I have the 'know-how', but lack ideas. Can we have an idea thread?
Like the title says, I have the skills to build web apps (who doesn't these days). And I have built cool things for clients and at work, but after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad I really want to focus on building assets. Particularly, online assets that generate income passively. And by passively I don't mean doing nothing, quite the opposite. But building something of my own, growing it, improving it and eventually letting it make money itself.
Now I know most of you may say 'don't chase the money' when building something, 'solve a problem and the money will follow'. And it's fair enough, but what if I can't find any problems to solve. Or those problems are too huge to solve solo?
What do I do? How do I find a problem to solve?
There was a thread on Hacker News today with some good ideas in it (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12567645). A lot of them are very ambitious, but some are doable by a single person.
Some interesting stuff there, thanks!
Google Docs but using Markdown. I prefer simple plain text interfaces when editing documents. It's clean, fast, and my files feel more portable. Markdown is great format for that. I also like having a web + desktop + phone interface for accessing and editing documents, similar to what Google Docs provides. Combine the two and you'll have yourself at least one customer. If I could edit these documents via the command line and have them sync, I would throw money at you.
Have you tried https://notion.so . It is basically a knowledge base but can be used for several purpose.
Still building it but take a look at http://blenditt.com
This is genius. I have been using Evernote for a few years now and it is too heavy and I use like 5% of its features.
Markdown editor wouldn't be too hard to make. There probably is a js framework/lib for that already, just have to slap together and MVP. Really like this man, really like this.
About the web + desktop + phone apps. That would be a fairly large upfront investment in terms of both time and money. But I might run a lean startup campaign and see if there is a demand for this.
Are you a dev? Wanna work on this together? Shoot me an email: tonycroberson@gmail.com
I am a developer, but I'm working on a different idea (or plan to once I have more time), and I realize I'm never going to get to this one, which is why I'm okay giving it away. Should you decide to pursue it, you should be aware that there's a new Markdown editing startup called Canvas[0] that's been getting a lot of attention recently. I don't think their approach is what I envision, but their execution is slick. It's hard to test a Markdown editor MVP in a world full of Markdown editors, especially when the real value of the product is the sync.
[0] https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/19/canvas-is-the-collaborative-markdown-editor-ive-been-waiting-for/
This guy challenged himself to create 1000 ideas.. https://github.com/napolux/1000ideas
i want a barebones cms that maybe integrates well with git and with popular front end and back end frameworks -- let engineers write their normal code while marketing controls the content and images
I have a friend working as a contract developer who could've used this exact thing recently. The company she's at decided to go with Squarespace, which is apparently a pain in the ass if you have a custom design.
Squarespace? Really? Who is in charge of their IT dept? :D
For a really nice custom design again they could use OctoberCMS, or something like GravCMS (www.getgrav.org) if they just wanted a lightweight CMS. Bonus: GravCMS is also flat-file, so no DB setup needed.
I think you might find OctoberCMS useful. It is based on Laravel and seems like it does exactly what you want.
Funny that you mentioned Rich Dad Poor Dad, I hadn't read the book yet but did literally just watched Robert's TED (https://youtu.be/abMQhaMdQu0) talk right before checking out this post.
Very much interested in this topic. I don't have a lack of ideas but still connecting the dots on turning the ideas/apps to cash flow positive assets.
Man, you gotta read that book.
He stresses the importance of financial intelligence a lot and basically outlines the things you have to do in order to achieve financial independence.
However, he does a lot of real state business and that is why he talks about that throughout his book, but the concepts could still be applied to us, devs.
RK is pretty interesting. I've listened to the RichDad podcast quite a bit. One thing that he always says is pay yourself first. Use the tax law to your advantage and get those tax free things in first. Couldn't agree with that more.
I've a lot about successful people and real estate is usually one of their top passive income streams - if not the top. If you think about it, shelter, everyone needs it. One of the ultimate evergreen product needs...
Any ideas you don't plan on working on that you'd like to share?
