5 ms·

Startup ideas

92 points by rokhayakebe 17y ago

psawaya 17y ago
Rent-a-wife – a woman who cleans, cooks, does laundry, picks up dry cleaning, mail, etc but without the emotional relationship. Really?
- tomjen2 17y ago
  Isn't that called a maid?
- whatusername 17y ago
  There's an Australian business - http://www.hireahubby.com.au/ http://www.hireahubby.com.au/ - where you can hire a "hubby" to do all the handyman jobs around the house...
  - mahmud 17y ago
    I have seen those and I thought they were like "College Painters/Haulers" (i.e. hire a student who needs the money) meaning the "Hubbie" here implies a working family man, as opposed to a "lousy bachelor who might squander your money on booze".
- chrischen 17y ago
  Isn't that a maid/servant service?
  - timf 17y ago
    Maybe the idea is to cater to sexist customers.
niyazpk 17y ago
We never ran out of ideas in the first place. We don't need 999 startup ideas. All we need is 999 startup founders.
chrischen 17y ago
Every time someone says something about ideas being less important than execution I feel like he/she is oversimplifying it (I'm not saying the author of the post is missing the point though) and someone out there is missing the idea. Initial, untested ideas are worthless. The list of 998 ideas are probably all things they just came up with on the spot, unexposed to the effects of evolution. But let's say we took this idea, "Prepackaged school supplies based on the lists from the school districts," tested it. The test would have to consist of some sort of execution. Now we let's say we found out that no one gives a shit about school supplies and don't buy it anyways. Well now we amend our original idea. We have a new idea, it's still an idea. We executed to determine what works and what doesn't. This new idea is worth slightly more. After many, many iterations, we'll still have an idea in the end. If it is carefully documented and proven with a history of execution. This idea is worth something, and I would buy it. The idea, only after execution has value because the execution is factual proof. Therefore, ideas can be worth something and can be sold. In fact, the idea, plan, knowledge, whatever you call it, is what's worth something in the end. What's worthless is an untested idea, because it is grounded only in imagination. Also every time you execute an idea, it becomes exposed. It loses it's value because it is free (unless you patent it, but that's just some artificial thing we invented to force value into ideas after they are exposed). But the idea, before anyone else knows about it, and in the instant it is executed, has value. Of course this means that more important than any single idea is in the ability of the person to come up with innovative ideas. We can all follow the model of evolution and improve our ideas, but who can iterate faster, and predict more accurately what works (guiding evolution), will ultimately dominate. Execution is simply how well you predict what works, and how well you don't lie to yourself. In this sense execution may be more important than any single idea, but an idea can still have value.
- ardit33 17y ago
  The way you are saying it, is implying that all executions are equal. They are not. (think of the biggest companies you know, and their idea was not original at all, just the execution was different. (better). Before Google there were a myriad of other search engines. Before Facebook there was Friendster (should be classical case study for poor execution), Myspace etc). From what I can say it seems that idea doesn't matter (i.e. doesn't have to be original at all), as long as the execution is good/better than everybody's else. Sure, Friendster validated the 'social networks' idea, but it was ultimately FB that gave a really good execution to that idea. So the difference between a 100mil, to a 10bill company, is simply execution. You can say execution is a multiplier of an idea, and if the idea is stupid, it doesn't matter. But that doesn't make idea the most important thing. Most ideas are not that great/original anyways. You can be a mom and pop burger shop, (easy), or you can be mcdonalds (not that easy), even if the idea is the same (sell burgers), it is the execution and scale of operation that wins at the end.
coffeemug 17y ago
Sure it's easy to come up with ideas, but it's much harder to come up with ideas that are good. If this list was vetted, I have a feeling it would be significantly shorter. For example, #2: "Incubator site providing office space, hosting, etc. for startups that are seed funded." Unless you franchise it, this isn't scalable at all. It's an idea, perhaps even a business idea, but it's not a startup idea. Or, #9: "Herbal Flavored Gum. MMM...rosemary." I don't know much about the flavored gum industry, but I would imagine their margins are razor thin. It's not really a startup idea as there is no innovation here, and no opportunity to improve the margins (well, may be there is an opportunity, but it's not at all evident from the description). Coming up with this list in such a fashion is definitely an interesting exercise and I applaud Seth for doing it, but the quality of the ideas is a bit underwhelming. Perhaps if they had to elaborate a bit on the descriptions and do some basic analysis, it would be a lot more interesting.
