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Startup Idea Generation

• edw519 18y ago
  "Thinking of an idea is the first step and also the one of the hardest parts of a startup." If you are isolated, maybe. But not if you are already among your customers. They have so many ideas, I can't keep up. And I come up with many more watching them struggle. They're the ones stuck with crappy software, trying to get stuff done every day. They always tell me, "If I only had this, then I could do that..." Because I'm already so close to my customers, my problem isn't coming up with ideas; it's deciding which ones to run with. Got technical skills but having trouble coming up with ideas? Get away from your terminal and out into the field. Problem solved.
  • dpapathanasiou 18y ago
    True, but you need to do a bit of filtering: clients tend to go on flights of fancy for things they say they want but would never pay for if you actually produced it for them.
    • meredydd 18y ago
      Granted - but the important point edw519 is getting at, I'd say, is that getting close to clients is a way of reducing the problem from thinking of an idea de novo to filtering out the good ones. I'd count that as a major win. Unfortunately, some of us don't have that luxury. In my current gig, I'm insulated from actual customers by a substantial distance and half a mile of extremely cautious beaurocracy. This is not conducive to customer sensitivity, to put it mildly.
      • edw519 18y ago
        "In my current gig, I'm insulated from actual customers..." Probably one of the many reasons this board is so popular. Hang in there.
    • edw519 18y ago
      Of course. After a while you get pretty good at filtering. And sometimes they come up with something a lot of others would pay for.