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I currently make 100% of my family's income from side projects that expanded into full time gigs. A lot of people will answer "solve a real-world problem and a

I currently make 100% of my family's income from side projects that expanded into full time gigs. A lot of people will answer "solve a real-world problem and alleviate your customers' pain points", but I've seen so many people interpret this in the most bizarre ways possible, go down ridiculously dumb paths and fall flat on their arse. To be brutally honest, if you're asking how to find a product idea on HN, I don't think you'll be successful. Good business ideas jump out at you screaming, and you'll just stumble across them from time to time. Trying to artificially/rationally force this process pretty much guarantees failure. There are people that glorify failure too, as some kind of "learning exercise", but I think for most it's genuinely painful, can waste years of your life, make you bitter and destroy relationships.

stanmancan 4y ago
I think more people have these ideas than they realize, but it’s the failure to act that holds them back. Just because there are competitors doesn’t mean there’s no room for you. Don’t look for reasons not to give it a shot. Don’t tell anyone about it. There’s a lot of psychology trickery going on when you share your idea with people. Either they shit on the idea and you lose incentive to work on it, or the praise you and your brain takes that dopamine rush and considers the job over. Don’t tell anyone, just get to work.
- traviswingo 4y ago
  I can’t agree more with the tip to never tell anyone your plans. That dopamine rush you get by discussing ideas with others quite literally is enough to never actually start anything.
  - musingsole 4y ago
    Some bars and restaurants make most of their income off such conversations
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- bcrosby95 4y ago
  Competitors are great, and how our company picks many of its projects. Lots of stuff out there has serious deficiencies, especially when it comes to UX. A not insignificant number of our projects started because someone thought some app or website was more convoluted and difficult to use than it should be.
- mk89 4y ago
  Yes, I would like to stress out that it's VERY likely that there are competitors. I believe nearly everything has been already created, and the idea of finding a niche market doesn't necessarily mean to innovate and do something nobody ever ever did, but it's more about offering another perspective of it -> simplification? Modern UI? Same business problem but different solution? We're almost 8 billion people. If even just a half/quarter of them has a phone or a computer, you can't not find 100 freaking human beings that like what you built. I am proudly building something in my free time that was probably made over and over, but always without something that I need. Or I have ideas on how such apps could improve, and I have the skill to do it myself, so... Plus the pleasure of learning new things in your free time, why not. Worst case scenario, you can still use your own app.
  - nowherebeen 4y ago
    Even Amazon had competitors when it started. Although it was the first online bookstore, they were competing with physical bookstores. Same for Google, Netflix, and Facebook.
    - mk89 4y ago
      Yeah, but for some reason, maybe just "luck" (in the sense of "fortune"), I was always surrounded by people who google your idea and say "look at this, xyz is also doing it" which can be extremely demotivating.
      - nowherebeen 4y ago
        That would be motivating for me. It’s validation that your idea isn’t bad. If someone is else independently thought of it, then there must be reason for it. First-to-market is overvalued. You want others to make mistakes so you can draft behind them and take over.
      - stanmancan 4y ago
        Which is why it’s important that you don’t share it until you have some momentum. Then once you do just realize that many people naturally look for reasons not to put in the work, instead of the opposite. Fear of failure? Fear of wasting their time? Fear of finding out they don’t have what it takes? That it’s not all dumb luck? Who knows. Either way; just keep trucking along.
