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How to Get Startup Ideas

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to Get Startup Ideas

#161

Post by lifebeyondfife »

This has given me a little shot of confidence. I've just finished my first mini-site with potential revenue stream. From the few places I've marketed it thus far, not many have really "got" what problem I'm trying to solve. But it's a problem I genuinely have and am thrilled to have a solution to it. I just need to find the others who'd like to drink from the well.

(Well idea: as I've gotten older I no longer care to keep up on all music related media and there are too many bands I like releasing music I don't want to miss. I've made a service that allows you to keep track of releases from your favourite artists chronologically so you don't miss out on any.)

Re: How to Get Startup Ideas

#162

Post by nlh »

zalew wrote: post #39
nlh wrote: post #12

This is a spectacular essay. PG is dead-on correct here. In fact, one of the strongest reactions I had while reading it just now was "Shhh Paul, you're giving away the secret!" :) And this doesn't just apply to tech startups... The business I currently run (an exotic car rental company) started out precisely as described -- it was an idea I had to solve a problem I was facing (I wanted to rent a super-fancy car to dr…

> The business I currently run (an exotic car rental company) wow, it sounds like an awesome business. drop a link so I can take a look at those babies. //edit: got it http://www.gothamdreamcars.com/our-fleet.htm holy crap, nice collection (although I was hoping for some more diversity and vintages :)). If you don't mind me asking, I was always curious: who is the common clientele for these kind of services? People w…

Thanks! The answer I generally give to "who are your clients?" is "yes" -- it's so across the board that even I was surprised. The median client really varies on location -- in NY it's typically a guy heading out to the Hamptons or Jersey Shore for the weekend of fun, but it's also women looking for a fun gift, celebrities looking for better service (though, somewhat surprisingly, celebrities more frequently rent what we call "luxury" cars -- BMWs, Mercedes, Range Rover, vs what we call "exotic" cars -- Ferraris and Lamborghinis), and, yes, folks who own them at home and like to try something similar-but-different while on the road.

Re: How to Get Startup Ideas

#163

Post by ams6110 »

flipside wrote: post #108
mdda wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to be too adversarial, but what problem was incredibly painful to you? Couldn't choose a movie? Couldn't choose a suitable couples movie? Medical diagnostics, OTOH, could avoid a painpoint involving death - so that's an easier pitch.

See if you can follow this: Ratings are a form of feedback. Feedback helps people learn. Therefore, if we can build a better rating system that lets people share more and better feedback, then we can speed up learning and improve the flow and evolution of ideas. Also, this system wasn't designed for movies, it was designed for answers on Quora. Movies are just a better beachhead.

I think part of your problem might be that you are solving a problem that a small group of people have, and only a small group will ever have. Most people just aren't that into movies; they decide to see a movie (or not) based on the trailer; they view movies as a way to kill two hours or a pretty safe date activity. The number of people who really have a significant "pain point" in deciding what movies to see is pretty small and likely always will be.

Feel free to discount my opinion though, I haven't seen a movie in a theater in probably 5 years and basically think movies are a complete waste of time and money.

Re: How to Get Startup Ideas

#164

Post by rickdale »

flipside wrote: post #23
paulsutter wrote: post #8

After 20 years of entrepreneurship, of struggles and successes, of spending man years of that time thinking about startup ideas, and having learned so many lessons the hard way, I can say the following: pg's essays are so true and correct that I could practically cry. If enough people read these essays (especially this and the recent "growth" essay), it could materially boost the economy.

Reading essays like this drives me crazy. No, it's not because pg is wrong or I disagree with anything he's saying, it's because everything resonates with my startup (Tinj.co, interactive movie ratings) but after 1000+ pitches I still can't succinctly articulate how I know this. I could probably make a checklist for the criteria of great startup ideas (seems like a toy: check, personal problem: check, inspiration fro…

I am going to give my opinion just on a first impression analysis. You need to change the name of your startup. tinj.co? It has nothing to do with anything and inevitably you need to explain it with three words after stating your name, but my problem is your three words don't help define tinj.co. So I went to your website and I was like OK, tinj.co has to stand for something. But it just says a new way to rate. 5 stars is no good anymore. In conclusion, I am all for your idea, but your name its making me angry.

--note: I know nothing more than my rottweiler sitting next to me. The difference between me and most people is that I will tell you I know nothing. So just take the advice and do with it what you want.

Re: How to Get Startup Ideas

#165

Post by hiddenstage »

ivankirigin wrote: post #107
hiddenstage wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stock market investing isn't a zero sum game anymore than VC investing or even Y Combinator. Edit: OK, YC adds much more hands on value to businesses, but the investment aspect is exactly the same as it would be if you bought shares over the market.

options & futures are zero sum in the sense that any money gained is lost by someone else, correct?

