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In my experience the best way to come across startup ideas is to work at a startup. There's an pretty awful irony to the situation of being strapped for cash, r

In my experience the best way to come across startup ideas is to work at a startup. There's an pretty awful irony to the situation of being strapped for cash, resources, and sleep. Just about all I see are problems that I'd love for someone to take my money and solve! Seriously. Just come sit by my desk with a notebook and scribble down what I'm doing anytime I curse at my computer. More practically... join a startup, or tickle people who are knee-deep in one for ideas.

polemic 14y ago
Not just startups, either! At any organisation you'll experience this if you have your mind open. The difference, I think (and from my own experience), is that at a start-up you are far more receptive to the opportunities. The other side of the coin is this: don't forget the value of domain knowledge. Sometimes you need to work in an industry for a bit to understand what's holding people back. Not every startup has to be the next big consumer product - there are (and have always been) a lot of people quietly doing very well for themselves servicing specific industry needs. (a gentle troll to some HN readers: Of course, that might involve building a "real" revenue driven business instead of hunting for a big close-out paycheck ;D)
davidw 14y ago
The risk with this is that you'll end up in too much of a 'loop', dealing with stuff of interest to other techies. One of the huge lessons I've learned from LiberWriter is how vast the world beyond "tech startups" is. If you can do something like that, or bingo cards, or whatever, that makes life easier for 'ordinary people', you'll get rave reviews. If you build something for other techies, you run some real risks that if it's good, someone will build an open source competitor, others will complain about how they could "build it in a weekend", and so on.

polemic 14y ago

Not just startups, either! At any organisation you'll experience this if you have your mind open. The difference, I think (and from my own experience), is that at a start-up you are far more receptive to the opportunities. The other side of the coin is this: don't forget the value of domain knowledge. Sometimes you need to work in an industry for a bit to understand what's holding people back. Not every startup has to be the next big consumer product - there are (and have always been) a lot of people quietly doing very well for themselves servicing specific industry needs. (a gentle troll to some HN readers: Of course, that might involve building a "real" revenue driven business instead of hunting for a big close-out paycheck ;D)

davidw 14y ago

The risk with this is that you'll end up in too much of a 'loop', dealing with stuff of interest to other techies. One of the huge lessons I've learned from LiberWriter is how vast the world beyond "tech startups" is. If you can do something like that, or bingo cards, or whatever, that makes life easier for 'ordinary people', you'll get rave reviews. If you build something for other techies, you run some real risks that if it's good, someone will build an open source competitor, others will complain about how they could "build it in a weekend", and so on.