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How to Decide What to Build

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Re: How to Decide What to Build

#161

Post by ed »

adwn wrote: post #94
ed wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Find something new-ish (e.g. AI, cryptocurrencies), and learn as much as possible about that thing (like, build a toy version of it, get an intuitive understanding of its parts). Product ideas and applications will jump out at you. The kind of ideas you get when you're deliberately trying to come up with ideas, are always obvious and often startup cliches (like food delivery).

> AI, cryptocurrencies [...] The kind of ideas you get when you're deliberately trying to come up with ideas, are always obvious and often startup cliches (like food delivery). I would say that AI and cryptocurrencies are the startup clichés of today. Don't start with a solution in search of a problem. Instead, start with a problem, and see if you can find a solution. When comparing problem-solution pairs, discount t…

> I would say that AI and cryptocurrencies are the startup clichés of today.

To say they're cliche suggests we've exhausted all ideas in the space which we definitely have not.

Re: How to Decide What to Build

#163

Post by TipVFL »

I used to make ultra-low budget short films, and I feel like there's a lot of crossover between planning those projects and planning a product.

One lesson I learned: make a list of your assets and consider them when deciding on a project. Your assets include the things you own, the skills you have, and the resources of your network. By creating a project around these you can maximize your production value, and make a project that no one else could have made on your budget.

I recently realized that my love of rap, and my connections to the local community of rappers and hip hop producers, is a huge and unique asset in the software industry. I'm currently working on a product for rappers, that also serves as a platform for producers to make money and advertise themselves. My network has made it really easy to solicit feedback from both my target audience and my target content providers, and create mutually beneficial zero-cost licensing agreements.

So far, the response has been huge, lots of passionate support and interesting suggestions.

Re: How to Decide What to Build

#165

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

jen729w wrote: post #47
acconrad wrote: post #28

One of the points the author makes is that you should track the problems you have, and the ones that reoccur will be good signals to solve them. Does anyone else feel pretty content with what they have? Because this strategy I think Paul Graham has talked about in one of his essays for ideas. And to be honest, I do genuinely feel like I don't have much if anything to complain about, and so I can't really think of sta…

I feel like people - us, here, on this forum - sometimes think too big. Like, we have to invent the new Facebook or it’s not worth it. I think that can cripple our thinking. (Obviously I’m massively generalising. I’m not having a dig at anyone here.) I’ve realised recently that there’s good money to be made solving little problems. Not Zuckerberg money, but who wants that lifestyle. Ramen money. Example: my partner i…

This sort of problem is everywhere.

I can recall back in the old Business of Software forum on joelonsoftware when I pointed out that I was digging in my garden and came across a grub. Since I was thinking about the people who said they could never "think of business ideas" I wondered if there was software that had something to do with grubs and bugs. Less than a minute on google and I had pages of Pest Management Software.

The moral of the story was that if I could come up with software business ideas while digging in the dirt, it shouldn't be that hard to see opportunities all around.

Re: How to Decide What to Build

#166

Post by baddash »

andai wrote: post #164
baddash wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could you make such a confident and strong recommendation given the vague nature of keithnz's comment?

I originally wrote, "flip a coin", but then decided to go the extra mile.

So the way you were able to make a confident and strong recommendation, despite his vague comment, is by deciding to put in effort into a proper recommendation?

Well, isn't it obvious that you must have put in effort to deal with the vagueness of his comment? I already knew that. I wanted to know specifically what you did, the moves you made, in order to deal with the vagueness effectively in order to produce your strong recommendation.

Re: How to Decide What to Build

#167

Post by latexr »

greggman wrote: post #70

> validate your market how do you do this? Smartphones existed as PDAs for 10-20yrs before iPhone. If I had shown someone my Sony Clie and said "if I make this work with your finger instead of a stylus, simplify the UI, and charge you $80+ a month for service would you be interested?". except for a few geeks like myself the answer would have been "no, that stuff is for geeks" for most people and yet here we are 10 ye…

Maybe the problem is in how the questions are being formulated.

Netflix isn’t “do you want internet movies?”. That’s the technology, not the service. Netflix is “do you want immediate access to any movie, from the comfort of your home and for and for a low price?”. That, I believe, would have been intriguing ten years ago. Especially after they ask “how low is the price?” and you respond “cheaper than going to the movies”; “per viewing?”; “per month. Unlimited viewings of every movie”. Now that would have gotten their attention.

Similarly, I didn’t want your Sony CLIÉ then and I don’t want it now. “Make this work with your finger instead of a stylus” and “simplify the UI” are too abstract. We didn’t know we wanted those until the iPhone showed what they are. Granted, you want to ask people before wasting resources making something, but the appeal of the iPhone isn’t just that it did those things better, but that those better interactions opened the door for things we hadn’t yet envisioned. The success of the iPhone is not the device, but what the device allows you to do.

You’re asking about the “what”. You need to instead ask about the “why”. Only then think about the “how” and “what”. I highly recommend Simon Sinek’s “how great leaders inspire action”[1] to explain what that means. He also has a book, but I’d say you can skip it. The video has the gist.

[1]: https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_insp...

Re: How to Decide What to Build

#168

Post by pryelluw »

skariel123 wrote: post #126
pryelluw wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't normally talk about this, but here is what you are missing: Businesses that make (real) money revolve around one of two ideas: - They sell shovels - They are middlemen (middlepeople?) They sell shovels. This is stolen from the old saying that during the American gold rush the people who made the money were the ones selling shovels. Or facilitating others to go and do what they wanted (in this case, chase a wi…

if I build a gam then what is it as shovel? people will not makemoney out of it. I'm also not a middleman because there's just me and the end customer, I vuilt it from scratch. So who am I?!

No, you are a manufacturer. You are producing a product from raw materials with the goal of turning a profit. The issue with this model, when applied to digital products, is that the tolerance for execution is diminutive. A good idea for a game with great art and music can easily turn into a failure if some of the game mechanics are off (See no man's land). Video games are one of the hardest products to produce.

It's important to keep in mind that selling shovels and being a middleman are not the only options. There are certainly others. Its just that my exoeriences and studies have pointed to those two being the most profitable in the current cultural setting.

Re: How to Decide What to Build

#169

Post by pryelluw »

pythonaut_16 wrote: post #147
skariel123 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if I build a gam then what is it as shovel? people will not makemoney out of it. I'm also not a middleman because there's just me and the end customer, I vuilt it from scratch. So who am I?!

One of thousands of people entering into the highly competitive Indie Games market and hoping that you have the right combination of a desirable game and effective marketing that will get you enough sales that your time spent making the game is justified. Or in other words, a gambler. Your profit from the game relies on convincing people that your game is fun and worthwhile; two ill defined concepts that vary from pe…

You bring a up a good point. A poorly designed game might qualify as a gamble. However, there are ways to build games that have well grounded revenue predictions. Though those are hardly built by indies because they are not very innovative.

Re: How to Decide What to Build

#170

Post by dalore »

pryelluw wrote: post #168
skariel123 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if I build a gam then what is it as shovel? people will not makemoney out of it. I'm also not a middleman because there's just me and the end customer, I vuilt it from scratch. So who am I?!

No, you are a manufacturer. You are producing a product from raw materials with the goal of turning a profit. The issue with this model, when applied to digital products, is that the tolerance for execution is diminutive. A good idea for a game with great art and music can easily turn into a failure if some of the game mechanics are off (See no man's land). Video games are one of the hardest products to produce. It's…

And for games, becoming a middleman like Steam is where the profit is. They have less risk since they are just facilitating connecting game "manufacturers" to consumers. They aren't heavily invested in one game. If it's a flop there are others.
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