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Paul says: "Make something people want." I have read all his essays and especially like the one about million $ ideas. I want to make something people want, bu

by dawie 19y ago

Paul says: "Make something people want." I have read all his essays and especially like the one about million $ ideas. I want to make something people want, but I don't know what they want. How do I find out what people want? What do you want? and Paul anything you think people want?

pg 19y ago
Start with what you want. That's what Woz did, and Larry and Sergey. If you can't find an idea there, look for things friends and family want.
- dawie 19y ago
  Thanks for the advice Paul.
kyro 19y ago
Right, make something YOU want. Now, in every little thing I do in life, I experience really trivial daily struggles. These struggles are so common that to any ordinary person, they are hardly noticed. What I tend to do now is after everything I do, I just think about what I just did, and if I had any problems, or if there were aspects of what I did that could be made easier. This may not be the ideal approach, but I believe that soon I will land, or perhaps that I have already landed, on an issue that is not only exclusive to myself, but to many many others. This may not be an ideal method, but it keeps me on my toes and has made me extremely analytical of everyday situations. Making something that YOU want, in my opinion, carries a connection with your idea and a drive to pursue it far greater than one made to please others. However selfish this may sound, but every time I brainstorm about new ideas, I come first, and that's my litmus test of approval. If it's something I don't want, won't help me, or won't find interesting in any way, however interesting or helpful it may be to others, I scrap the idea. Brainstorm!
- dawie 19y ago
  Thanks kyro. You posted some good advice. I often try and be analytical too and I try and look at what problems companies are solving. For example, Facebook helps people stay in touch.
  - kyro 19y ago
    Be analytical of what you do daily. And if anything, you should be looking at problems that companies are NOT solving.
chmike 19y ago
A good rule of thumb is to look for things that save time and/or energy. The more saving, the more valuable your idea is to the users. The idea value, in the eye of the user, is the saving multiplied by its occurence. Big savings are eye catching and most probably covered by zillion startups. Small savings are more frequent but also often less obvious and eye catching. This is the heuristic I would use to find where to start searching for an idea. google search algorithm is in fact saving search time. This is where the value comes from. The advertisement is a smart way to leverage the value without restraining access. To detect these tasks with potential savings you have to scrutinize what you, or people around you, do on a daily basis. One example I am currently thinking of is typing on these cumbersome keyboards. There is something to do there, especially if pressure sensitive screens become available. Look at what it takes to type a message with a mobile phone. Painfull. Look at how big a keyboard has to be. Look at the blackberry success and the high value of an interface that would not require these littles keys wasting space you could use for viewing things (cf. iPhone). You won't wake up one morning shouting "eureka". This is something to experiment and explore as the people at Xerox did with smalltalk and their brilliant mouse and graphic interface. The keybord thing is is just to give an example of something people do every day without thinking of it and imagine that there might be a better way. This is where you can find gems and gold mines.

by dawie 19y ago

pg 19y ago

Start with what you want. That's what Woz did, and Larry and Sergey. If you can't find an idea there, look for things friends and family want.

dawie 19y ago
Thanks for the advice Paul.

kyro 19y ago

Right, make something YOU want. Now, in every little thing I do in life, I experience really trivial daily struggles. These struggles are so common that to any ordinary person, they are hardly noticed. What I tend to do now is after everything I do, I just think about what I just did, and if I had any problems, or if there were aspects of what I did that could be made easier. This may not be the ideal approach, but I believe that soon I will land, or perhaps that I have already landed, on an issue that is not only exclusive to myself, but to many many others. This may not be an ideal method, but it keeps me on my toes and has made me extremely analytical of everyday situations. Making something that YOU want, in my opinion, carries a connection with your idea and a drive to pursue it far greater than one made to please others. However selfish this may sound, but every time I brainstorm about new ideas, I come first, and that's my litmus test of approval. If it's something I don't want, won't help me, or won't find interesting in any way, however interesting or helpful it may be to others, I scrap the idea. Brainstorm!

dawie 19y ago
Thanks kyro. You posted some good advice. I often try and be analytical too and I try and look at what problems companies are solving. For example, Facebook helps people stay in touch.
- kyro 19y ago
  Be analytical of what you do daily. And if anything, you should be looking at problems that companies are NOT solving.

chmike 19y ago

A good rule of thumb is to look for things that save time and/or energy. The more saving, the more valuable your idea is to the users. The idea value, in the eye of the user, is the saving multiplied by its occurence. Big savings are eye catching and most probably covered by zillion startups. Small savings are more frequent but also often less obvious and eye catching. This is the heuristic I would use to find where to start searching for an idea. google search algorithm is in fact saving search time. This is where the value comes from. The advertisement is a smart way to leverage the value without restraining access. To detect these tasks with potential savings you have to scrutinize what you, or people around you, do on a daily basis. One example I am currently thinking of is typing on these cumbersome keyboards. There is something to do there, especially if pressure sensitive screens become available. Look at what it takes to type a message with a mobile phone. Painfull. Look at how big a keyboard has to be. Look at the blackberry success and the high value of an interface that would not require these littles keys wasting space you could use for viewing things (cf. iPhone). You won't wake up one morning shouting "eureka". This is something to experiment and explore as the people at Xerox did with smalltalk and their brilliant mouse and graphic interface. The keybord thing is is just to give an example of something people do every day without thinking of it and imagine that there might be a better way. This is where you can find gems and gold mines.