11 ms·

Stop thinking up startup ideas [presentation]

43 points by olejolej 14y ago

wilfra 14y ago
"If your pitch doesn't end with 'and the cops can't do shit' then your startup idea sucks"
- miguelrochefort 14y ago
  I'm stealing that.
  - wilfra 14y ago
    This is where I got it: https://twitter.com/neilsarkar/status/276823902930497537 https://twitter.com/neilsarkar/status/276823902930497537
- eksith 14y ago
  Considering where privacy (or lack thereof) is headed, that may not be such a bad idea. I'm thinking some ways of encrypted mobile-to-mobile communication, file storage, maybe even encrypted video. I can picture some startup somewhere coming up with a mobile P2P network/overlay that leverages an ad-hoc wifi mesh of some sort (avoiding carrier data limits) that lets users share everything and anything with just a psudonym. Or maybe even just a randomly generated key as a URI (I.E. Tor). I've yet to see a simple implementation that I can install painlessly that lets me send text, let alone more complex stuff. Any startup that can deliver all that in this surveillance-happy atmosphere will make a killing.
  - digitalengineer 14y ago
    Something like Silent Circle for iPhone? https://silentcircle https://silentcircle
  - yareally 14y ago
    > I'm thinking some ways of encrypted mobile-to-mobile communication, file storage, maybe even encrypted video. There's a few good open source implementations out there already for phone calls and SMS. The two below were done by Moxie Marlinspike. They're built for Android, but I'm sure they can be ported elsewhere with the source being available. https://github.com/WhisperSystems/RedPhone https://github.com/WhisperSystems/RedPhone https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure
piotr_b 14y ago
C-P-S looks like another approach to Lean Canvas. Good point - solve problems, don't create new.
- olejolej 14y ago
  Rhakns. Some people doesn't even understand Lean Canvas, so C-P-S formula is lower threshold for entry into modeling startups :) simpliest model as possible, It was my purpose in this presentation.
marban 14y ago
Asking someone in advance whether they would pay for a hypothetical solution is a very erratic method to evaluate an idea.
- bfwi 14y ago
  This is after they are exposed to the MVP. At this point the solution isn't hypothetical, only the premium version is.
- olejolej 14y ago
  it's better to know something earlier, then nothing and start build :/
khitchdee 14y ago
There's no formula for starting up and there's no one way to do it. For example, if you have a truly game changing idea, you don't need to go the MVP route. Over time, it will become visible. What's more important in this case is that you stick with it until it gets widely used. This approach won't work for a more bottom-up idea that is based on some observation about the existing market. Then you're better of with an MVP with successive refinement.
- olejolej 14y ago
  It is not formula for all startups but when I see ideas on Startup Weekend it seems to me that I live in parallel world, when I read their ideas for solutions. They often goes from solution, let's try from problem/need.
mattgreenrocks 14y ago
These presentations irk me significantly. I get that you need to work on existing problems that have users that will pay. I get that you need a business model. I get that it needs to be a market that is open enough. But they rarely address how to generate ideas to work through. Perhaps I'm not entrepreneurial enough...but I refuse to believe that's the case. I get that you have to talk/observe users, but I don't know what market I'd like to engage and what I'd find interesting. In short, I know programming well, but it doesn't mean a damn thing for creating my own products because I don't know what needs people have.
- showsover 14y ago
  I have the same problem. Programming is the easy part for me, find ideas on the other hand is one of the hardest parts (after marketing a new product). Most people I talk to, don't seem to have any problems. Or perhaps I (and they) just don't see them as problems that need to be solved.
  - mattgreenrocks 14y ago
    I gloss over many problems because I put up with a lot due to programming. Sometimes I think the best thing to do is walk away from it all and forget about the SaaS gold rush, trusting that a problem will find you. Feels like giving up, though.
- UnoriginalGuy 14y ago
  I'm in exactly the same situation as you. I have asked about it here before and the replies are "do A/B testing to figure out which idea is best" which is fine but only if you already have ideas. There is really two problems: Creating ideas, and knowing which ideas are "stupid" and which you should try. While it is easy to say "A/B test them all" that just isn't realistic with any level of time, cost, or personal constraints. I'm yet to have any idea that passes the "would I pay money for that?" test. That's kind of a massive problem.
  - mattgreenrocks 14y ago
jpwagner 14y ago
This presentation suggests noticing problems that have inelegant solutions over "thinking up startup ideas", synonymous with [thinking of ideas for companies that have nothing to do with solving problems or providing value]. Either this presentation was given to an audience of posers and kids or the presenter thought the audience was a bunch of posers and kids. Both scenarios sound awful.
- olejolej 14y ago
  So on Startup Weekends are only kids? Because I don't see there nice pain-killers but nice tech-solutions...
julianpye 14y ago
If everyone listens to the same problems that people have and listens to similar customer views and uses the same MVP techniques, all startups become the same. Well, we're there - millions of graduates from business schools are coming up with the very same MVPs. In fact we're getting drowned by all these vertical startups. They are single-purpose tools that want to be the toothpick, the tweezer, the tiny saw of the Swiss Army knife. I actually think we'll be heading for consolidation and eventually people will want broader tools that are more like universal knives that can be used in many different ways. Uniqueness stands out and I think the next eye-opening startups we're going to see will have to break out of the limited MVP to scale mindset. MVPs are great tools, especially to determine the right technology and to gain early customer insight, but true product visions have to go far beyond them.
- olejolej 14y ago
  As author of this presentation, I see in europe that ie. tech-people who build startups don't see obvious problems as there is still a lot of space for competition. They start from tech-interesting solutions. This presentation is not about far future, but build for actual needs.

