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arrrghhh this "find a niche" stuff again. what if I am a regular 9-5 engineer in a big company. where the hell am I finding those? By using random idea generato

arrrghhh this "find a niche" stuff again. what if I am a regular 9-5 engineer in a big company. where the hell am I finding those? By using random idea generator and getting "note taking add-in for excel for amputee ballerinas"? aw jeez, they dont have enough money, I must pivot to broker ballerinas

beaconstudios 5y ago
yeah, the "find a niche" advice falls flat without an addendum entitled "how to find a niche". I think fundamentally it comes from talking to people rather than theorising in a bubble, but unless you're already talking to people it's tricky to know how to begin.
- lewisjoe 5y ago
  pg has an excellent essay on how to fine niches or startup ideas in general. My thumbrule: 1. Pick a market that already has money-making companies. If you can beat them by price & quality, even after considering the first-mover advantage - go for it. 2. [From pg's essay] Just experiene more in life, with different people facing different kinds of problems from different sectors. That's a sure shot way to eventually run into a market with less competition.
omarhaneef 5y ago
I thought this was implicit: you find a problem you deal with on a daily basis. This is probably why there are so many more startups pitching development tools than, for instance, something to make the lives of truckers a little easier. If you work as a regular engineer, you must come across dozens of daily problems any of which are not properly solved by your current tools. Even simple things like following up consistently, or checking to see if someone responded to an email to a third party etc Addendum: In response to many comments, I should add that this method is not supposed to guarantee you a good idea, but is a source for ideas to filter, refine, develop or abandon.
- cvhashim 5y ago
  Here’s a midly annoying problem I’m currently facing with Slack. Getting annoyed of jumping between DM’s and channels where I end up losing track of a channel I may have needed open or was going through. I feel like having tabs in slack would fix this? Not sure if it makes sense for the app to have this feature but something I’ve been thinking about.
  - boredumb 5y ago
    I have the same problem and honestly just a 'recently used channel' history would solve it easily.
  - Ozzie_osman 5y ago
    Slack has a history button. It's not perfect but it does the basics of what you describe https://www.howtogeek.com/668154/how-to-quickly-access-your-recent-conversations-on-slack-for-desktop-and-web/ https://www.howtogeek.com/668154/how-to-quickly-access-your-...
  - philsnow 5y ago
    I cling to using Chrome's support for shortcuts-as-apps: go to whateverteam.slack.com, hamburger menu -> "More tools" -> "Create shortcut..." -> "[X] open as window". At least on Mac, it creates a .app in "$HOME/Applications/Chrome Apps" that works like any other app: it shows up in the cmd-tab switcher, you can open it with spotlight, etc. The best part (and the part relevant to your comment) is that this just opens a Chrome window and you can open (cmd-N) as many windows into the same slack team as you want, and it behaves like you expect a Mac app to behave: cmd-tab goes between teams and cmd-backtick goes between windows of a single team. I gather that there are some Mac apps or extensions or something that let you gather windows of _any_ app into tabs, so you could likely use one of those here to get tabs instead of windows. Supposedly Chrome is getting rid of support for Chrome Apps, I think that's what these things are called (?). If so, I'm going to be impacted when it finally goes away.
  - _jal 5y ago
    I encourage people to move to email. I know people hate it, but I'm serious. Threading suddenly works in a non-stupid way, search suddenly works, and you can manage your own windows.
