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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)

#131

Post by danh »

alex_c wrote: post #50
blhack wrote: post #40

I hope I don't come across as negative here, but I hate lists like this. Peopel are always raining on each others' ideas "Oh, what, you're going to make a myspace clone? Bahahahaha." (facebook) "Oh, what, you're going to make a facebook clone? Bahahahaha." (twitter) "Oh, what, you're going to make another dating website? Bahahahaha." (Okcupid, plentyoffish) "Oh, what, you're going to make another social bookmarking w…

Life is very, very short. Given the choice between not building anything at all and building a "Craigslist killer" that no one will use, I absolutely agree - go for it! Given the choice between building a cliche project and something a bit more off the beaten path - you may as well put a few extra days of thought into a project before you start, and come up with something unique (as long as you don't spend all your t…

> The problem with the ideas listed is that they're obvious

It is surprisingly difficult to tell if an idea seems obvious because it is just, well, bloody obvious, or because it is a really good one.

A surprising amount of great, original ideas seem obvious with the help of just a tiny bit of hindsight. Or foresight, for that matter.

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

#132

Post by praptak »

blhack wrote: post #40

I hope I don't come across as negative here, but I hate lists like this. Peopel are always raining on each others' ideas "Oh, what, you're going to make a myspace clone? Bahahahaha." (facebook) "Oh, what, you're going to make a facebook clone? Bahahahaha." (twitter) "Oh, what, you're going to make another dating website? Bahahahaha." (Okcupid, plentyoffish) "Oh, what, you're going to make another social bookmarking w…

[...] I find this sort of "don't even try this because it's a stupid idea and you're going to fail" attitude extremely harmful.

That's not what the author had in mind. In fact, it's explicitly written: "[...]or alternatively, that they are unsolved problems that someone, someday, somewhere, may actually come up with a variant that hits big."

So, it's rather "If you invest serious resources in that, you better know why exactly you're better than the gazillions other guys who had tried this." than "Don't try at all".

And yes, trying those ideas as a sort of training is a brilliant idea in itself.

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

#133

Post by danielhodgins »

rwhitman wrote: post #95

Amen. Definitely been sucked into and subsequently failed at Social Travel big time. I think that's a sexy one, there is an unsaid allure in it of being able to mix travel with running a startup. Such a crowded space, and most fail out the gate. Once you do the math you realize there is far more travel media out there than travelers, especially in a down economy. Anyone who loves to travel and wants to get out more,…

"Once you do the math you realize there is far more travel media out there than travelers, especially in a down economy".

I recently shut down my travel startup - a site that offered tours and excursions in many of the world's greatest cities.

Why? The VC-funded big boys have 2,000 affiliates and many thousands of inbound links to their site. This bumps them up in the organic rankings which sends more traffic to their site - enabling them to gather more conversion data. As conversions gradually increase, their product becomes more attractive to other affiliates, and more sign up, thus perpetuating a positive feedback loop.

Learned a ton during the process of building the company, and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

To all prospective founders out there - really do your homework and understand the competitive advantages held by the top competitors in your market - things that are very difficult, time consuming, and/or expensive to replicate!

For example, 37 Signals now has a passionate fan base of hundreds of thousands of people based on years of teaching and writing opinionated rants. Nearly impossible to replicate for a new startup trying to market simple project management software.

Also, realize that cute innovations and a great user experience might not overcome the massive reach held by existing companies.

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

#134

Post by didip »

mysteryleo wrote: post #109
blhack wrote: post #40

I hope I don't come across as negative here, but I hate lists like this. Peopel are always raining on each others' ideas "Oh, what, you're going to make a myspace clone? Bahahahaha." (facebook) "Oh, what, you're going to make a facebook clone? Bahahahaha." (twitter) "Oh, what, you're going to make another dating website? Bahahahaha." (Okcupid, plentyoffish) "Oh, what, you're going to make another social bookmarking w…

wow. that's really insightful. thanks for the post. I guess you're right, there is room for improvement, but . . . I wonder if the failure rate is higher, because those ideas are common, and everyone tries it. Yeah maybe the same number will succeed, but since everyone and their mom is doing it, it probably won't be you . . . dunno. Btw, a news site should be on the list too. Even I have one of those: http://tech.raw…

Yup, totally. I have one of those as well: http://cooln.es

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

#135

Post by JabavuAdams »

sedachv wrote: post #75
JabavuAdams wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> driverless cars Why not? Technologically, or socially?

It's hard . Just the technology is hard. It would be something on the scale of Federal Express to launch. I am glad Page/Brin/Schmidt are working on it. I can't see too many other people succeeding.

Oh, I see -- in the context of a startup.

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

#136

Post by alex_c »

danh wrote: post #131
alex_c wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Life is very, very short. Given the choice between not building anything at all and building a "Craigslist killer" that no one will use, I absolutely agree - go for it! Given the choice between building a cliche project and something a bit more off the beaten path - you may as well put a few extra days of thought into a project before you start, and come up with something unique (as long as you don't spend all your t…

> The problem with the ideas listed is that they're obvious It is surprisingly difficult to tell if an idea seems obvious because it is just, well, bloody obvious, or because it is a really good one. A surprising amount of great, original ideas seem obvious with the help of just a tiny bit of hindsight. Or foresight, for that matter.

If an idea seems obvious, and people keep failing at making that obvious idea work, then you better have a damn clear idea of why all those other people failed and what you'll do differently to succeed. That's usually the non-obvious part hidden under an obvious idea.

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

#139

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

stevenj wrote: post #43
pg wrote: post #13

It's true that such ideas tend to be magnets for sloppy thinking, but I think most if not all of them could be pulled off if done right.

Out of curiosity, what do you dislike or think can be done better with Craigslist? In other words, if you were going to build a Craigslist competitor what would you focus on doing differently?

Location: I live in a rural area and while CL has a section for my county (grouped with two others!), it's still flooded with ads from large cities 40 miles away.

Niche: CL for antiques, or used musical instruments, or used books or for special collectible classes of items

Jobs: specialized job types. CL for nannies or other household services: housecleaning, carpet cleaning, window washing, pet sitting etc.

Every time I use craigslist I'm overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I have to wade through to find the few items I care about.

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