Startup Ideas Generator | Hacker News Reader

Startup Ideas Generator

josephrocca.com

63 pointsPhilipA38 comments

This is hilarious. As a side note, I have a personal goal I've started using - never describe an idea by comparing it to an existing company. I think it triggers too many assumptions. If the person listening to your idea draws a connection then that is fine, but the premise of the idea should be original enough that it is better described on its own.

I have friends or co-workers describe ideas to me all of the time, and more often than not the description sounds like it came straight off this generator site.

I started a new project in December and all of last year I was talking about this thing I wanted to build with some friends. One of them eventually showed me something astonishingly similar but targeting a completely different demographic, really valuable experience.

These are really, really good ideas. My first one was:

"We're Tumblr for primary schools."

I guarantee nobody is doing that, and I guarantee you can make a $10 million business sharing primary school drawings with parents via a safe, tumblr-like interface parents can view on. This is a good idea.

my next one was:

"We're special sun glasses for Australians."

This is an instant win. It's a fanstaic idea. And with that kind of branding (Australian outback sunglasses) The whole world would buy one. I'm living in a temperate climate with 4 seasons - I'd wear them in the spring and summer for sure. Great idea.

the next one made me lose interest

"We're Groupon for WOW players."

since neither groupon nor WOW is buzzy enough right now. I won't look at any more.

They need to step up their game - it started off strong but then went legacy.

> They need to step up their game - it started off strong but then went legacy.

They didn't go anywhere... it's the world that moved forward. It just show how short-term and fad-like many startup ideas are, and how much timing plays an important role.

"We're Facebook for middle age people.". Isn't that just Facebook? At least that is what all young ones say - that it is used by middle-aged people

"We're crowdsourcing for coffee shops."

haha. Make a app where some stranger comes to wherever you are and makes you a cup of coffee.

Or takes a sip from your own cup

> We're Stack Exchange for mechanics.

So http://mechanics.stackexchange.com/? :)

"We're blacklist for priests."

OK, let's not go there...

"We are a subscription service for stolen goods"

Um....

"We're Google analytics for drug cartels"

mmm... not so bad idea. It seems more risky than others ventures but I bet it could be profitable from the beginning. I wonder about the MVP.

"We're Eventbrite for janitors."

As a former janitor, the market for this is massive... :D

"We're an urban transit system for annoying people" lol :D

Brilliantly illegal: "We're Kickstarter for widows"

"We're a first person shooter for ex-girlfriends."

Erm...

> We're a deal finder for drug cartels

not sure about this one yet

"We're a social marketing automation platform for landscape photographers."

This idea could work...

These are pretty good ideas.

I mean some are really out, but some are on the really doable side. Thank you for this.

On that note: Is there a site that suggests apis to use or combines multiple ones for ideas?

It's fun for a dozen or two clicks, and who knows what might come out of it. Nice job.

I'm done after "We're Etsy for ex-girlfriends."

Yup, quite fun: "We're a rich text editor for poor people."

"We're Groupon for viral infections." I'm all in on this.

"We are a recommendation engine for heavy drug users" http://i.imgur.com/9leJJgU.png

I think this could be addictive.

Conveniently a while back I created an API for naming a startup based on a keyword.

http://namrly.azurewebsites.net/api/Namrly/RelatedStartupNam...

Broken link... :)

Not broken, the API returns unstyled XML:

<string> Medicately </string>

Gotcha. Just used to stuff looking like that indicating a problem.

Relevant insight from Ozzy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfL50eABG3A

"We're Pinterest for Furries."

Dropbox for viral infections

"We're an subscription service for heavy drug users." :D

Perfect. A little H, a little Molly, and a different designer drug every month -- plus a handwritten note!

"We're a Paypal for poets."

Now thats something I can get behind.

We're GitHub for large families

We're Kickstarter for drug cartels

This is like... Poe's Law for Show HN post titles.

"We're Zendesk for ex-girlfriends"

That's funny

"We're special underwear for atheists."

Love it

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