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Ask HN: How do you decide which idea to work on?

8 points by vishalzone2002 12y ago

Many times you have more than one ideas. Before even starting to work on the idea or business, what factors do you consider that helps with deciding which one to work on?

ASquare 12y ago
You first need to find out if there's even a market for the problem you think is worth solving. To do that you need to get out of the proverbial building and find people who you think might have the problem and ask them some specific questions that will help you identify whether there is an potential or not. I reccomend reading "Running Lean" by Ash Maurya as it provides a great framework and sequence of steps to follow to validate your idea In terms of the kinds of questions you might ask: A. Customer Segments: Who has the pain? • How to identify early-adopters? Ask some introductory questions to collect basic demographics that you believe will drive how you segment and qualify your early adopters. B. Problem: What are you solving? List (up to) the top 3 problem you believe you are solving • How does the interviewee rank the top 3 problems? • What is their pain level for all of these problems: must-have, nice-to-have, don’t-need? • How do customers solve these problems today? – This is generally the heart of the interview as they do a lot of talking and you ask follow up questions based on their responses. You are done when you have interviewed at least 10 people and • can identify the demographics of an early adopter, • have a must-have problem and • can describe how customers solve this problem today Hope that helps.
- vitovito 12y ago
  Came here to write this. I've kept lists of project ideas for years, but the last few years breaks them down into "could have market validation" and "would just be for fun." There's a dozen new ones so far this year. Maybe two of them have any potential for market validation (I'm evaluating one of them right now). The rest are almost certainly projects where, as neat as they would be, there's probably zero chance anyone would pay to solve that problem.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
japhyr 12y ago
One filter I use is the "deathbed test". When I'm lying on my deathbed, will I be satisfied with what I spent my life working on? I'm not entirely an idealist, so I recognize that we need a balance between focusing on ideas that make us money, ideas that are just for fun, and ideas that might make the world a better place. But in the end, I want to be one of those old people who looks back happily on a life filled with meaningful work. So to answer your question more directly, I choose to focus on ideas and projects that maintain a balance between earning money, playing with fun ideas, and making the world a beter place.
visakanv 12y ago
1: I write extensively about all my ideas. 2: I discard those that don't resonate with anybody else. 3: I then look for excitement and eagerness from discerning readers. 4: Then I start with whichever I'm most excited about, of those ideas. I've never been in a situation where there's more than one idea at this point, but if there is, I'd focus on whichever I could execute faster.
kirankn 12y ago
This is what I heard from Scott Cook, the CEO of Intuit yesterday. You pursue an idea if there is a giant unsolved customer problem, that YOU can solve and YOUR SOLUTION has a durable competitive advantage.
Torgo 12y ago
I get bored very quickly. I filter down to three ideas. One that is short-term but teaches me something new; one that is a labor of love; and one that I have determined could make me money. I will work on each one for 2-3 consecutive days, then take a day off from any project, then move on the next one. This keeps me from ceasing to work, either out of boredom or burnout.

Many times you have more than one ideas. Before even starting to work on the idea or business, what factors do you consider that helps with deciding which one to work on?

ASquare 12y ago

You first need to find out if there's even a market for the problem you think is worth solving. To do that you need to get out of the proverbial building and find people who you think might have the problem and ask them some specific questions that will help you identify whether there is an potential or not. I reccomend reading "Running Lean" by Ash Maurya as it provides a great framework and sequence of steps to follow to validate your idea In terms of the kinds of questions you might ask: A. Customer Segments: Who has the pain? • How to identify early-adopters? Ask some introductory questions to collect basic demographics that you believe will drive how you segment and qualify your early adopters. B. Problem: What are you solving? List (up to) the top 3 problem you believe you are solving • How does the interviewee rank the top 3 problems? • What is their pain level for all of these problems: must-have, nice-to-have, don’t-need? • How do customers solve these problems today? – This is generally the heart of the interview as they do a lot of talking and you ask follow up questions based on their responses. You are done when you have interviewed at least 10 people and • can identify the demographics of an early adopter, • have a must-have problem and • can describe how customers solve this problem today Hope that helps.

vitovito 12y ago
Came here to write this. I've kept lists of project ideas for years, but the last few years breaks them down into "could have market validation" and "would just be for fun." There's a dozen new ones so far this year. Maybe two of them have any potential for market validation (I'm evaluating one of them right now). The rest are almost certainly projects where, as neat as they would be, there's probably zero chance anyone would pay to solve that problem.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

japhyr 12y ago

One filter I use is the "deathbed test". When I'm lying on my deathbed, will I be satisfied with what I spent my life working on? I'm not entirely an idealist, so I recognize that we need a balance between focusing on ideas that make us money, ideas that are just for fun, and ideas that might make the world a better place. But in the end, I want to be one of those old people who looks back happily on a life filled with meaningful work. So to answer your question more directly, I choose to focus on ideas and projects that maintain a balance between earning money, playing with fun ideas, and making the world a beter place.

visakanv 12y ago

1: I write extensively about all my ideas. 2: I discard those that don't resonate with anybody else. 3: I then look for excitement and eagerness from discerning readers. 4: Then I start with whichever I'm most excited about, of those ideas. I've never been in a situation where there's more than one idea at this point, but if there is, I'd focus on whichever I could execute faster.

kirankn 12y ago

This is what I heard from Scott Cook, the CEO of Intuit yesterday. You pursue an idea if there is a giant unsolved customer problem, that YOU can solve and YOUR SOLUTION has a durable competitive advantage.

Torgo 12y ago

I get bored very quickly. I filter down to three ideas. One that is short-term but teaches me something new; one that is a labor of love; and one that I have determined could make me money. I will work on each one for 2-3 consecutive days, then take a day off from any project, then move on the next one. This keeps me from ceasing to work, either out of boredom or burnout.