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> The pessimist in me thinks that the window of opportunity to create something successful is shrinking. Dunno man. Ideas alone aren't worth anything [0] and e

> The pessimist in me thinks that the window of opportunity to create something successful is shrinking. Dunno man. Ideas alone aren't worth anything [0] and execution is everything [1], but good ideas and great execution will never go out of style regardless of how much competition is out there. I'm of the opinion that even if 10% of the population is now capable of creating a side project, there's still the same relatively-fixed amount of people capable of making a good side project, and even fewer who will see it through to a real product. Nothing has really changed in the aggregate. It's like architecture, there are always improvements in materials, tools and processes, and Claude and Codex can provide more laborers for almost free, but most people are still gonna be building uninspired McMansions instead of the Guggenheim. [0] https://youtu.be/YYkj2yYaGtU?t=112 https://youtu.be/YYkj2yYaGtU?t=112 [1] https://youtu.be/YYkj2yYaGtU?t=160 https://youtu.be/YYkj2yYaGtU?t=160

RivieraKid 7mo ago
Disagree. Ideas were a necessary component of the one project I had success with. BTW, the line between ideas and execution is blurred. Is coming up with innovative UI and features ideas or execution?
- necovek 7mo ago
  Ideas are obviously a prerequisite, but they aren't "worth anything" because there is so many of them and without them being executed well (or sometimes, executed at all), they don't really bring any value. So really, they are comparatively cheap. I, for one, have hundreds of ideas, but always lacked the time to execute on 5% of them.
  - RivieraKid 7mo ago
    Good ideas (and the ability to recognize them) are very valuable in my opinion. It also depends on what you mean by an idea: - A todo app better than the existing ones - A todo app with these 3 features - A todo app with these 3 features, here's how the UI would look I have tens of ideas, but maybe 1 - 3 that I believe have a meaningful chance to become successful and generate income ($20k annually or more) with great execution. I find it hard to come up with ideas that have a fairly clear path to success and can generate income.
    - necovek 7mo ago
      I have hundreds of ideas which I think can generate revenue of the sort you describe, but they need significant work each (execution). Note that $20k annually is already full annual salary in half of the world too.
      - RivieraKid 7mo ago
        Can you share some out of curiosity? Yes, I know that $20k is a full salary in many countries.
        necovek 7mo ago
        A very simple one: interview scheduling tool integrated with multiple calendars. Eg. when interviewing, sometimes I have a pool of interviewers, and I want a pair to be offered to a candidate (they only see time slots, obviously) with certain internal conditions (one expert from this pool, another from this pool; eg. tech stack or timezone), while equally loading all of them. Sounds simple but I could never find a tool that does it, and I believe companies might be interested just like they get tools like calendly just for limited purposes. iCal format is simple on the face of it, but companies have restrictions on the feeds, and accounting for recurring events and working hours is not as trivial.
lelanthran 7mo ago
> I'm of the opinion that even if 10% of the population is now capable of creating a side project, there's still the same relatively-fixed amount of people capable of making a good side project, and even fewer who will see it through to a real product. Nothing has really changed in the aggregate. What do you mean "nothing has changed"? Using your numbers, the SNR went off a cliff. Use HN as an example - I used read the new stories all the time before they hit the frontpage, and upvote as needed. But with 100s of slop submitted for every 1 actual good article, I can't do that anymore. IOW, I have finite time. If 10% of the population is now able to vomit out side-projects, I am never going to find the one good one because it will be lost in a sea of rubbish.
- kevinsync 7mo ago
  Correct, but I was replying to the assertion that more slop == decreasing ability to create something good and successful. That's a common trope that people deploy with regards to everything: music, movies, books, social media accounts, brands, blogs, pizza shops, whatever, and it's consistently shown to be false. Plus, we don't live in a monoculture anymore, the SNR you're thinking of is proportional to the mainstream. Successful things nowadays are far more siloed, specific, and serve distinct niches. And you're right that people still have limited, fixed bandwidth with regards to attention available to give to things.. and the same amount of things that break through doesn't change from what could break through and stick before (in the monoculture). But the amount of niches/verticals where you have the opportunity to break through inside of is significantly higher than ever. That gives you a better chance for success, because your audience is more targeted, more receptive, hungrier for authenticity, hungrier for quality, and desperate for connection to something they like. TL;DR if you have a good, valuable idea that people want (or don't yet know that they want), execute it well, deliver something that is undeniable, promote it effectively, and stick it out for the long haul, you'll find success. There's no magic formula beyond that, and it doesn't matter if there are 10 or 10 million amateurs clogging the toilet bowl next to you.
  - lelanthran 7mo ago
    > Correct, but I was replying to the assertion that more slop == decreasing ability to create something good and successful. T True; I misunderstood. You are contending the assertion "more slop == decreasing ability to create quality", I am asserting that "more slop == lower overall quality". FWIW, there's probably an argument to be made against your assertion as stated above, but it's probably going to be a long-winded and ultimately weak one. I'm not really in the mood to explore weak arguments, TBH.

