

Pivot into the lucrative "out of condoms" market using the same hardware and business model to grow the startup. Presumably any drone that can fit thru a bathroom window can fly thru a bigger bedroom window.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/02/14/college-student-cre...

Already a thing (minus drones).

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#86

Post by einhverfr »

varelse wrote: post #4
lisper wrote: post #3

This is a three-year-old blog post about a three-year-old HN comment about a different three-year-old blog post. Just sayin'.

More proof that everything comes in threes. Just like the Ramans...

Or my theory on the etymology of Ramen

(La mian from Hokkien meaning hand-pulled noodles -> Ramyun in Korean being a loan word -> Ramen in Japanese, as borrowed from the Korean).

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#87

Post by einhverfr »

Lerc wrote: post #72

Continuing in the face of a stream of "Your idea sucks" presents quite a challenge. You can tell yourself that the best ideas and most successful ventures had similar detractors, but it doesn't always help. You are aware of your own project more than the casual observer. The weaknesses and hurdles to pass are more apparent to you, and you can't help wondering if the comments are insightful and your project really doe…

I would suggest a slightly different framework. Never say "turn back now." However, I try to divide my criticism into three groups:

1. Major show-stoppers need to be discussed and brought to light early on. The point is not to say "don't get started" but rather to say "do you have any idea what you are up against?" Having an idea is the first step to planning, and planning is mostly valuable for mapping out obstacles and potential solutions.

2. Once one is past the commitment and planning phase, I think it is fine to criticize implementation. The goal here is to bring up problems that might not need to be solved right away but need to be on the radar.

3. These need to be coupled with constructive support. Heavy criticism along with solid support is golden. Heavy criticism without solid support is like a lead weight.

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#88

Post by nutanc »

7Figures2Commas wrote: post #17

The 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…

Very valid point. That's why even in Hacker news we see a lot more items talking about frameworks instead of domain related topics.

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#89

Post by bayesianhorse »

nutanc wrote: post #88
7Figures2Commas wrote: post #17

The 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…

Very valid point. That's why even in Hacker news we see a lot more items talking about frameworks instead of domain related topics.

There are fewer frameworks than there are domains out there, so audience of hackernews tends to connect over frameworks rather than domains.

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#90

Post by 7Figures2Commas »

energyboy wrote: post #82
[deleted] wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

i agree and am also a big believer in the notion that your product usually needs to be 10x better to displace the competition. however, sometimes there is benefit in not being a "domain" expert. naivety can drive an entrepreneur to do what industry insiders have been conditioned to believe is impossible. while young entrepreneurs are inexperienced, their age also works to their advantage in certain situations.

> i agree and am also a big believer in the notion that your product usually needs to be 10x better to displace the competition.

Do you have any evidence whatsoever to back this notion up?

Without much effort, I can think of a lot of markets in which this isn't the case. One example: eDiscovery software for law firms. There are young companies gaining traction in this market and they're absolutely not "10x better" than the competition as far as technology, usability and overall sophistication go. Some are actually less robust than the competition but are able to compete on price alone because there isn't always a need for the Cadillac offerings.

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