How to break the bootstrap problem?
I'm feeling very frustrated, got job in several companies, and they are more of the same. I feel like a fish out of water. I'm always trying to do more and better, spend less time with bureaucracy to be useful for those around me.
So I decided to accomplish a long time wish, do a startup. I want to control what I can deliver and the most important, my time, as I want to stay more with my family. I know how to program and design applications, so, with this, no problem.
The thing is, how can I build something if I still don't know what to build? The product should be something useful to the customer, so, it should be user centric. As I don't have users, how can I do it? About passions, my passion is to be useful, to deliver and see something running, can be anything, I just want to live the company flow, get customers, see what they want, profit, rethink, etc...
What you guys suggest in this case? I don't want to program just to program, to solve a imaginary problem, I want to solve real problems and help "my costumers".
👀 Look around IH, Product Hunt and Betalist to look at issues that people are working on solving, existing products. Just to get a feel of what's going on.
📝I don't know about you, but I (amongst a lot of other people on IH) keep a list of ideas that pop into my head. Some I get while at work, others while watching Netflix or coding my side-projects. I even wake up sometimes in the middle of the night thinking of an idea.
🕵🏻♂️ Write them down and analyze how viable they are. I use Trello.com to write my ideas down, I make them smarter and think about how interesting they are, how much effort, time, and money go into it and what it could bring me.
💪🏻 If I cannot comprehend the problem at hand myself, it will be a lot more effort since I cannot define the solution as good. That's why "scratching your own itch" is being offered as a good way to start so many times.
👤 / 👥👥 Find out if you alone have the problem and if not, where others can be found. Present your idea and discuss and iterate it to define a "very nice" solution. (perfect doesn't exist).
🧠 > 👨🏻💻 Don't go down the rabbit hole of starting to code and hack your way into creating a product - unless you want to learn better coding as your main goal. Start at defining the problem, finding a solution and setting the scope on what is the minimal product like, so you're to create something that is viable (and brings value to the users, and income and joy towards you)
❤️ Make sure you're working on something that you have passion for to solve and create...
🛣 And go from there ✌🏻
Upvoted for really good advice (not necessarily for emoticons, which were a nice touch nevertheless haha). Thanks for sharing.
Thanks 🙌🏻
Somehow things keep sticking more in my mind if I add scribbles (on paper), emoticons in online communication, oldscool :) smileys while texting.. and its free hah
Hi there,
here's my 2 cents. If you're lucky you're going to spend the rest of your life building this startup that then eventually becomes a small or big company.
I understand that you like just building things, helping others out, but as a startup founder all that really matters is WHY the heck your doing this.
There are going to be an unreal amount of problems (sorry) and things you'd rather not face, so having this one WHY and the main vision and purpose of your company right in front of you, is what will get you out eventually every morning and keep going.
That is why you should really think about this and let that guide you into what you're going to build.
Don't focus too much about what it is that customers wants, but focus on something that you like, a topic that you're passionate about, something that you're able to talk to others about, speak at conferences, teach, get others excited for, ideally for the next 40 years.
We're all the same, if you like something, there's someone else that will like it too; if you have a problem and you're envision to solve it in way X, there is someone out there who loves your solution too. That's gonna be your customers.
I've read a book once that might be of any help. It's called "The Art of Work".
Hope that helped.
I like your comment and the mindset of not building a company just to exit (I'm completely not into that "build to exit" mindset).
I also agree it's best to build something that you like and love.
I'll finish this shortly by saying - any problem you have yourself and decide to fix it, you'll find others that would like that fix as well. So, if you can scratch your own itch and solve a problem, you already have an idea. Of course, not all ideas sounds like exciting ("oh I need to build a form, so I'll create a form building startup"), but if the scale of the problem can excite you too ("there are these concrete companies with thousands of employees facing this specific "form building" problem), then it can get interesting :).
Open your mind to problems around you. Don't necessarily try to actively look for them.
Both of the ideas for products I created came out of necessity.
Solve your own problem first - that's usually what you'll hear when you ask that question :).
I'm a strong believer in "build to last". I think customers will shift more and more towards businesses who are specialised but really caring for one thing, rather than sticking with companies who are big and lost touch to their customers.
I believe that if you as a founder are in for the long run, people will see and feel this in your product.
I just just about to follow you for the second time ;P. Can only follow once haha.
haha 😊
I strongly disagree with this. Unless you are in it just for the fun, and growing a business is not your priority. Don't get me wrong, loving what you do is great, but should not be on the top of your list. But if you do want to build a business, the only thing that matters is what the customer needs. Why should I pay you? What value do you provide? Why do I need your product?
[Continued]
This game is already freaking hard. Don't make it even more difficult by restricting yourself only to "things you are passionate about", or what is hot, or what you would be proud to talk about with others.
Did you spot a promising opportunity in a boring-to-death sector (e.g. tax returns for seniors)? Go for it.
Of course it does matter what the customer needs, but it shouldn't be the starting point IMHO.
Most of the time the best startup opportunities occur when you discover a valuable problem, in an area that you have some special experience in, and can build a solution that others with that problem can use.
But frankly it can be hard to find them.
I would encourage you to:
I understand this feeling. That is why I recently went part-time to work on my own start-up. If you are looking for a project to maybe give you some focus, PM me. It could be interesting enough for you.
Otherwise, try to search in your soul and find what is meaningful to you. If it means stepping back and taking some time do it. Go for a walk, enjoy your family. It will come. Seriously, walking really helps with the flow of ideas, or so I've found.
This comment was deleted 7 years ago