- gamerDude 4y ago
  If you don't tell anyone about your idea, how will you get customers? Tell everyone about your idea. But you have to silo people's feedback. Do they have enough knowledge to actually tell you if the idea is good or bad? Are they a potential customer? If they are a potential customer and they like it, are they willing to pay for it? If they are a potential customer and don't like it, why not? What would need to change about it for them to pay for it? Build stuff for the people who will pay you for it and then you'll have a side hustle.
  - stanmancan 4y ago
    Clearly at some point you’ll have to share it but the point is to get building and at least get an MVP out first. If you have the mental fortitude to press on after having your idea praised or put down then that’s fantastic but realize you’re an anomaly.
- ashrafulla 4y ago
  Kind of funny about that last bit of advice, as that is the opposite of the advice for other creative endeavours. In https://savethecat.com/ https://savethecat.com/ the book talks about telling your story ideas to everyone so that your creative juices get excited. I do think you're right about tech. Try it yourself, build it out, have some fun, be a dork. Then tell people.
warent 4y ago
This whole comment comes across as "you either got it, or you don't. it's something you're born with." Not sure if that was your intent but I just want to make it crystal clear that that's completely untrue. Building good businesses and identifying profitable ideas is a skill that can be learned. > Good business ideas jump out at you screaming Explaining this would be a good place to start. We shouldn't conflate our ineffectiveness at teaching as other people's inability to learn.
- nonethewiser 4y ago
  I think there is some truth in it though. I think he's driving at the fact that good ideas tend to be _found_ as opposed to _generated_. Sitting down to brainstorm ideas is a lot less likely to lead to a good idea than listening over a longer period of time.
  - mud_dauber 4y ago
    Agreed. I've occasionally tried using frameworks to generate ideas - none of which passed my sniff test. The really good ones come in the shower, so to speak.
- AussieWog93 4y ago
  Honestly, with all skills there are people who naturally "get it" and those that naturally don't. Doesn't matter if it's programming, sports or entrepreneurship. The reason I left a discouraging comment is that, unlike the other examples, people in certain communities (including here!) have a weird tendency where they feel they must become a successful entrepreneur or they've failed in life. This is especially bad because businesses started because the founder wants to be an entrepreneur (as opposed to those businesses where the founder has organically come across a real problem to solve/gap in the market) tend to fail in the most awkward ways possible. We glorify this failure as "real world education", but every time I've seen someone go through this before and it genuinely breaks them. >Explaining this would be a good place to start. We shouldn't conflate our ineffectiveness at teaching as other people's inability to learn. Cheeky comment aside, what I meant by this is that most good ideas aren't generated by a logical process but instead by (often viscerally) observing something that makes you go "WTF". Thoughts like "Why does existing product x suck so much?" or "Why is it so hard/expensive to do simple thing x?" or "Why do customer base x pay so much for this dead basic product?" are good launch points for a profitable business, whereas "what would a product look like that makes life easier for niche segment x"[1] generally isn't. The former are more reactions that "jump out" as you as you do other things, whereas the latter is a sit-down task that you work through. [1] Of course, questions like these have their place, but not when you're creating the initial idea.
yieldcrv 4y ago
I‘ve forced business ideas multiple times for 7 figures multiple times My philosophy is a tweak in that it should take months of your life and not years Rapidly iterate ideas until you have one that fits the criteria Never get married to a position, that applies to the shares you created at a zero cost basis too.

