Ask HN: Need some guidance to identify a startup idea
For the last couple of years, I have had this ambition and itch to do my own startup. To pursue that dream, I left a cushy 9-5 job on the east coast,uprooted my wife and moved to the bay area to join a startup as a Django engineer. Since I did not have any great ideas of my own, I decided to take the next best route possible - to join a startup, learn the ropes, network around and then do my own thing.
Its been almost an year now working at the startup and I feel that things are not that exciting at work as before. And the urge to do my own startup has become even more stronger than before. As with several other folks, startup ideas continue to pop up in my head incessantly.
What I am seeking is some guidance, some direction in terms of how do I go about finding a viable startup idea. The best answer to that would be 'scratch my own itch'. To answer that, I have made several attempts to scratch my own itch. I worked on several ideas:
1) Foodspotting idea - I was midway through coding, when I found that FoodSpotting had already launched successfully (I was way behind in terms of development). 2) Provide phone call support for pingdom alerts - found that pagerduty (YC company) already does this and does this well 3) Chatroulette for lunch - LetsLunch beat me to launch and execution.
I am looking for an idea that has a sustainable, viable business model. A geo / location / checkin / picture / group chat idea does not interest me since I dont use these services myself. Plus, I dont think that most of such services have a viable business model.
I've hit a major roadblock in terms of finding that next 'scratch my own itch' idea. I've even tried applying the lean startup model to a couple of ideas, but there didnt seem to exist a market for them.
Any pointers or suggestions that you can offer will be appreciated.