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> What advice do you have for aspiring inventors? > Giertz: Make things that you want. Few things make me so cynical as a successful entertainer doling out "d

> What advice do you have for aspiring inventors? > Giertz: Make things that you want. Few things make me so cynical as a successful entertainer doling out "do what you love" advice. It's what the audience wants to hear, but your life isn't going to work out like that of your celebrity friend.

xyzzy_plugh 2y ago
Weird, it doesn't look like "do what you love" to me. It looks like "make things that you want." My read of it is such that the "make things other people want" part is implied. The bar is much higher when you're making something you wouldn't personally use. It's certainly possible, and occasionally profitable, to do just that, but boy are things easier if you're solving a problem you happen to also have.
- eesmith 2y ago
  I agree that interpretation is weird. It much closer to Hewlett's view (of Hewlett-Packard fame) that "if the engineer at the next bench liked it and thought it would make his job easier, then it was worth doing." (quoting https://hpmuseum.org/hp35.htm https://hpmuseum.org/hp35.htm )
cma 2y ago
Isn't this roughly the same advice as Paul Graham? https://www.paulgraham.com/startupideas.html https://www.paulgraham.com/startupideas.html
- amoshebb 2y ago
  I think there’s an appreciable gap between how applicable to the masses “if you have a niche but expensive problem, fix it, others may be excited to solve it with money” and “just sell $500 arduino advent calendars. when you’re famous you can raise half a million dollars on a 6 month waitlist for $200 wire coat hangers” is
  - kadoban 2y ago
    I don't know about the advent calendar, but the coathangers are definitely solving a niche problem, seems reasonably applicable.
ztratar 2y ago
But annoyingly sometimes this is great advice. It's not that dissimilar to YC's make something people want, but it relies on you having taste/needs/wants that are an addressable market. Which is sometimes true.
boxed 2y ago
What is the alternative?
- rectang 2y ago
  Acknowledge the difficulty and sacrifice needed to follow the path of self-oriented creativity, and that most people do not have the resources to pursue it. However, that advice doesn't please the audience, so few entertainers will give it.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - boxed 2y ago
    That was a totally different statement, unrelated to the question as far as I can tell. I don't see how "build something you want" is different from basically how 99% of businesses start.
- AStonesThrow 2y ago
  I mean, a successful business would produce items that other people want, rather than what the founder/employees want. Sure, if a founder would appreciate and use the item that they make, that's really a good indicator, but it's not your personal plaything, it's a profit-making business, so the primary objective should be making useful things that people will purchase, regardless of the tastes of the founders/employees, yes? That being said, I've enjoyed Simone's wit and creativity for several years. I tuned in after one of my friends mentioned her, and she's been tenacious throughout her personal health journey and the vagaries of making ridiculous stuff on-camera. I feel like it's great that she's branching out to making stuff for other people to have.
  - boxed 2y ago
    Well sure, but you START at an idea about something you yourself want in the world.
sophiacamille 2y ago
I don't think it's meant as "do what you love". More like, the best way to come up with successful inventions is to invent things that you yourself need.
tpmoney 2y ago
The rest of that quote very clearly demonstrates this isn’t “do what you love and money and fame will be yours” advice: > A lot of people make things that they think that other people want, but the main target audience, at least for myself, is me. I trust that if I find something interesting, there are probably other people who do too. See also “dog fooding”
joezydeco 2y ago
It's a pretty fluffy article as far as IEEE Spectrum goes. Especially when we had her video recently where she breaks down how awful physical product development really is: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38292915 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38292915
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

xyzzy_plugh 2y ago

Weird, it doesn't look like "do what you love" to me. It looks like "make things that you want." My read of it is such that the "make things other people want" part is implied. The bar is much higher when you're making something you wouldn't personally use. It's certainly possible, and occasionally profitable, to do just that, but boy are things easier if you're solving a problem you happen to also have.

eesmith 2y ago
I agree that interpretation is weird. It much closer to Hewlett's view (of Hewlett-Packard fame) that "if the engineer at the next bench liked it and thought it would make his job easier, then it was worth doing." (quoting https://hpmuseum.org/hp35.htm https://hpmuseum.org/hp35.htm )

cma 2y ago

Isn't this roughly the same advice as Paul Graham? https://www.paulgraham.com/startupideas.html https://www.paulgraham.com/startupideas.html

amoshebb 2y ago
I think there’s an appreciable gap between how applicable to the masses “if you have a niche but expensive problem, fix it, others may be excited to solve it with money” and “just sell $500 arduino advent calendars. when you’re famous you can raise half a million dollars on a 6 month waitlist for $200 wire coat hangers” is
- kadoban 2y ago
  I don't know about the advent calendar, but the coathangers are definitely solving a niche problem, seems reasonably applicable.

ztratar 2y ago

But annoyingly sometimes this is great advice. It's not that dissimilar to YC's make something people want, but it relies on you having taste/needs/wants that are an addressable market. Which is sometimes true.

boxed 2y ago

What is the alternative?

rectang 2y ago
Acknowledge the difficulty and sacrifice needed to follow the path of self-oriented creativity, and that most people do not have the resources to pursue it. However, that advice doesn't please the audience, so few entertainers will give it.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- boxed 2y ago
  That was a totally different statement, unrelated to the question as far as I can tell. I don't see how "build something you want" is different from basically how 99% of businesses start.
AStonesThrow 2y ago
I mean, a successful business would produce items that other people want, rather than what the founder/employees want. Sure, if a founder would appreciate and use the item that they make, that's really a good indicator, but it's not your personal plaything, it's a profit-making business, so the primary objective should be making useful things that people will purchase, regardless of the tastes of the founders/employees, yes? That being said, I've enjoyed Simone's wit and creativity for several years. I tuned in after one of my friends mentioned her, and she's been tenacious throughout her personal health journey and the vagaries of making ridiculous stuff on-camera. I feel like it's great that she's branching out to making stuff for other people to have.
- boxed 2y ago
  Well sure, but you START at an idea about something you yourself want in the world.

sophiacamille 2y ago

I don't think it's meant as "do what you love". More like, the best way to come up with successful inventions is to invent things that you yourself need.

tpmoney 2y ago

The rest of that quote very clearly demonstrates this isn’t “do what you love and money and fame will be yours” advice: > A lot of people make things that they think that other people want, but the main target audience, at least for myself, is me. I trust that if I find something interesting, there are probably other people who do too. See also “dog fooding”

joezydeco 2y ago

It's a pretty fluffy article as far as IEEE Spectrum goes. Especially when we had her video recently where she breaks down how awful physical product development really is: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38292915 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38292915

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]