stanmancan 4y ago

I think more people have these ideas than they realize, but it’s the failure to act that holds them back. Just because there are competitors doesn’t mean there’s no room for you. Don’t look for reasons not to give it a shot. Don’t tell anyone about it. There’s a lot of psychology trickery going on when you share your idea with people. Either they shit on the idea and you lose incentive to work on it, or the praise you and your brain takes that dopamine rush and considers the job over. Don’t tell anyone, just get to work.

traviswingo 4y ago
I can’t agree more with the tip to never tell anyone your plans. That dopamine rush you get by discussing ideas with others quite literally is enough to never actually start anything.
- musingsole 4y ago
  Some bars and restaurants make most of their income off such conversations
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
bcrosby95 4y ago
Competitors are great, and how our company picks many of its projects. Lots of stuff out there has serious deficiencies, especially when it comes to UX. A not insignificant number of our projects started because someone thought some app or website was more convoluted and difficult to use than it should be.
mk89 4y ago
Yes, I would like to stress out that it's VERY likely that there are competitors. I believe nearly everything has been already created, and the idea of finding a niche market doesn't necessarily mean to innovate and do something nobody ever ever did, but it's more about offering another perspective of it -> simplification? Modern UI? Same business problem but different solution? We're almost 8 billion people. If even just a half/quarter of them has a phone or a computer, you can't not find 100 freaking human beings that like what you built. I am proudly building something in my free time that was probably made over and over, but always without something that I need. Or I have ideas on how such apps could improve, and I have the skill to do it myself, so... Plus the pleasure of learning new things in your free time, why not. Worst case scenario, you can still use your own app.
- nowherebeen 4y ago
  Even Amazon had competitors when it started. Although it was the first online bookstore, they were competing with physical bookstores. Same for Google, Netflix, and Facebook.
  - mk89 4y ago
    Yeah, but for some reason, maybe just "luck" (in the sense of "fortune"), I was always surrounded by people who google your idea and say "look at this, xyz is also doing it" which can be extremely demotivating.
    - nowherebeen 4y ago
      That would be motivating for me. It’s validation that your idea isn’t bad. If someone is else independently thought of it, then there must be reason for it. First-to-market is overvalued. You want others to make mistakes so you can draft behind them and take over.
    - stanmancan 4y ago
      Which is why it’s important that you don’t share it until you have some momentum. Then once you do just realize that many people naturally look for reasons not to put in the work, instead of the opposite. Fear of failure? Fear of wasting their time? Fear of finding out they don’t have what it takes? That it’s not all dumb luck? Who knows. Either way; just keep trucking along.
gamerDude 4y ago
If you don't tell anyone about your idea, how will you get customers? Tell everyone about your idea. But you have to silo people's feedback. Do they have enough knowledge to actually tell you if the idea is good or bad? Are they a potential customer? If they are a potential customer and they like it, are they willing to pay for it? If they are a potential customer and don't like it, why not? What would need to change about it for them to pay for it? Build stuff for the people who will pay you for it and then you'll have a side hustle.
- stanmancan 4y ago
  Clearly at some point you’ll have to share it but the point is to get building and at least get an MVP out first. If you have the mental fortitude to press on after having your idea praised or put down then that’s fantastic but realize you’re an anomaly.
ashrafulla 4y ago
Kind of funny about that last bit of advice, as that is the opposite of the advice for other creative endeavours. In https://savethecat.com/ https://savethecat.com/ the book talks about telling your story ideas to everyone so that your creative juices get excited. I do think you're right about tech. Try it yourself, build it out, have some fun, be a dork. Then tell people.

warent 4y ago

This whole comment comes across as "you either got it, or you don't. it's something you're born with." Not sure if that was your intent but I just want to make it crystal clear that that's completely untrue. Building good businesses and identifying profitable ideas is a skill that can be learned. > Good business ideas jump out at you screaming Explaining this would be a good place to start. We shouldn't conflate our ineffectiveness at teaching as other people's inability to learn.

nonethewiser 4y ago
I think there is some truth in it though. I think he's driving at the fact that good ideas tend to be _found_ as opposed to _generated_. Sitting down to brainstorm ideas is a lot less likely to lead to a good idea than listening over a longer period of time.
- mud_dauber 4y ago
  Agreed. I've occasionally tried using frameworks to generate ideas - none of which passed my sniff test. The really good ones come in the shower, so to speak.
AussieWog93 4y ago
Honestly, with all skills there are people who naturally "get it" and those that naturally don't. Doesn't matter if it's programming, sports or entrepreneurship. The reason I left a discouraging comment is that, unlike the other examples, people in certain communities (including here!) have a weird tendency where they feel they must become a successful entrepreneur or they've failed in life. This is especially bad because businesses started because the founder wants to be an entrepreneur (as opposed to those businesses where the founder has organically come across a real problem to solve/gap in the market) tend to fail in the most awkward ways possible. We glorify this failure as "real world education", but every time I've seen someone go through this before and it genuinely breaks them. >Explaining this would be a good place to start. We shouldn't conflate our ineffectiveness at teaching as other people's inability to learn. Cheeky comment aside, what I meant by this is that most good ideas aren't generated by a logical process but instead by (often viscerally) observing something that makes you go "WTF". Thoughts like "Why does existing product x suck so much?" or "Why is it so hard/expensive to do simple thing x?" or "Why do customer base x pay so much for this dead basic product?" are good launch points for a profitable business, whereas "what would a product look like that makes life easier for niche segment x"[1] generally isn't. The former are more reactions that "jump out" as you as you do other things, whereas the latter is a sit-down task that you work through. [1] Of course, questions like these have their place, but not when you're creating the initial idea.

yieldcrv 4y ago

I‘ve forced business ideas multiple times for 7 figures multiple times My philosophy is a tweak in that it should take months of your life and not years Rapidly iterate ideas until you have one that fits the criteria Never get married to a position, that applies to the shares you created at a zero cost basis too.