Ask HN: We have a great team and capital but can't find a good idea

Though note that in that case the problems will mostly be techie problems - a useful way to find less crowded spaces is to ask people from different walks of life what their pain points are.

Disrupt Standardized Testing

We spend ~2 billion on standardized testing in the U.S.; however, perceived drawbacks in how these tests are structured and administered prevent more widespread adoption (though expansion would provide valuable data that is currently unavailable to front line educational staff). The need for standardized testing is largely predicated on a lack of trust in the assessments that classroom instructors are creating and administering, but these untrustworthy assessments are being created in the millions every year. It is a classic 'business that still uses filing cabinets' as the collective value of these materials is largely silo'ed within the binders/file cabinets/'05 Dell Inspiron of the teachers who made them.

Provide a platform that is structured around the creation and administration of assessments BUT the test contents are made available for use by other instructors. The value to the instructor centers on four attributes: immediacy, authenticity, accessibility, and personalization. Immediacy in that an assessment can be created simply by building an appropriate request (e.g. 'comprehension' 'to kill a mockingbird' 'grade 9' 'ten questions'). Authenticity in that this generative model pushes the instructor to rapidly curate their provided assessment elements as appropriate to their lessons (accepted questions remain, rejected questions are replaced: much faster than creating from scratch). Accessibility in that as instructors modify assessment elements (e.g. for an ELL student) those modifications become available to all instructors in the future. Personalization in that the platform could provide any number of assessments that the teacher distributes according to the needs of their individual students, this distribution could likewise be automated to react to past assessment results and further extend the teacher's capabilities.

At the metal, it's one sliver of a Content Management System paired with a Cognitive Tutor. You would need a process for vetting the validity of individual assessment elements, but the teacher curation may offer an initial path (as judging the validity of assessment items would be an implicit element of the workflow). On the back end, you would be in a place to sell assessment data to school districts that is poorly provided by current testing services. You could also sell certified results for higher education, talent identification, and so on. Further on, this platform would be well positioned to create a marketplace for educational content, games, and domain specific tools.

This is solid advice. Find people who aren't technically inclined but 'forced' to use the Internet to do something vital. They often have many things they would like automated.

First accept the fact that your team - despite their vaunted achievements in many areas - is not competent in ideation. Ideation is more than just pulling a rabbit (you've probably pulled one or two already, despite your collective lack of skill). It's akin to pulling a rabbit egg out of a hat, fertilizing it in a petri dish, and shepherding its development into a furry, scampering critter). It's a process of vision.

Your options are 1) develop this skill; 2) find someone who has. Weigh the effort and palatability of personal transformation vs setting aside the signal-detection machinery that has thus far excluded competent ideators from your circle.

My suggestion would be to run sprints (Check out the book "Sprints"). The process of validating a market via leads and/or customer feedback shifts your team from theorizing to exploring. One founder mentor of mine said it well, "all startups are inevitable narratives in reverse, with a confusing reality of constant reinventions on the way there." That's what your team needs practice in - being a team in the midst of uncertainty. As a captain of several startups I can tell you the art is in navigating with a team, not possessing the conviction yourself. You guys have the financial background so do what you do best: pull data from mattermark, angellist, and accelerator acceptance announcements. Make a list of concepts you like and run sprints. Pit your ideas against the ones you test. You'd be surprised how much faster you'll get on your third sprint vs your first. At your stage of learning competitors are irrelevant. Building something people want is all that matters.