- chrischen 17y ago
  > Sure it's easy to come up with ideas, but it's much harder to come up with ideas that are good And you can't prove/know they are good until they are executed. Harder in this sense would just refer to the work required to iterate until it becomes good. So all ideas you just "come up" with will all effectively be of uncertain value.
  - coffeemug 17y ago
    While I generally agree with you, I don't think all ideas are created equal. Some ideas are obviously bad (going into an established industry with razor thin margins without a clear plan for innovation; fundamentally unscalable businesses; etc.) Some ideas are obviously good (planes that fly twice as fast at half the cost without compromising safety). Some ideas are really good but look really bad, others are really bad but look really good. Some ideas aren't iterable (if you spend three years and half a billion dollars on building a plant that brings cars to the masses and find out that the masses are perfectly happy with horses you don't have much space left to iterate). It's hard. Really really hard. I don't think any given formula can capture the complexity of it all. The current model (fast iteration) has obvious flaws - there are plenty of businesses that turned out to be massively successful that were fundamentally not iterable.
daemin 17y ago
Just goes to show that the startup idea isn't worth a thing, but that it's all in the execution.
- nearestneighbor 17y ago
  Depends on the idea. The average startup idea is indeed junk.
  - prabodh 17y ago
    DropBox was an age old idea....The execution is what made its glory
- Concours 17y ago
  It really depends of the Idea, genuine idea executed well, is priceless, even simple Ideas, but no matter how good your execution of a bad Idea is, well you won't get anything valuable out of it, maybe just loosing time and money, and considering that without Idea, there's no execution, ideas are worth a lot. The problem is: there are not really that much good Ideas as people like to think.
lionshare 17y ago
This is an ugly post. really. For the people who are working on things right now, those who care about execution, you can help them by not shouting it in order to appear as a smart gut.
marcofloriano 17y ago
# Tutorial videos for technological skills (word processing, internet applications, email) for people who don't know how to navigate technology but need it. # Very usefull for me ... work on that right now.
- smiler 17y ago
  What's the first video - how to watch a tutorial video?
- chubbard 17y ago
  OMG and we can call it Video Professor...oh wait a minute...How about we just scam people for money? Brilliant!
cmalabs 17y ago
For a bit of context, this was the product of an brainstorming exercise set by seth godin to his students during his "six month mba program". You probably should read anymore into these ideas than that.
FreeRadical 17y ago
Some of these already exist :/
agbell 17y ago
+1 for Church issued credit card with automatic 10% for religious tithing
- gfodor 17y ago
  11%, 10 for tithing and 1 for "service fee." So evil it could possibly work.
richardburton 17y ago
I find it a bit odd when people come to meetups for techies with an idea for a web-app that they can't share. I know a guy who's got an idea for a project-management app that sounds pretty cool. It's an extremely crowded area but I still think he's got a shot. Rather than keeping this idea to himself, I think he should tell everyone about it. Let his ideas spread. Let people adjust to his new take on project management. If 1,000 tech- or business-savvy people are aware of his concept and speak to other people like that on a regular basis then he already has a test-bed of people to launch his product into. At the moment I believe only a handful of people are aware of the product and whilst he's toiling away on the code, no one is being primed to buy.
chubbard 17y ago
"Create the double snuggie." Turn the snuggie up to 11!
gsmaverick 17y ago
4. A website that you can submit your design and work with vendors to manufacture your own clothes line. Cafepress.com. Poorly researched list.
- Dav3xor 17y ago
  My mom had a business were she took a sketch from a (couture) designer, and made patterns for production. There's all sorts of value added there you can exploit (designing a pattern that someone can actually wear is a learned skill that not many people have...) Not a bad idea at all, but already exists.

