Ask HN: How did you come up with your startup idea? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How did you come up with your startup idea?

11 pointsjeandenis10 comments

I am interested in the (non-)processes behind innovation and building a startup.

There is some overlap between the two (some startups are based on innovative ideas, others aren’t), but also a large disconnect -- execution, luck, connections, partners, geography, funding, and so on.

Ignoring the complexity behind the latter elements for now, I’d love to hear from HN readers how you came up with your startup or side-project idea.

Was it luck, conversations with peers and entrepreneurs, predicting a technology trend (how?), simply better technology...

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I’ll start. Basic process: Applying solution from one domain to another + luck.

When I was working as a corporate lawyer, I noticed that both our clients and we could be a lot better at capturing institutional memory. The problem wasn’t that we didn’t have systems in place (we had email search, a wiki, an up-to-date website, top-notch on-staff researchers, etc.), but that there were no incentives for those with knowledge to take half an hour out of their day to contribute this knowledge to the systems. With size, the non-processes that work for smaller firms (coffee break, knowing what everyone’s working on, etc.) were failing.

From /. to StackOverflow via HN, Foursquare, etc. there are many examples and templates of how to use karma and game-elements (e.g. badges) to incentivize contributions. Moreover, many of these elements should be compatible with the work environment as they would permit management to identify contributors (high-karma and badges) and domain experts (subject-area of contribution versus job-title). The incentive-element should be very strong: if management is on board, employees are on board (e.g., if karma matters as part of one’s work-review).

The second part in my process was to speak to future clients (management at mid-sized companies), users (lower-level employees who would use the system) and other entrepreneurs to gauge whether the problem was actually a need (i.e., would anyone be willing to pay for it).

That's an interesting idea. How's it working out?

Pretty well, but too early to tell. Closed-beta w/ 4 clients is very positive. Hoping to open up to public in ~4-6 weeks.

Some issues: - 40+ employee companies which would really benefit from information retention / formalizing institutional memory require a real sales effort and can be resistent to switch to our SaaS approach for information which may be sensitive/private - not as useful for companies < 12 employees or for companies where everyone is colocated (obviously) - search is tough; it's easy to do ok, but we need it to be very very good; definitely stretching brain - unsurprisingly, for companies that user yammer / 37signals / web services (2 of 4 clients), it's natural for employees to switch general questions from email to our platform, but for other two clients much tougher; unclear whether this is because of something cultural at the businesses or what - am not good at sales (yet...) - current implementation alone may not be enough to warrant use (i.e., might do well to be integrated with existing project management or CRM or other web services already in use)

I tried to stay with a MVP approach, but it's tough for a tinkerer like myself. I always want to add this or that and constantly have to force myself to stay simple. Big learning experience w/ that and with integrating user feedback from the get-go (balancing act between what's in my head, what client 1 wants and what client 2 wants -- opening up to larger audience earlier is probably better for MVP).

Reading widely (i.e. not just technology blogs/forums), being genuinely interested in what other people do and the problems they experience in doing such things, dissecting a problem to see whether it can be avoided or ameliorated, exploring existing attempts to do so, analysing their benefits and failings, developing an alternative approach to the problem, discussing this with people I trust who have different knowledge-bases (particularly if they have knowledge of this area), reflecting on whether it still seems like a good idea, doing some rough calculations about market size, pricing (or other monetization route), and feasibility given my own skills and network, concluding whether it is a good and implementable idea and, if so, getting to work and continuing to work long after the initial excitement wears off.

tl;dr: Assuming until proven otherwise that everyone has something to teach me about the world.

I doubly agree with reading widely (+outside of tech) and speaking with people with expertize in other domains.

The less-sexy the domain, the more opportunities for innovation. Too many (very smart) people out there looking at consumer internet and tech.

Three ways: 1) I see something I like and want it done better. 2) Randomly, enters my head. Like connecting stuff. This happens alot when I walk. 3) Observing a need 4) Testing out a new theory :D(I should stop doing these they are unprofitable) ------ You should try to observe yourself when you are creative and what you do. That's how I found out, that creativity is anchored for me when walking[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning].

One project I am working on is the reimplementation of some old software I wrote 8 years ago. It worked very well but had some conceptual problems and got very bloated. New version offers more or less the same, but in a more modern way using modern standards and fixing some old problems. I had the idea to do this out of frustration about the old code and that we had no nice way to build custom systems. So I wrote a prototype that covers most features of the old system. Prayed to the flying spaghetti monster that my old client would love the idea and give me some cash for development and to provide me with his sales infrastructure in exchange for shares. Everything went well. :)

The other project I am working on is a mix of existing technologies with very domain specific features for a very targeted niche. The idea came up because I wanted my girlfriend to quit her job and work together with me. (solid relationship since 10 years; we already worked together) So we started brainstorming about how to combine my IT skills with her knowledge about the specific niche to make something that could help people do their job better. The initial idea has nearly nothing to do with our current product, but lead to discussions with our target group and more ideas about how to make something nice.

In one case I know, the founders wanted the company they were working with, solve/improve their product using a new way of solving a problem. The company management didn't think the idea would work. The founders had enough courage to prove they were right, pitched in many, many hours to build a prototype and demo, convinced a few seed investors and VCs for small amount of money, and they were right. They then picked up enough market share for the competitors of the original company to take notice, and acquire them. You may find this path very common.

It's really like sowing seeds and waiting for it grow mature. You will get some weeds, but that's part of the process.

For example, I would consider some ideas and just when it's getting so good, I stop thinking about it to leave on a high note. This usually happens when you least expect it at places such as the shower or during freeway hypnosis.

People at a company complaining about how existing software didn't do what they want.

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