News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Ask HN: How do you decide which idea to start on?.

Re:Ask HN: How do you decide which idea to start on? by vaksel on Sunday October 03, 2010 @08:13AM (#1752576)
1. Is there a market

2. Do I need to teach people that this is important...or do I get to exploit existing demand?

3. Is there some sort of barrier to entry?

4. How long will it take to build a minimum viable product?

5. What the competitors are like, their current reputation, their current SEO rankings, their current adwords campaigns etc.

6. Then I usually build a quick fake page to see if there is any demand. I'd rather piss off 200-300 people and see what the actual demand is like, instead of relying on them to tell me what they think they want.

7. If everything works out, I get to work. If not, I get to save 3 months chasing an idea that has no potential.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: How do you decide which idea to start on? by anonymousDan on Sunday October 03, 2010 @01:22PM (#1753102)
Do you see a positive answer to number 3 as a good thing or a bad thing? For me, it could be either depending on how you look at it!
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: How do you decide which idea to start on? by vaksel on Sunday October 03, 2010 @03:04PM (#1753349)
good thing, since it means long term you'll get breathing room against any new people who decide to enter your space.
[ Parent | on HN ]