Ehhh you get into meta when it comes to options and futures, but I would argue they still aren't zero sum. I mean, you could argue almost everything money wise can be looked at as zero sum.

If a VC buys a 10% stake in company ABC for $1 million the trade looks like:

VC: -$1,000,000, +10% equity (worth $1,000,000)

Net = $0

ABC: +$1,000,000, -10% equity (worth $1,000,000)

Net = $0

Now let's say ABC doubles their valuation. Now the trade looks like:

VC: -$1,000,000, +10% equity (worth $2,000,000)

Net = +$1,000,000

ABC: +$1,000,000, -10% equity (worth $2,000,000)

Net = -$1,000,000

Obviously the $1,000,000 helped ABC double their valuation, which means that the transaction was not zero sum. Same could be said about all investments and to a lesser extent, options and futures. You can't ignore the context of the trades such as using put options to hedge a long position, for example.

Re: How to Get Startup Ideas

#166

Post by polarix »

pg wrote: post #45
YuriNiyazov wrote: post #31

Getting advice from an essay by PG is like reading a description of a stock market strategy - by the time you read and assimilate it, everyone else has too, and that particular inefficiency has been eliminated. There will now be a lot more HN readers keeping diaries of all the things that they noticed were inefficient in their day, and they will come up with good, competing startup ideas. However, the founder that is…

Except unlike stock market investing, startups are not a zero sum game.

Well, unless one has yet to purchase real estate in the bay area.

Re: How to Get Startup Ideas

#167

Post by zalew »

nlh wrote: post #162
zalew wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The business I currently run (an exotic car rental company) wow, it sounds like an awesome business. drop a link so I can take a look at those babies. //edit: got it http://www.gothamdreamcars.com/our-fleet.htm holy crap, nice collection (although I was hoping for some more diversity and vintages :)). If you don't mind me asking, I was always curious: who is the common clientele for these kind of services? People w…

Thanks! The answer I generally give to "who are your clients?" is "yes" -- it's so across the board that even I was surprised. The median client really varies on location -- in NY it's typically a guy heading out to the Hamptons or Jersey Shore for the weekend of fun, but it's also women looking for a fun gift, celebrities looking for better service (though, somewhat surprisingly, celebrities more frequently rent wha…

tx for the answer. due to the price tag I always thought most of the people that afford it, can afford to buy one as well.

I guess you pay a lot of insurance. have you had any problems like 'spoiled kid rents a murcielago, wrecks on the first corner?' or some fun/weird stories? (needless to say the whole business of owning such cars must be fun :) maybe you could do an AMA on reddit)

Re: How to Get Startup Ideas

#168

Post by nanijoe »

nlh wrote: post #162
zalew wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The business I currently run (an exotic car rental company) wow, it sounds like an awesome business. drop a link so I can take a look at those babies. //edit: got it http://www.gothamdreamcars.com/our-fleet.htm holy crap, nice collection (although I was hoping for some more diversity and vintages :)). If you don't mind me asking, I was always curious: who is the common clientele for these kind of services? People w…

Thanks! The answer I generally give to "who are your clients?" is "yes" -- it's so across the board that even I was surprised. The median client really varies on location -- in NY it's typically a guy heading out to the Hamptons or Jersey Shore for the weekend of fun, but it's also women looking for a fun gift, celebrities looking for better service (though, somewhat surprisingly, celebrities more frequently rent wha…

Can you give us an HN discount? I've always wanted to rent one of your cars..

Re: How to Get Startup Ideas

#169

Post by chmike »

nadam wrote: post #139

"For example, a social network for pet owners. It doesn't sound obviously mistaken." It is not obvious so much that actually there are several social networks for pet owners with apparently hunderds of thousands (registered) users. There is one even in Hungary where I live (only 10million people live in Hungary), but here are some english sites also: http://webtrends.about.com/od/socialnetworks/tp/pet-social-n... Yes…

PG's analysis has a bias for Dropbox or Facebook like ideas which are true startups and VC's dream. Of course there is plenty of room between idea for startups and idea for minimum viable businesses.

Re: How to Get Startup Ideas

#170

Post by animal »

lifebeyondfife wrote: post #161

This has given me a little shot of confidence. I've just finished my first mini-site with potential revenue stream. From the few places I've marketed it thus far, not many have really "got" what problem I'm trying to solve. But it's a problem I genuinely have and am thrilled to have a solution to it. I just need to find the others who'd like to drink from the well. (Well idea: as I've gotten older I no longer care to…

This sounds like something I'd be interested in. Link?
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