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If you are trying to wrangle some ideas for startups or profitable side projects, I think this approach is unlikely to be successful. First of all, you cannot
by wikwocket 13y ago
If you are trying to wrangle some ideas for startups or profitable side projects, I think this approach is unlikely to be successful.
First of all, you cannot reliably determine what someone will pay for by asking them directly. People frequently do not know what they want until they see it, do not know what they will pay for until they open their wallet, and are poor forecasters of both.
Secondly, my experience indicates that the cross-section of people who post comments on HN is not well correlated with you average consumer or B2B market. Or with human beings in general, for that matter. ;)
- switch33 13y ago"First of all, you cannot reliably determine what someone will pay for by asking them directly." Sometimes people do better with "forced" creativity. By asking someone this type of question it makes them think of quicker easier ways that may make their lives simpler. Which sometimes can lead to better thought out ideas. While I agree HN's isn't the average consumer or even B2B market they are still people. . .
- argonaut 13y agoI think this is actually the absolutely wrong way to do it. By asking people what they would pay for, you often constrain your idea space to the space of "incremental ideas that sound good that lots of people have thought of," rather than explore the space of "revolutionary, new-market or market-disruptive ideas that most people think are stupid (without the benefit of hindsight)." The right approach, I think, is to build a prototype and then ask people if they would pay for that prototype, rather than forcing people to imagine a product.