92 points by rokhayakebe 17y ago

Rent-a-wife – a woman who cleans, cooks, does laundry, picks up dry cleaning, mail, etc but without the emotional relationship. Really?

tomjen2 17y ago
Isn't that called a maid?
whatusername 17y ago
There's an Australian business - http://www.hireahubby.com.au/ http://www.hireahubby.com.au/ - where you can hire a "hubby" to do all the handyman jobs around the house...
- mahmud 17y ago
  I have seen those and I thought they were like "College Painters/Haulers" (i.e. hire a student who needs the money) meaning the "Hubbie" here implies a working family man, as opposed to a "lousy bachelor who might squander your money on booze".
chrischen 17y ago
Isn't that a maid/servant service?
- timf 17y ago
  Maybe the idea is to cater to sexist customers.

niyazpk 17y ago

We never ran out of ideas in the first place. We don't need 999 startup ideas. All we need is 999 startup founders.

chrischen 17y ago

Every time someone says something about ideas being less important than execution I feel like he/she is oversimplifying it (I'm not saying the author of the post is missing the point though) and someone out there is missing the idea. Initial, untested ideas are worthless. The list of 998 ideas are probably all things they just came up with on the spot, unexposed to the effects of evolution. But let's say we took this idea, "Prepackaged school supplies based on the lists from the school districts," tested it. The test would have to consist of some sort of execution. Now we let's say we found out that no one gives a shit about school supplies and don't buy it anyways. Well now we amend our original idea. We have a new idea, it's still an idea. We executed to determine what works and what doesn't. This new idea is worth slightly more. After many, many iterations, we'll still have an idea in the end. If it is carefully documented and proven with a history of execution. This idea is worth something, and I would buy it. The idea, only after execution has value because the execution is factual proof. Therefore, ideas can be worth something and can be sold. In fact, the idea, plan, knowledge, whatever you call it, is what's worth something in the end. What's worthless is an untested idea, because it is grounded only in imagination. Also every time you execute an idea, it becomes exposed. It loses it's value because it is free (unless you patent it, but that's just some artificial thing we invented to force value into ideas after they are exposed). But the idea, before anyone else knows about it, and in the instant it is executed, has value. Of course this means that more important than any single idea is in the ability of the person to come up with innovative ideas. We can all follow the model of evolution and improve our ideas, but who can iterate faster, and predict more accurately what works (guiding evolution), will ultimately dominate. Execution is simply how well you predict what works, and how well you don't lie to yourself. In this sense execution may be more important than any single idea, but an idea can still have value.

ardit33 17y ago
The way you are saying it, is implying that all executions are equal. They are not. (think of the biggest companies you know, and their idea was not original at all, just the execution was different. (better). Before Google there were a myriad of other search engines. Before Facebook there was Friendster (should be classical case study for poor execution), Myspace etc). From what I can say it seems that idea doesn't matter (i.e. doesn't have to be original at all), as long as the execution is good/better than everybody's else. Sure, Friendster validated the 'social networks' idea, but it was ultimately FB that gave a really good execution to that idea. So the difference between a 100mil, to a 10bill company, is simply execution. You can say execution is a multiplier of an idea, and if the idea is stupid, it doesn't matter. But that doesn't make idea the most important thing. Most ideas are not that great/original anyways. You can be a mom and pop burger shop, (easy), or you can be mcdonalds (not that easy), even if the idea is the same (sell burgers), it is the execution and scale of operation that wins at the end.

coffeemug 17y ago

Sure it's easy to come up with ideas, but it's much harder to come up with ideas that are good. If this list was vetted, I have a feeling it would be significantly shorter. For example, #2: "Incubator site providing office space, hosting, etc. for startups that are seed funded." Unless you franchise it, this isn't scalable at all. It's an idea, perhaps even a business idea, but it's not a startup idea. Or, #9: "Herbal Flavored Gum. MMM...rosemary." I don't know much about the flavored gum industry, but I would imagine their margins are razor thin. It's not really a startup idea as there is no innovation here, and no opportunity to improve the margins (well, may be there is an opportunity, but it's not at all evident from the description). Coming up with this list in such a fashion is definitely an interesting exercise and I applaud Seth for doing it, but the quality of the ideas is a bit underwhelming. Perhaps if they had to elaborate a bit on the descriptions and do some basic analysis, it would be a lot more interesting.

