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How to Get Startup Ideas
231–239 of 239 posts
Re: How to Get Startup Ideas
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have four questions I'd like to ask you about your startup: 1. Does it help people address their fears? For example, are they afraid of not being heard? Or missing the next great movie? 2. Does it help people feel loved? For example, giving them an opportunity to warn people away from bad movies, or to offer unique insights? 3. Does it help people create or curate beauty? Movie ratings themselves are not very beaut…
Thanks for the questions. 1. A big reason more people don't rate movies is because it's unclear how or if it actually helps others (my vote doesn't matter syndrome) or themselves (black box recommendations). 2. Validation is a big motivator, seeing that others agree with you or trust your judgement is huge. 3. Funny you should mention curating beauty, individuals will be able to share and discover based on people tha…
"we're really building a system to efficiently share opinions and see what other people think."
This is exactly it - well said. And as you said, "movies are your beachhead".
All you need is why what you do is different and/or better (which is still not exactly clear, unless it's finding peers).
It's sometimes tough for engineers to be focused less on being precise in description, and more inspirational to goals. I have to work at it every day.
Re: How to Get Startup Ideas
#233I'm curious: where would Pinterest be on this graph? If Microsoft was for a few 1000 users, and if the best ideas are "organic," would Pinterest be bookmarking naturally "evolved" or did it pivot to a website for curation, sharing with like-minded individuals more recently [1]? It seems to me what's more important is tackling an emerging field (like Microsoft did) than a declining one (which some "organic" companies may do if they are too late into the game). Also, what do you guys think? Do the "sitcom ideas" have it easier with raising money, and finding their niche after?
[1] Read Ben's email here: http://spectralight.com/myblog/2012/11/09/the-secret-is-expo...
Re: How to Get Startup Ideas
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except unlike stock market investing, startups are not a zero sum game.
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.
The reason stock market is considered zero sum is not because it's literally zero sum. It's a well understood and highly competitive market, where most gains come from other players in the market.
Re: How to Get Startup Ideas
#235Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you explain, in one sentence, what it is that you're building that's different from existing movie ratings sites? Try this template: "it's like Rotten Tomatoes, except ..." It's like Rotten Tomatoes, except you rate on 3 axes instead of just 1. It's like Rotten Tomatoes, except you rate the movie by answering questions about what parts you liked. It's like Rotten Tomatoes, except your ratings are automatically po…
It's certain that the problem is me, and my poor communication skills, I never blame the audience. Describing what we're doing and illustrating the pain points aren't the same thing. How about this: Tinj is a rating system that lets people externalize opinions about movies in context so they can receive comprehensive recommendations. See? Told you I still suck at this. Here's a problem we're solving: Given that opini…
Hey man. I read your one sentence pitch and it left mr really confused. Writing this post to show you what confused me in case it's helpful in your fine tuning your pitch.
>How about this: Tinj is a rating system that lets people externalize opinions about movies in context so they can receive comprehensive recommendations.
What does "externalize opinions" mean? As someone who has never seen your service, I know what an opinion is, but "externalize" is a complex word with multiple nuanced meanings. As a prospective user I assume you mean "voice".
What does "in context" mean? Again, as a prospect I have zero idea what you mean by that, so I will assume you mean "on my site".
What does "receive comprehensive recommendations" mean? I guess it can be my FB friends (if I give another service access to mytriends list) or strangers or (worse) friends I have to make on your site before it brcomes useful. I'll assume "strangers or FB friends".
Put it together, and the pitch becomes (to me, a prospective user who had zero context about your srvice beyond this sentence and who you are trying to convince to visit your site): "Tinj is a rating system that lets people voice opinions about movies on the Tinj website so they can receive recommendations from strangers or FB friends.". This may be totally wrong, but it's the picture I got. To which as a user I say: "Big deal. I don't need this site when I have FB and RottenTomatoes."
I hope hearing some feedback from a stranger will help you refine your pitch.
Re: How to Get Startup Ideas
#236Getting 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…
we all many things, but most don't apply. Most of the knowledge is common sense but its really not very common.
Re: How to Get Startup Ideas
#237I'm surprised a great source of ideas hasn't been mentions: Google search suggestions. For example, try typing "build android apps" (don't hit Enter). Hundreds/thousands are looking for how to make apps with: no programming experience, or easily or with another language eg: python). Good market to be in!
Re: How to Get Startup Ideas
#238"..coming up with startup ideas is a question of seeing the obvious."
I got a wake-up call from my 5yr old that felt like this. He pointed up and said "look". I asked him "what is it?" ... "tree!". I bit my tongue humbled.
I wish to be able to see the "trees of ideas-in-waiting" like he does and not take the status quo for granted.
Re: How to Get Startup Ideas
#239"For example, a social network for pet owners. It doesn't sound obviously mistaken. Millions of people have pets." I once worked on a social network for dog owners. Not pet owners, dog owners. And not actually dog owners, but their dogs. A place for people to have a social network of ... dogs. But all the features made it an interesting enough project. The guy even came up with enough money to pay the web agency I wa…
Check www.poopur.com, a social network for pet owner and lover