RivieraKid 7mo ago

Disagree. Ideas were a necessary component of the one project I had success with. BTW, the line between ideas and execution is blurred. Is coming up with innovative UI and features ideas or execution?

necovek 7mo ago
Ideas are obviously a prerequisite, but they aren't "worth anything" because there is so many of them and without them being executed well (or sometimes, executed at all), they don't really bring any value. So really, they are comparatively cheap. I, for one, have hundreds of ideas, but always lacked the time to execute on 5% of them.
- RivieraKid 7mo ago
  Good ideas (and the ability to recognize them) are very valuable in my opinion. It also depends on what you mean by an idea: - A todo app better than the existing ones - A todo app with these 3 features - A todo app with these 3 features, here's how the UI would look I have tens of ideas, but maybe 1 - 3 that I believe have a meaningful chance to become successful and generate income ($20k annually or more) with great execution. I find it hard to come up with ideas that have a fairly clear path to success and can generate income.
  - necovek 7mo ago
    I have hundreds of ideas which I think can generate revenue of the sort you describe, but they need significant work each (execution). Note that $20k annually is already full annual salary in half of the world too.
    - RivieraKid 7mo ago
      Can you share some out of curiosity? Yes, I know that $20k is a full salary in many countries.
      - necovek 7mo ago
        A very simple one: interview scheduling tool integrated with multiple calendars. Eg. when interviewing, sometimes I have a pool of interviewers, and I want a pair to be offered to a candidate (they only see time slots, obviously) with certain internal conditions (one expert from this pool, another from this pool; eg. tech stack or timezone), while equally loading all of them. Sounds simple but I could never find a tool that does it, and I believe companies might be interested just like they get tools like calendly just for limited purposes. iCal format is simple on the face of it, but companies have restrictions on the feeds, and accounting for recurring events and working hours is not as trivial.

lelanthran 7mo ago

> I'm of the opinion that even if 10% of the population is now capable of creating a side project, there's still the same relatively-fixed amount of people capable of making a good side project, and even fewer who will see it through to a real product. Nothing has really changed in the aggregate. What do you mean "nothing has changed"? Using your numbers, the SNR went off a cliff. Use HN as an example - I used read the new stories all the time before they hit the frontpage, and upvote as needed. But with 100s of slop submitted for every 1 actual good article, I can't do that anymore. IOW, I have finite time. If 10% of the population is now able to vomit out side-projects, I am never going to find the one good one because it will be lost in a sea of rubbish.

kevinsync 7mo ago
Correct, but I was replying to the assertion that more slop == decreasing ability to create something good and successful. That's a common trope that people deploy with regards to everything: music, movies, books, social media accounts, brands, blogs, pizza shops, whatever, and it's consistently shown to be false. Plus, we don't live in a monoculture anymore, the SNR you're thinking of is proportional to the mainstream. Successful things nowadays are far more siloed, specific, and serve distinct niches. And you're right that people still have limited, fixed bandwidth with regards to attention available to give to things.. and the same amount of things that break through doesn't change from what could break through and stick before (in the monoculture). But the amount of niches/verticals where you have the opportunity to break through inside of is significantly higher than ever. That gives you a better chance for success, because your audience is more targeted, more receptive, hungrier for authenticity, hungrier for quality, and desperate for connection to something they like. TL;DR if you have a good, valuable idea that people want (or don't yet know that they want), execute it well, deliver something that is undeniable, promote it effectively, and stick it out for the long haul, you'll find success. There's no magic formula beyond that, and it doesn't matter if there are 10 or 10 million amateurs clogging the toilet bowl next to you.
- lelanthran 7mo ago
  > Correct, but I was replying to the assertion that more slop == decreasing ability to create something good and successful. T True; I misunderstood. You are contending the assertion "more slop == decreasing ability to create quality", I am asserting that "more slop == lower overall quality". FWIW, there's probably an argument to be made against your assertion as stated above, but it's probably going to be a long-winded and ultimately weak one. I'm not really in the mood to explore weak arguments, TBH.