Don't know if any of these ideas have ever been done but these are ideas I've had in which I wished a solution existed or I had more time to build them.
As mentioned above, I've got ideas but learning the steps still to turn them into businesses.
That's all I have off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more somewhere. Hope it gets some juices running :)
I started on the coffee site this past Sunday. I stopped, then realized, while I love coffee, I wouldn't classify myself as an expert. Sadly. So, I probably couldn't truly represent.
I had a great domain name picked out and the site scaffolding was already put up. I like this idea because you could do some great seo implementation and get a lot of traffic. You could probably monetize well and get a great community going too.
I still might if it's ok that I'm just an enthusiast. I am buying a roaster soon, so maybe..
Yeah you should! I think the journey to expertise is just as intriguing. On top of that if equipment you're already buying is on Amazon, why not affiliate link it?
I've been using the AeroPress and my friend got me a Hario Ceramic grinder. It's been a lot of fun dipping into this territory since caffeine is something I need daily since having kids.
Glad to hear you actually started making it. If you do keep moving forward, let us know! I would love to follow and participate in the community.
Maybe even have a code and coffee segment or do a Google Hangout and chat coffee or indiebiz. Think that could be pretty cool :)
Heh, great reply!
I did the AeroPress a few years back and it didn't do it for me. I have some friends that love it tho, so, I dunno. I'm sure it's just me.
We use Hario pour over at home and that was my go-to for the past 3+ years. I've been using a Breville burr grinder for years, but the ceramic grinder sounds interesting.
In July when I changed up my morning hours, I decided I couldn't wait 20 mins to get coffee in my hand. So I bought a programmable grind and brew - Cuisinart - and I'm, suffering through it. Cut off 15+ mins off of wake up to first sip tho.
My wife, of course, still gets her pour over every morning.
The hangout is a great idea! The chat coffee and indiebiz would be awesome topics - you could probably go on forever with those. :)
Some really great ideas, I'd like to comment on few if you don't mind.
Audible for children: this one is very hard to do solo, only big guys like Amazon can pull this off. Licensing fees, marketing, database/servers costs etc, huge upfront costs. If it fails it won't even put a dent on Amazon's financial situation, but will result in a life time debt.
Digital Photos back: Yeah the only option capable of doing what you want is Google Photos (and the paid plan will allow for no size limit). However, already a few startups doing exactly that went bankrupt and closed. There are two I can think of the top of my head: Dropbox's Carousel and another one I can't remember the name, but they closed because the demand wasn't there, and the costs of AWS was eating them alive.
Local TV channel: come on man. TV is dead, the masses have already moved towards mobile devices and the internet. Check out #AskGaryVee book where he talks about exactly that.
Crowd Sourced Ingredient Finder: seems like a really cool idea, and would be awesome to do. If you want to partner up and make it I am all in! However, there is very little that depends on you, as the content will have to be added by the store owners. Doubt they have time for adding all their stock on some random website.
Instagram Links: Instagram limitation, introduced specifically so that people wouldn't steal traffic from Instagram :D
Beating social media algorithm: Paid ads
Coffee : this is brilliant! Millions of people drink coffee everyday, but very few know the difference between a Latte and a Cappuccino! This is actually amazing and I might look into it. The challenge with is that it is more of a niche, informational content based website.
You have some great ideas man! Sorry for bashing on most of them, just sharing my opinion and I would actually like to be wrong on most of them if anyone is willing to part take here.
http://imgur.com/a/wsdVf
Thanks @Rtony for your thoughts. No offense taken on any of your comments. I see it as throwing noodle at the wall and seeing what actually sticks ;)
I openly shared my ideas simply because I do wish someone would steal them and make them a reality. How they get there is up to them :)
Glad that some of the ideas resonated with you. Would love to see what you end up building or if they sparked any other ideas.
The way I see things for myself and these ideas are, I'll build upon many of them. I'm not sure if Robert in R.D.P.D touches on it but I want to have multiple streams of passive income. A single property might bring in only a dollar or so a day but if you have 100 properties all bringing in a dollar, that's $100/day. Obviously I'd want more than $1/day but you get the point.
