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Ask HN: Found cofounder, cant' find idea. What to do?

Has anyone been in this situation? How did you proceed?

PythonDeveloper 11y ago
You should have found an idea before a co-founder. Your co-founder should complement the direction of the business and bring what's missing in your personal skill set. First step now, is to figure our what each of your strengths is/are, and then create a list of potential ideas that spark each of you, then choose the one that (a) ignites you both, (b) has a realistic revenue model, and (c) can be built without the need for investor capital. Make sure you choose something that actually has customers you can get to, not something that has revenue potential when you say "If we can just get 1% of the population..." Lastly, enjoy the journey.
- a_lifters_life 11y ago
  They do complement my skillset. We did this list mentality to start, but after awhile had crossed off the ideas in each industry we both were excited about.
pavornyoh 11y ago
What do you mean "can't find idea"? If you didn't have an idea, why look for a co-founder? I hope you are not looking to start a startup just because you want to do one.
- a_lifters_life 11y ago
  We've spoken about several domain areas, but non seem viable to us yet.
  - pavornyoh 11y ago
    Then it is not yet time for a startup. Why do you want to start up? What is the underlying motivation for it?
    - a_lifters_life 11y ago
      To change something in a positive manner. A lesser, but still important thing to me is to pave my own way in this world.
      - pavornyoh 11y ago
        >To change something in a positive manner. Ok. What are you passionate about? What is your background now?
        a_lifters_life 11y ago
        A lot of different industries . My background is SE
PythonDeveloper 11y ago
Perhaps I can help you "find" some ideas... they come so easily if one is open to them... For example, Uber appears to be the end of the taxi business, but it opens up a whole market to developers. You have a beautiful imbalance now, all those taxi drivers and cab companies are heavily incentivized to compete with Uber or lose their companies/jobs. If there was (and there might be, idk) a platform that allowed all the cab companies to aggregate into an uber-Uber, there's a market for that with known customers. The only obvious issue I see is that in order to make this work, the cab companies would have to give up their fights to block Uber using municipal codes as they are now. Anywhere you have an imbalance, there's a potential market. The problem is, if you're not on the demand side, your product has the potential of a short lifespan unless it corrects the imbalance. Google did this with ads, Uber with rides, AirBnB with rooms, tinder with.. well, you know. Each of these markets had an unseen demand side which each of the companies exploited. Find an unfilled demand and fill it. It doesn't need to be huge, but if it's in the way of someone already moving there, you greatly increase your chances of being acquired.
- pavornyoh 11y ago
  >Perhaps I can help you "find" some ideas... they come so easily if one is open to them... The idea should not be a spur of the moment thing. It has be well researched, pros and cons analyzed etc. I am curious if the creator of the thread can elaborate on why the need for a startup. I am even more surprised he was able to find a co-founder without an idea.
  - PythonDeveloper 11y ago
    > The idea should not be a spur of the moment thing. Well, I agree and disagree. The initial "aha" spark for the idea can be spur of the moment, but typically when I get into idea generation mode, I jot them all down and then dive deeper when I leave the mode. > I am even more surprised he was able to find a co-founder without an idea. Agreed. It seems he has found a willing co-participant in a prospective venture, rather than a co-founder.
  - a_lifters_life 11y ago

Has anyone been in this situation? How did you proceed?

You should have found an idea before a co-founder. Your co-founder should complement the direction of the business and bring what's missing in your personal skill set. First step now, is to figure our what each of your strengths is/are, and then create a list of potential ideas that spark each of you, then choose the one that (a) ignites you both, (b) has a realistic revenue model, and (c) can be built without the need for investor capital. Make sure you choose something that actually has customers you can get to, not something that has revenue potential when you say "If we can just get 1% of the population..." Lastly, enjoy the journey.

a_lifters_life 11y ago
They do complement my skillset. We did this list mentality to start, but after awhile had crossed off the ideas in each industry we both were excited about.

pavornyoh 11y ago

What do you mean "can't find idea"? If you didn't have an idea, why look for a co-founder? I hope you are not looking to start a startup just because you want to do one.

a_lifters_life 11y ago
We've spoken about several domain areas, but non seem viable to us yet.
- pavornyoh 11y ago
  Then it is not yet time for a startup. Why do you want to start up? What is the underlying motivation for it?
  - a_lifters_life 11y ago
    To change something in a positive manner. A lesser, but still important thing to me is to pave my own way in this world.
    - pavornyoh 11y ago
      >To change something in a positive manner. Ok. What are you passionate about? What is your background now?
      - a_lifters_life 11y ago
        A lot of different industries . My background is SE

PythonDeveloper 11y ago

Perhaps I can help you "find" some ideas... they come so easily if one is open to them... For example, Uber appears to be the end of the taxi business, but it opens up a whole market to developers. You have a beautiful imbalance now, all those taxi drivers and cab companies are heavily incentivized to compete with Uber or lose their companies/jobs. If there was (and there might be, idk) a platform that allowed all the cab companies to aggregate into an uber-Uber, there's a market for that with known customers. The only obvious issue I see is that in order to make this work, the cab companies would have to give up their fights to block Uber using municipal codes as they are now. Anywhere you have an imbalance, there's a potential market. The problem is, if you're not on the demand side, your product has the potential of a short lifespan unless it corrects the imbalance. Google did this with ads, Uber with rides, AirBnB with rooms, tinder with.. well, you know. Each of these markets had an unseen demand side which each of the companies exploited. Find an unfilled demand and fill it. It doesn't need to be huge, but if it's in the way of someone already moving there, you greatly increase your chances of being acquired.

pavornyoh 11y ago
>Perhaps I can help you "find" some ideas... they come so easily if one is open to them... The idea should not be a spur of the moment thing. It has be well researched, pros and cons analyzed etc. I am curious if the creator of the thread can elaborate on why the need for a startup. I am even more surprised he was able to find a co-founder without an idea.
- PythonDeveloper 11y ago
  > The idea should not be a spur of the moment thing. Well, I agree and disagree. The initial "aha" spark for the idea can be spur of the moment, but typically when I get into idea generation mode, I jot them all down and then dive deeper when I leave the mode. > I am even more surprised he was able to find a co-founder without an idea. Agreed. It seems he has found a willing co-participant in a prospective venture, rather than a co-founder.
- a_lifters_life 11y ago