My First Million Dollar Idea (That Failed) | Hacker News Reader

My First Million Dollar Idea (That Failed)

brandonpaton.com

36 pointscj12 comments

January 2009 was the month in which I had my eureka moment too. Unlike you I still dont know whether it's going to work, but I can see my idea failing as well now. This time last year however, I was almost convinced I would be winning a Nobel Prize.

Seriously, I remember having sleepless nights back then, so full of excitement. I remember not wanting to take a plane for vacation, for fear of an accident and not being able to see my idea through. And I remember accidently copy-pasting my idea into Google, and being so mad at myself for having spilled the idea to a possible competitor.

I've always considered myself a very sceptical person, always questioning things and very down to earth... and yet for a long time I was so crazy and obsessed about this idea that I almost dropped out of uni (I have lost a year).

You said that many have probably gone through something similar, I don't know about that but if so, I would love to hear from them too. I enjoyed your post very much! Thanks!

Have you learned not to be so obsessive about your ideas from this?

I think that a certain level of obsession can actually be a good thing.

Sure, comes with the entrepreneurial territory.

However, getting mad because you fear a google query may have given away your idea, is pretty unhealthy.

Haha, I know right :)

Coming from someone else it sounds even more ridiculous.. so funny.

Well, yes of course I've learned from this. But it's still scary because like I said, I never knew I could be like that. Who knows what other things I still don't know about me.

Check out http://blog.fairsoftware.net/2009/03/11/the-great-startup-id...

This is exactly the "Ha ha!" moment that I describe.

Did anyone else pretty much guess the problem areas as they were reading? As soon as I read "users will insert the pre-roll into their own videos before uploading" my mind went "ruh-roh!"

I think it was a great learning experience and he wasn't out too much money, but this is why I think having mentors who you can trust won't steal your idea is the way to go.

I remember a conversation where I actually said "I don't think I would take 5 million dollars (for my first startup) if someone offered it to me today." Man, am I glad I didn't actually turn down a 5 million dollar offer. LOL

Sometimes these 'Ah-Ha!' moments just don't hold water on close examination.... and every other time, doing a close Google examination will show you that someone just implemented your idea two weeks ago!

Or at least that seems to be the story of my life...

Wait, why not just have your users upload videos to you, you automate the process of adding in a preroll, and then you upload this video to youtube on behalf of the user.

I don't know much about youtube, but this solution seems too easy for it to be applicable. Why not?

Wish I failed when i was in highschool. I had to wait till i got into the real world to have that honor.

Consider it money and time well spent. Knowledge is power.

This is a pretty smart and well adjusted 17 year old.

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