Struggling to come up with product ideas | Hacker News Reader

Struggling to come up with product ideas

6 pointslugg14 comments

Does anyone have any advice for someone who rarely has problems in their life? I generally make do with what I have and am generally a happy person. I dont need more, I dont really want for anything. (Other than much money of course)

How can someone like me come up with problems to solve when I myself have none?

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My guess is you're young and have had few jobs (if any), so business problems are out. Therefore, you are looking at consumer-focused products, and consumer products are typically of the vitamin variety rather than medication. I would probably look at your parents, siblings, and friends to see what they complain about.

Edit: Woops! I HN-stalked you and realized my assumption was horribly wrong. Sorry. I bet you solve problems in your life all the time using tools most people can't use (i.e. grep). Here's a problem you might solve: How to determine and deal with all the phones, tablets, computers, dvd players, and TVs on your home network 'dialing home' and pushing data you might or might not want pushed? In other words, a cheap firewall/IDS/IPS that is easy to use without overwhelming a laymen with things they don't understand.

I think it comes down to 'is this really the path you should choose?' an example. an owner of a car repair shop wants to hire a new mechanic. He's going to look for the natural/creative problem solver who can improvise and is really into mechanics. So if you are not always thinking about solutions or deep into some technology or industry and wondering how to make it better, more efficient, then why choose this path? (round peg in a square hole).

what are you really good at, or interested in? work hard at that. many ways to contribute in a startup than being the founder / idea man. In fact, it seems there are a fair share of tech startups whose engineers really helped the founders make the service/product marketable. without them it would have been just an idea.

I get where you're coming from, extremely valid advice, I'm certainly a square so to speak. I love solving problems, I love learning, I love coding. Solving problems and constant learning is precisely what got me into software development.

I feel I'm so entrenched with solutions to every problem I don't need anymore solutions. I need problems.

I think I need to go against my assumptions and do what many have said: start to focus on other people, start looking outward. Looking inward hasn't really helped anything.

I would suggest going out and having some adventures! If you don't have any problems, you probably aren't taking a lot of risk with your decision making. Get out in the world and experience things. Perhaps start by volunteering, this way you can help others AND see how others are struggling. It will help you to sympathize with others, and allow you to view the world in a more realistic sense...therefore helping you to identify problems that you could help solve!

That is... a really good idea. I think you're right on the money there, I take almost zero risk in everything I do, I've been working on it but not nearly as hard as I could.

Pick a really boring, antiquated industry. Think about how you can add glamour to said industry. Think about how you can redefine workflow, transactions, purchasing, sales, marketing, etc. Change the way business processes run. If the industry dictates everything, try and build something that gives the consumer greater power/choices.

Thanks, this resonates greatly with how I would like to tackle things, while I guess your advice falls under industry disruption, I think I like it more simply because it challenges status quo and that is me through and through.

Then it sounds like you know exactly what you need to do :) Go tackle the giants!

Your problem is your lack of problems. Build an app that adds empathy to a person they can understand the problems of other people. Make zillions.

Write an app that summarizes complaints from around the web and collates them into an organized list. That should help.

If you don't see a problem that needs solving, then don't make a product or service.

Perhaps you could offer something that doesn't solve a problem, but instead offers something nice that didn't exist before. Writing, art, comedy, and other things fall under that umbrella (one can make money off of these, though you have to be good).

Trying to find a problem in need of a solution just so you can develop a solution is nearly always a recipe for future failure and disappointment.

Stop focusing on yourself. Solve other people's problems.

Take a look at what problems others have in their lives.

Likewise take a look at what problems businesses have and come up with solutions.

You're looking the wrong way. It's not about you.

While thats correct, if I have a problem which needs solving it should be a lot easier to define the product, isn't that generally good advice.

Do you have any examples / tips on how to see problems in a world where you don't see many?

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