hugs 5y ago
I used to be a "9-5 engineer in a big company". But I always loved playing with robots. It took me years to a) learn how to build robots (started as a self-taught weekend hobby), and b) find companies that want to buy robots I can make. Now my niche is making and selling robots to companies. (My specific niche is shoebox-sized robots for testing/automating touchscreen devices.) The "niche eureka moment" was when I realized the "hardware testing with robots" niche was very similar to my existing "software test automation" 9-5 big company job skill set (modulo electronics+mechanical skills). Unfortunately, my discovery and learning process also involved a good amount of luck and trying to describe it feels a lot like step #2 in the "How to draw an owl" meme. At some point, luck and hard work is involved, and there is no obvious playbook for your next step. However, if there is a chiton of money to be made in Excel add-ins for amputee ballerinas, and you know how to make add-ins, and you know how to find and talk to amputee ballerinas, it might not be a bad career move, though...
MangoCoffee 5y ago
>find a niche i don't believe it have to be a niche. lets look at Zoom, its in a saturated market with a lot of established products that already have all the Zoom's functions built in but hide under complex UI that no one know how it work or its there.
halfmatthalfcat 5y ago
You listen to people around you either in the same or different industry. Finding an idea is a lot more about listening then it is you coming up with something. Most of my projects have come from just listening to friends or families on their pain points (either in their jobs or life), evaluating the market around those problems and then taking action if it's a good idea.
foogazi 5y ago
> what if I am a… Why does advice have to apply to every scenario ? What if you are a paraguayan field worker and this is not actionable for you ? Anyways, I’d suggest you talk to others around you and see if you spot the pain points in their day
- artemonster 5y ago
  >Anyways, I’d suggest you talk to others around you and see if you spot the pain points in their day This is not a predictable tactic that would yield a viable SaaS idea, this is a gamble "go dive into the ocean, maybe you will find treasure"
  - panorama 5y ago
    This tactic is exactly how I found our idea. Of course you won't strike gold on the first person you talk to. Be smart about it, talk to people who work in an industry you would like to serve (doctors, lawyers, marketers, mechanics, etc.) and figure out the inefficiencies in their day to day life. It's not as hard as you've made it out to be.
  - dinkleberg 5y ago
    There is no predictability in starting a business. If we could easily predict the idea for the next big unicorn everyone would be going in on it. Starting a business is a gamble. If you don’t have some risk tolerance, starting a startup is not the right path.
  - yibg 5y ago
    Are you expecting a predictable formula for starting a successful business?
    - lazide 5y ago
      There are some folks selling some, only $499.95 up front, hah.
  - paxys 5y ago
yibg 5y ago
Then maybe you shouldn't do a startup? Not everyone can and should do a startup, lack of a good idea is probably a good reason.
ozim 5y ago
By going to product hunt and making exact copy of something. By lurking on HN and making a copy of one of "Show HN". Just pick something that seems interesting for you. Spend 2-3 years building it and marketing and if it works well you have it. If it does not work, start over again. Unless you want a sure money making product - then stick to your 9-5 job that is money making product you have for sure. Which is also like "find people that want something and build it for them" because that will be your next 9-5 job then.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

