Live data from Hacker News

Where to find ideas

howtogrow.substack.com

21–30 of 47 posts

Re: Where to find ideas

#21

Look for societal, business or technology change. That is where NEW opportunity lies. Also, copy the best new ideas you see on hacker news, it’s far from guaranteed that the inventor is able to win the market, steal it.

Being a fast follower is very good approach.

Let someone else burn money educating users and building a market.

Tuck in behind them and then zoom past when they’ve exhausted themselves.

Cruel - but it works.

Re: Where to find ideas

#22

Some workplaces actually ask for new ideas in special must to attend meetings. But an idea is worthless as long as it's not implemented. That's why you can find free online resources sharing, for example, "70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025"

Suddenly my mind has gone blank…

Re: Where to find ideas

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steal away, ideas are cheap. Execution and distribution are the only two things that matter.

The Winklevii might disagree. The concept that execution matters, ideas don’t, is complete rubbish. If it was true, then you’d make a fortune executing extremely well on selling bags of dog poo. Ideas are absolutely crucial. Without a good idea you can execute away forever and get nowhere. And you’ll need a really great idea to make it huge. Sure you also need luck timing hard work execution but none of that is worth…

Everyone has ideas. Not everyone nails Timing + Execution + Distribution + Luck.

Re: Where to find ideas

#25

Some workplaces actually ask for new ideas in special must to attend meetings. But an idea is worthless as long as it's not implemented. That's why you can find free online resources sharing, for example, "70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025"

Suddenly my mind has gone blank…

Which is a problem. So...

Re: Where to find ideas

#27
I've written this many times before, but working in some industry will usually expose you to the various problems that need to be solved. Most of the startup founds I've met have either worked in tech, or as consultants, and have noticed some problem that has been sitting unsolved / products that suck / untapped markets. And it is not like you need to be a FAANG SWE or McKinsey consultant enjoy to that privilege.

Every time I've joined a new company, or been exposed to a new sector, I've almost immediately found some startup potential just sitting around. The more boring and entrenched the sector is, the more you find.

As a consumer, you are rarely exposed to the B2B world, or the inner workings of things. You are almost certainty limited to seeing things through consumer eyes, and thus it is easy to focus too much on the very saturated products / services.

Re: Where to find ideas

#28

Look for societal, business or technology change. That is where NEW opportunity lies. Also, copy the best new ideas you see on hacker news, it’s far from guaranteed that the inventor is able to win the market, steal it.

Being a fast follower is very good approach. Let someone else burn money educating users and building a market. Tuck in behind them and then zoom past when they’ve exhausted themselves. Cruel - but it works.

[deleted]

Re: Where to find ideas

#29

Look for societal, business or technology change. That is where NEW opportunity lies. Also, copy the best new ideas you see on hacker news, it’s far from guaranteed that the inventor is able to win the market, steal it.

If a market was not ready for an early solution, it may become ready years later, due to infrastructure, mature technology or the business environment. In that scenario, it's sometimes possible to recruit customers, employees and or even investors from earlier attempts to serve a market.

Re: Where to find ideas

#30
post #5

Good example of using ad hominem to discredit others in favour of your approach. Examples: - "The academic who hasn’t built anything, yet feels comfortable telling you to use their complicated startup framework to find and validate ideas." Presumably a dig at lean startup. - "A market need? An underserved niche? Demand? WTF do these things even mean?" Come on, these aren't that hard to define.

"We are looking for a person who has an unavoidable priority, where their current options are insufficient or unworkable. This person would be weird not to buy our product." So in other words, a market need or underserved niche.

I guess they mean you need to identify specific people, at a specific place and time, who are desperate for a solution to some problem.

They are desperate usually because it is a problem that affects their bottom line, prevents them completing a project at work, wastes an enormous amount of their time when doing something important to them, etc.

It must be a solution that, even when distilled to its very core, provides clear value to specific people you can identify. Just lighting on a vague market need or undeserved niche is not enough.

Not to say even purely passion projects can't succeed, but those are more hit-or-miss.

Post reply on HN