Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Idea Generation

blog.samaltman.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–146 of 146 posts

Re: Idea Generation

#141

Post by ezl »

aazaa wrote: post #43

> A good question to ask yourself early in the process of thinking about an idea is “could this be huge if it worked?” There are many good ideas in the world, but few of them have the inherent advantages that can make a startup massively successful. Most businesses don’t generate a valuable accumulating advantage as they scale. Think early about why an idea might have that property. It’s obvious for Facebook or Airbn…

I love this.

Just a few days ago I was reading an old thread on HN about "patio11's law" (The software economy is bigger than you think)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23162651

The comments are great and they talk about these non-venture companies that are quietly churning out 10s of millions or maybe 100s of millions of dollars.

Re: Idea Generation

#142

Post by magna7 »

pj_mukh wrote: post #86
godot wrote: post #24

> (By the way, it’s useful to get good at differentiating between real trends and fake trends. A key differentiator is if the new platform is used a lot by a small number of people, or used a little by a lot of people.) As a one-time founder, I feel embarrassed to have to ask this; but in the spirit of no-stupid-question and also that there's gotta be someone else wondering the same -- which one is the real trend and…

"Dapps were used a lot by a small number of people as of a few years ago (think the cryptokitties trend)," Genuine question, were they? I've yet to see any data on the FREQUENCY of usage of these dApps. There was certainly a lot of buzz.

I still use dapps almost every day

Re: Idea Generation

#143

Post by lance_klusener »

axegon_ wrote: post #17

I touched this subject in another discussion a few days ago briefly. Here is what I've learned over the years: People keep repeating that you should work on ideas that solve problems that you have yourself. Now given some time on your own, it's natural to start looking at your problems and seeing how to solve them for yourself and potentially others and make a profit along the way. If you want a sinister spin on this…

Thank you for writing this informative note.

Question - How do you discover the issues a business is having? Similar to the PDF issue that you describe above?

Re: Idea Generation

#144

Post by maxov »

holbue wrote: post #112
maxov wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, I think you're asking a good question! I think your interpretation is correct - a good sign for a platform is if it has a small base of passionate users who love the product. For some more context, the How to Start a Startup course is pretty good -- here is the lecture I think is most relevant: http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec06/ Any statement like this isn't going to apply in all cases, and you bri…

I see a lot of statements like this (also here in the comments), but is there actual any evidence behind those? Any research results, which has been replicated? If yes, it would be nice to see it together with such statements, to back them, because I have the feeling most of this is just anecdotical or ideas introduced by some kind of start-up gurus...

Yeah, I agree that these statements are not awfully scientific. I wish I had studies or references to back them up, but I’m not aware of something like that.

However, as others have pointed out, this was originally observed by pg and has become a staple of YC’s advice since then. I think it would be uncharitable to say this is just a hypothetical invented by startup gurus. YC has had a lot of startups pass through their doors, and more experience than almost anyone seeing why people succeed or fail. Their findings may not exactly be science, but I think their advice is as close as we can get right now.

Re: Idea Generation

#146

Post by axegon_ »

lance_klusener wrote: post #143
axegon_ wrote: post #17

I touched this subject in another discussion a few days ago briefly. Here is what I've learned over the years: People keep repeating that you should work on ideas that solve problems that you have yourself. Now given some time on your own, it's natural to start looking at your problems and seeing how to solve them for yourself and potentially others and make a profit along the way. If you want a sinister spin on this…

Thank you for writing this informative note. Question - How do you discover the issues a business is having? Similar to the PDF issue that you describe above?

That's a 3 million euro question, isn't it. Frankly I have no clue. And even though part of me wishes it did, it's not something anyone can do, even if given the chace. I wouldn't be able to look at someone in the eyes and ask for 3 million for something that your average 14 year old geek can mash up in a week. From what I saw, I'd argue the 14 year old would probably do a better job...
Post reply on HN