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

Setting luck aside, the most important step to success is the first one, project selection.

Currently, broadly the best projects are from (A) information technology or (B) biotech. Of course, some projects could be some of both. Why? Because (i) the basic technology has not yet been nearly fully exploited and (ii) earnings per dollar of opex can be fantastically high.

I prefer (A) information technology because the basic technology has been improving so much so quickly and because we can exploit applied math, old or original, heavily neglected by current information technology business. Why math? Because broadly we take in data, have computers manipulate it, and report the results. For more powerful manipulations, proceed with applied math likely with advanced pure/applied math prerequisites. Not many people are doing this, and this fact is part of the opportunity.

The computers are good at doing what we tell them to do, and the math tells us what to tell the computers to do.

Here I concentrate on information technology.

(1) Problem. Want to find a problem where the first good or a much better solution will be a "must have" for enough people and revenue per person to make a successful business.

(2) Solution. For the first good or much better solution, get some advantages, e.g., from some math. The advantages can be the key to the "first good" or "much better", that is, blow the doors off, knock the socks off, present and likely future competition. And the advantages can be secret sauce, proprietary intellectual property, with trade secret protection, and a technological barrier to entry, i.e., a "Buffett moat."

(3) Use the Internet to deliver the solution. The users can have mobile apps and/or Web browsers.

Okay, I've done (1)-(3). For the problem, currently there is no good solution, and the first good solution will be a "must have" for essentially everyone on the Internet in the world, smartphone to desktop, now and for at least decades to come.

For a fast, first-cut, round-number, back of the envelope, ballpark estimate, based on the above and some other solid, public financial data, the company should grow quickly to be worth $1 T.

Currently the production quality software is in alpha test. To the users, the solution is just a Web site with just a few, simple Web pages that are easy to use and load very quickly (400,000 bits per page with only old HTTP, HTML, and CSS and nearly no JavaScript).

I'm the solo founder, did all the work, and am 100% owner.

I have a long background in computing, especially for science and engineering, and a long background in business. My Ph.D. is in the applied math of stochastic optimal control from one of the world's best research universities.

The post goes sufficiently viral that it gains the attention someone within [large entity] who can actually do something about it. This is a terrible model. It's not really a model at all, it is the complete absence of any working model.

Make something that enables individuals to tell large entities that something needs to be done. Effectively turn input from many into a list of meaningful, actionable items that get delivered who have the capacity and desire to do something about it.