For example a friend of mine and I created a third-party integration that didn't exist in Shopify that we knew had a large user base. We created the integration, charged $5/month and haven't touched it for 2 years.
At its peak before the company we were integrating with shut us down, it was doing several hundred per month...to this day we get roughly $70/month. Not a lot but it hasn't been touched and we get paid for doing nothing which has amassed to several thousands of dollars over the past 2-3 years. Now if I had several more properties that did this, I would have lots of pizza money at the end of each month :)
So lesson here is, cater to a pain point for an audience that already exists. In @csallen's case, he's catering to the Indie Hacker community that has already existed on YC and other places and given them a place to share ideas and get insight into proven success stories.
Will be sure to drop more ideas as they come here ;) Again, really good conversation in here.
I think you're not lacking of ideas, Rtony, you're just a bit choosey. For each idea there are million reasons why it would fail. One simple example - when Joel Spolsky shared his idea to build Stack Overflow, I thought this is the stupidest idea ever.
It's the execution that makes the distinction between good and bad ideas. Even if you start working on something with really bad prospects, you'll receive feedback and learn new things that will lead you to better ideas.
That is very true, I am choosey. The reason is because as with money, time is extremely valuable and very scarce. That's why I try to make sure that the ideas I have or have been provided with are doable for me in terms of either my skill, or the idea's worth.
IMO conventional startup wisdom is wrong for your goal. Focus on the money! Ideally, build something people will pay for immediately. You have to solve a real problem to do that, anyway. It'll probably be a "boring" problem that others are already addressing in some way, so target a niche with a unique approach.
I blogged about how I came up with the idea for Indie Hackers (http://bit.ly/2cCifIQ). You might find that helpful! I also shared some ideas there. Here are two of them:
It definitely helps to target customers who you understand! (Which is why my ideas target programmers.)
I also agree with you that cash is important. Without cash you can't exist, its the oxygen for business. But before cash comes, there must be something that needs to be built in order to generate that cash.
There is a pretty good site for #2, coderpad.io .
Yes, by Victor Woo -- someone posted a video of his on the forum a few days ago! http://bit.ly/2ci9rFn
I think the idea behind CoderPad is for companies to use it to when interviewing candidates, so it's a conduit between interviewer and interviewee. My #2 idea is basically that, but with an automated/AI interviewer, so candidates could use it for practice.
Why come up with something new at all? Go out and find something that is selling well in a space with lots of upside and jump in as a competitor. Do a few things differently / better and use your skills to market it well.
Sounds interesting. How would you go about finding something that sells well and what do you mean by lots of upside? And how would you go about finding that too?
If you're looking for a product idea, I open-sourced my list of ideas, feel free to build any of them 😊
https://medium.com/@hvost/a-list-of-ideas-for-side-projects-indie-products-and-lifestyle-businesses-4c991ba624d5
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This is not just for the purpose of interviews but it does what you are looking for: https://www.typeform.com/help/what-is-logic-jump/
Really nice idea it get's a bit complicated to create a nice interface if you need logic that relies on answers from multiple questions though
Alright, this intrigued me because I know I can make this.
Let me clarify the process that I understood from what you've described. This would be the whole idea overview, not just the technical process.
Check it out:
A business goes on [your] website and signs up to a monthly plan (Maybe a free account with a limit of one interview)
The go to a dashboard, which gives them an overview of each of the interviews they created (if they have any created)
They can define an interview process, which consist of a number of questions that go like this:
Upon completing the interview setup, they get a link/WP Plugin/etc to install on their website, where the recruits go to submit their information
Once the link is installed, they have the interview already popping up on that page, which potential recruits need to complete and submit.
Upon submission, the data can be viewed in real time on the dashboard, which shows the following info:
Let's get in touch to discuss this further! I think this has potential : tonycroberson@gmail.com