beaconstudios 5y ago

yeah, the "find a niche" advice falls flat without an addendum entitled "how to find a niche". I think fundamentally it comes from talking to people rather than theorising in a bubble, but unless you're already talking to people it's tricky to know how to begin.

lewisjoe 5y ago
pg has an excellent essay on how to fine niches or startup ideas in general. My thumbrule: 1. Pick a market that already has money-making companies. If you can beat them by price & quality, even after considering the first-mover advantage - go for it. 2. [From pg's essay] Just experiene more in life, with different people facing different kinds of problems from different sectors. That's a sure shot way to eventually run into a market with less competition.

omarhaneef 5y ago

I thought this was implicit: you find a problem you deal with on a daily basis. This is probably why there are so many more startups pitching development tools than, for instance, something to make the lives of truckers a little easier. If you work as a regular engineer, you must come across dozens of daily problems any of which are not properly solved by your current tools. Even simple things like following up consistently, or checking to see if someone responded to an email to a third party etc Addendum: In response to many comments, I should add that this method is not supposed to guarantee you a good idea, but is a source for ideas to filter, refine, develop or abandon.

cvhashim 5y ago
Here’s a midly annoying problem I’m currently facing with Slack. Getting annoyed of jumping between DM’s and channels where I end up losing track of a channel I may have needed open or was going through. I feel like having tabs in slack would fix this? Not sure if it makes sense for the app to have this feature but something I’ve been thinking about.
- boredumb 5y ago
  I have the same problem and honestly just a 'recently used channel' history would solve it easily.
- Ozzie_osman 5y ago
  Slack has a history button. It's not perfect but it does the basics of what you describe https://www.howtogeek.com/668154/how-to-quickly-access-your-recent-conversations-on-slack-for-desktop-and-web/ https://www.howtogeek.com/668154/how-to-quickly-access-your-...
- philsnow 5y ago
  I cling to using Chrome's support for shortcuts-as-apps: go to whateverteam.slack.com, hamburger menu -> "More tools" -> "Create shortcut..." -> "[X] open as window". At least on Mac, it creates a .app in "$HOME/Applications/Chrome Apps" that works like any other app: it shows up in the cmd-tab switcher, you can open it with spotlight, etc. The best part (and the part relevant to your comment) is that this just opens a Chrome window and you can open (cmd-N) as many windows into the same slack team as you want, and it behaves like you expect a Mac app to behave: cmd-tab goes between teams and cmd-backtick goes between windows of a single team. I gather that there are some Mac apps or extensions or something that let you gather windows of _any_ app into tabs, so you could likely use one of those here to get tabs instead of windows. Supposedly Chrome is getting rid of support for Chrome Apps, I think that's what these things are called (?). If so, I'm going to be impacted when it finally goes away.
- _jal 5y ago
  I encourage people to move to email. I know people hate it, but I'm serious. Threading suddenly works in a non-stupid way, search suddenly works, and you can manage your own windows.

hugs 5y ago

I used to be a "9-5 engineer in a big company". But I always loved playing with robots. It took me years to a) learn how to build robots (started as a self-taught weekend hobby), and b) find companies that want to buy robots I can make. Now my niche is making and selling robots to companies. (My specific niche is shoebox-sized robots for testing/automating touchscreen devices.) The "niche eureka moment" was when I realized the "hardware testing with robots" niche was very similar to my existing "software test automation" 9-5 big company job skill set (modulo electronics+mechanical skills). Unfortunately, my discovery and learning process also involved a good amount of luck and trying to describe it feels a lot like step #2 in the "How to draw an owl" meme. At some point, luck and hard work is involved, and there is no obvious playbook for your next step. However, if there is a chiton of money to be made in Excel add-ins for amputee ballerinas, and you know how to make add-ins, and you know how to find and talk to amputee ballerinas, it might not be a bad career move, though...

MangoCoffee 5y ago

>find a niche i don't believe it have to be a niche. lets look at Zoom, its in a saturated market with a lot of established products that already have all the Zoom's functions built in but hide under complex UI that no one know how it work or its there.

halfmatthalfcat 5y ago

You listen to people around you either in the same or different industry. Finding an idea is a lot more about listening then it is you coming up with something. Most of my projects have come from just listening to friends or families on their pain points (either in their jobs or life), evaluating the market around those problems and then taking action if it's a good idea.

foogazi 5y ago

> what if I am a… Why does advice have to apply to every scenario ? What if you are a paraguayan field worker and this is not actionable for you ? Anyways, I’d suggest you talk to others around you and see if you spot the pain points in their day

artemonster 5y ago
>Anyways, I’d suggest you talk to others around you and see if you spot the pain points in their day This is not a predictable tactic that would yield a viable SaaS idea, this is a gamble "go dive into the ocean, maybe you will find treasure"
- panorama 5y ago
  This tactic is exactly how I found our idea. Of course you won't strike gold on the first person you talk to. Be smart about it, talk to people who work in an industry you would like to serve (doctors, lawyers, marketers, mechanics, etc.) and figure out the inefficiencies in their day to day life. It's not as hard as you've made it out to be.
- dinkleberg 5y ago
  There is no predictability in starting a business. If we could easily predict the idea for the next big unicorn everyone would be going in on it. Starting a business is a gamble. If you don’t have some risk tolerance, starting a startup is not the right path.
- yibg 5y ago
  Are you expecting a predictable formula for starting a successful business?
  - lazide 5y ago
    There are some folks selling some, only $499.95 up front, hah.
- paxys 5y ago

yibg 5y ago

Then maybe you shouldn't do a startup? Not everyone can and should do a startup, lack of a good idea is probably a good reason.

ozim 5y ago

By going to product hunt and making exact copy of something. By lurking on HN and making a copy of one of "Show HN". Just pick something that seems interesting for you. Spend 2-3 years building it and marketing and if it works well you have it. If it does not work, start over again. Unless you want a sure money making product - then stick to your 9-5 job that is money making product you have for sure. Which is also like "find people that want something and build it for them" because that will be your next 9-5 job then.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]