chrischen 17y ago
> Sure it's easy to come up with ideas, but it's much harder to come up with ideas that are good And you can't prove/know they are good until they are executed. Harder in this sense would just refer to the work required to iterate until it becomes good. So all ideas you just "come up" with will all effectively be of uncertain value.
- coffeemug 17y ago
  While I generally agree with you, I don't think all ideas are created equal. Some ideas are obviously bad (going into an established industry with razor thin margins without a clear plan for innovation; fundamentally unscalable businesses; etc.) Some ideas are obviously good (planes that fly twice as fast at half the cost without compromising safety). Some ideas are really good but look really bad, others are really bad but look really good. Some ideas aren't iterable (if you spend three years and half a billion dollars on building a plant that brings cars to the masses and find out that the masses are perfectly happy with horses you don't have much space left to iterate). It's hard. Really really hard. I don't think any given formula can capture the complexity of it all. The current model (fast iteration) has obvious flaws - there are plenty of businesses that turned out to be massively successful that were fundamentally not iterable.

daemin 17y ago

Just goes to show that the startup idea isn't worth a thing, but that it's all in the execution.

nearestneighbor 17y ago
Depends on the idea. The average startup idea is indeed junk.
- prabodh 17y ago
  DropBox was an age old idea....The execution is what made its glory
Concours 17y ago
It really depends of the Idea, genuine idea executed well, is priceless, even simple Ideas, but no matter how good your execution of a bad Idea is, well you won't get anything valuable out of it, maybe just loosing time and money, and considering that without Idea, there's no execution, ideas are worth a lot. The problem is: there are not really that much good Ideas as people like to think.

lionshare 17y ago

This is an ugly post. really. For the people who are working on things right now, those who care about execution, you can help them by not shouting it in order to appear as a smart gut.

marcofloriano 17y ago

# Tutorial videos for technological skills (word processing, internet applications, email) for people who don't know how to navigate technology but need it. # Very usefull for me ... work on that right now.

smiler 17y ago
What's the first video - how to watch a tutorial video?
chubbard 17y ago
OMG and we can call it Video Professor...oh wait a minute...How about we just scam people for money? Brilliant!

cmalabs 17y ago

For a bit of context, this was the product of an brainstorming exercise set by seth godin to his students during his "six month mba program". You probably should read anymore into these ideas than that.

FreeRadical 17y ago

Some of these already exist :/

agbell 17y ago

+1 for Church issued credit card with automatic 10% for religious tithing

gfodor 17y ago
11%, 10 for tithing and 1 for "service fee." So evil it could possibly work.

richardburton 17y ago

I find it a bit odd when people come to meetups for techies with an idea for a web-app that they can't share. I know a guy who's got an idea for a project-management app that sounds pretty cool. It's an extremely crowded area but I still think he's got a shot. Rather than keeping this idea to himself, I think he should tell everyone about it. Let his ideas spread. Let people adjust to his new take on project management. If 1,000 tech- or business-savvy people are aware of his concept and speak to other people like that on a regular basis then he already has a test-bed of people to launch his product into. At the moment I believe only a handful of people are aware of the product and whilst he's toiling away on the code, no one is being primed to buy.

chubbard 17y ago

"Create the double snuggie." Turn the snuggie up to 11!

gsmaverick 17y ago

4. A website that you can submit your design and work with vendors to manufacture your own clothes line. Cafepress.com. Poorly researched list.

Dav3xor 17y ago
My mom had a business were she took a sketch from a (couture) designer, and made patterns for production. There's all sorts of value added there you can exploit (designing a pattern that someone can actually wear is a learned skill that not many people have...) Not a bad idea at all, but already exists.