43 points by olejolej 14y ago

wilfra 14y ago

"If your pitch doesn't end with 'and the cops can't do shit' then your startup idea sucks"

miguelrochefort 14y ago
I'm stealing that.
- wilfra 14y ago
  This is where I got it: https://twitter.com/neilsarkar/status/276823902930497537 https://twitter.com/neilsarkar/status/276823902930497537
eksith 14y ago
Considering where privacy (or lack thereof) is headed, that may not be such a bad idea. I'm thinking some ways of encrypted mobile-to-mobile communication, file storage, maybe even encrypted video. I can picture some startup somewhere coming up with a mobile P2P network/overlay that leverages an ad-hoc wifi mesh of some sort (avoiding carrier data limits) that lets users share everything and anything with just a psudonym. Or maybe even just a randomly generated key as a URI (I.E. Tor). I've yet to see a simple implementation that I can install painlessly that lets me send text, let alone more complex stuff. Any startup that can deliver all that in this surveillance-happy atmosphere will make a killing.
- digitalengineer 14y ago
  Something like Silent Circle for iPhone? https://silentcircle https://silentcircle
- yareally 14y ago
  > I'm thinking some ways of encrypted mobile-to-mobile communication, file storage, maybe even encrypted video. There's a few good open source implementations out there already for phone calls and SMS. The two below were done by Moxie Marlinspike. They're built for Android, but I'm sure they can be ported elsewhere with the source being available. https://github.com/WhisperSystems/RedPhone https://github.com/WhisperSystems/RedPhone https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure

piotr_b 14y ago

C-P-S looks like another approach to Lean Canvas. Good point - solve problems, don't create new.

olejolej 14y ago
Rhakns. Some people doesn't even understand Lean Canvas, so C-P-S formula is lower threshold for entry into modeling startups :) simpliest model as possible, It was my purpose in this presentation.

marban 14y ago

Asking someone in advance whether they would pay for a hypothetical solution is a very erratic method to evaluate an idea.

bfwi 14y ago
This is after they are exposed to the MVP. At this point the solution isn't hypothetical, only the premium version is.
olejolej 14y ago
it's better to know something earlier, then nothing and start build :/

khitchdee 14y ago

There's no formula for starting up and there's no one way to do it. For example, if you have a truly game changing idea, you don't need to go the MVP route. Over time, it will become visible. What's more important in this case is that you stick with it until it gets widely used. This approach won't work for a more bottom-up idea that is based on some observation about the existing market. Then you're better of with an MVP with successive refinement.

olejolej 14y ago
It is not formula for all startups but when I see ideas on Startup Weekend it seems to me that I live in parallel world, when I read their ideas for solutions. They often goes from solution, let's try from problem/need.

mattgreenrocks 14y ago

These presentations irk me significantly. I get that you need to work on existing problems that have users that will pay. I get that you need a business model. I get that it needs to be a market that is open enough. But they rarely address how to generate ideas to work through. Perhaps I'm not entrepreneurial enough...but I refuse to believe that's the case. I get that you have to talk/observe users, but I don't know what market I'd like to engage and what I'd find interesting. In short, I know programming well, but it doesn't mean a damn thing for creating my own products because I don't know what needs people have.

showsover 14y ago
I have the same problem. Programming is the easy part for me, find ideas on the other hand is one of the hardest parts (after marketing a new product). Most people I talk to, don't seem to have any problems. Or perhaps I (and they) just don't see them as problems that need to be solved.
- mattgreenrocks 14y ago
  I gloss over many problems because I put up with a lot due to programming. Sometimes I think the best thing to do is walk away from it all and forget about the SaaS gold rush, trusting that a problem will find you. Feels like giving up, though.
UnoriginalGuy 14y ago
I'm in exactly the same situation as you. I have asked about it here before and the replies are "do A/B testing to figure out which idea is best" which is fine but only if you already have ideas. There is really two problems: Creating ideas, and knowing which ideas are "stupid" and which you should try. While it is easy to say "A/B test them all" that just isn't realistic with any level of time, cost, or personal constraints. I'm yet to have any idea that passes the "would I pay money for that?" test. That's kind of a massive problem.
- mattgreenrocks 14y ago

jpwagner 14y ago

This presentation suggests noticing problems that have inelegant solutions over "thinking up startup ideas", synonymous with [thinking of ideas for companies that have nothing to do with solving problems or providing value]. Either this presentation was given to an audience of posers and kids or the presenter thought the audience was a bunch of posers and kids. Both scenarios sound awful.

olejolej 14y ago
So on Startup Weekends are only kids? Because I don't see there nice pain-killers but nice tech-solutions...

julianpye 14y ago

If everyone listens to the same problems that people have and listens to similar customer views and uses the same MVP techniques, all startups become the same. Well, we're there - millions of graduates from business schools are coming up with the very same MVPs. In fact we're getting drowned by all these vertical startups. They are single-purpose tools that want to be the toothpick, the tweezer, the tiny saw of the Swiss Army knife. I actually think we'll be heading for consolidation and eventually people will want broader tools that are more like universal knives that can be used in many different ways. Uniqueness stands out and I think the next eye-opening startups we're going to see will have to break out of the limited MVP to scale mindset. MVPs are great tools, especially to determine the right technology and to gain early customer insight, but true product visions have to go far beyond them.

olejolej 14y ago
As author of this presentation, I see in europe that ie. tech-people who build startups don't see obvious problems as there is still a lot of space for competition. They start from tech-interesting solutions. This presentation is not about far future, but build for actual needs.