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Comment by orasis | Hacker News Reader

I’m sincerely not trying to be mean, but it’s possible you were previously simply bad at entrepreneurship.

There is this dominant narrative that entrepreneurship is primarily about raw willpower and persistence despite the odds. As a 20+ year entrepreneur I do not believe this to be the case.

I believe the primary skill is observation. Yes, we need to try different ideas, but what really makes a product work is listening to the market and identifying opportunities to create value. You’re not fixed on a product/solution ahead of time, but are just paying attention to needs and how those needs intersect with our unique abilities to create value.

When this is working well, it looks like luck. Over time we develop multiple viable business options and we get to choose the very best ones. Instead of a slog, success comes relatively easy.

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> I believe the primary skill is observation

This. But you also need to be good at evaluating your ideas in the harshest light before executing them.

None of the ideas presented are unique or good enough (also not trying to be mean, just honest), the first thought that comes to mind with each is "Doesn't this already exists in some form, if so what's the USP? and is it strong enough"... That doesn't mean it's impossible to make something of them, but it will probably be incredibly difficult and not be worth your time, something that is a variation or combination of existing products is not usually a strong enough idea, and executing it is a punt. Equally, something that is entirely unique but there is little demand for will also be incredibly difficult to and not worth your time.

It sounds as though you made a lot of MVPs, but there is a stage before this which has a less tangible process: Minimum Viable Idea - trying out an idea even as an MVP has a cost (as you well know), and you cannot afford to try everything randomly.

The fact is that most people are not good at evaluating their own ideas - it's a learned skill - you need to move past the initial emotion of "I came up with this amazing idea", then evaluate it in an unbiased light regardless of who originated it, be completely detached from it and able to drop it as soon as you realise it has no legs (which most ideas don't). I'm kinda good at doing this (shooting down ideas), but, I absolutely suck at generating unique and executable business ideas... if you can do both, you will probably do great things... if not, maybe pair up with someone who has the things you lack.

Right, and that is totally okay. Maybe try going in with someone else for your next project. OP has the technical chops to deliver, doesn't mean they are good at solving problems that people want to pay money for.

Or maybe the products are indeed great, but your marketing is weak.

Either way, get help.

Yes, I have had a bit of entrepreneurial success. I started off contracting, but looked at the needs of my contracting customers and also their customers. After a while there were too many decent ideas to execute. I could choose the ones that appealed, get a purchase order that paid for development and then sell the developed product to other customers.

How did you go about getting purchase orders for products? My contracting work has always been on a time and materials basis. Have always felt it felt rude / awkward to offer the building of a product on different terms to the rest of the work I was doing, but it is something I'd like to try.

Good question!

I would just quote a fixed price to each prospect. Then they may come back with an hourly rate proposal….

But of course any company that sees your work as a part of their intellectual property will not be interested. So I could never do this if I was working on a product that the customer was going to sell.

Where I was able to charge a fixed price and own the IP was instrumentation software for Biotech companies. They were not interested in IP for obscure instruments. Also I found that small engineering companies who were struggling with their software capability would be very interested in a fixed price + royalty deal. Because they struggled to hire software talent.

So the key is to find customers with “non core” needs. Eg if they need a time tracking program they are unlikely to care who owns the IP. But if you are working on a search algorithm for a search engine company they will only employ you on a time and materials basis.

I guess so. Besides tech, I did not have any other skills to market my product. Since then, I have learnt a bit of Sales, cold out reach, marketing channels, distribution and a lot more. In my 20s my primary focus was to look and do something cool than think about selling the product.

I worked on a project with a big time art director from a big time ad firm. His go-to saying, “build it and they won’t come”. He was making the point that publicity is what makes a product. Of course I had to learn it the hard way a few more times after that.

I’d suggest reading “Traction”. Even if you are getting help with the publicity on your next venture, Traction describes a great framework for focusing your efforts and knowing when it’s time to swap out the old techniques for new ones.

Kudos for knowing how to take a feedback man, this is extremely important for entrepreneurs!

I'm in the hustle as well and one thing I noticed is that it's not uncommon for entrepreneurs to incorrectly evaluate the potential of an idea. I wouldn't have bet in a few of your projects in which you're were trying to jump on the bandwagon making something that already existed in the hopes that your implementation would be better than established ones.

I personally believe you've got to innovate to succeed, you've got to have an edge over your competitors, make something different, address a market need, solve a costumer pain. And most important of all, validate an idea before compromising to it, to make sure you don't end up a victim of wishful thinking.

For what it's worth your latest project seems innovative to me, a tool which I had never heard before, targeted at a niche market. Wish all the best and luck.

Saying you're a bad entrepreneur because OP isn't listening to the market is too harsh. Yes, OP does need to build products that already have a demand.

But, that's more of a lesson than a sign they're doomed as a "bad Entr" and should give up.

Having the energy to build something instead of just talking about it shows potential. Just start building with the market in mind first.

OP, I'd recommend some books from bootstrapped entrs to avoid making common mistakes in the future, since this is a pretty common one. Makebook.io and Zero to Sold are great, good luck on your journey. I believe you can do it!

Have you had multiple significant business successes?

Yes, and to the point where I no longer care about business success. I just continue to practice creating value for others.

Do you have suggestions on how to best observe in the age of covid?

Piggybacking: just seems OP more interested in success than identifying problems that stir their passion.

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