IH Advice: What is your mother no longer doing for you?
I've only joined IH a few days ago and I'm intrigued by the number of people looking for 'ideas', though I appreciate that the best ideas are hard to come by! Anyway, it reminded me of a great quote I'd read a few years back on twitter that I though might be worth sharing:
SF tech culture is focused on solving one problem: What is my mother no longer doing for me?
Source: https://twitter.com/azizshamim/status/595285234880491521
Think like this:
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Uber: Drives me places
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Deliveroo: Feeds me
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Roomba: Vacuums for me
Or for businesses it's more 'What do my employees currently do for me' (tragically):
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Answer calls when I'm busy: Answer machine
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Answer chats online: chatbots
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Find my files: Google drive search
In fact, that tweet has a nice thread full of ideas underneath, many of which are already being done! I appreciate this angle has probably been shared before so apologies if it's duplicative...but could spark a few ideas for some!
Just remember, execution and validation is the hard part, anyone can have a good idea.
Just saying but xiaomi vacuum robot is way better than roomba despite roomba being quite a bit more expensive. I've tried both and roomba just wanders aimlessly, xiaomi actually has a nice organized algorithm. The xiaomi one also picks up more stuff. Anyways, I know it's not the point of the thread, I'm just letting people know so they don't get ripped off.
Although the little shit pushed the clothes-drying rack on me the other day and it hit me hard on the head, I still love my Xiaomi vacuum.
That's interesting, thanks for the tip! I'd like to see a side by side test in a way, like I wonder if the more organised Xiaomi vacuum might provide a false sense of security by looking less random?
Or for old people: what's my body no longer doing for me?
Quite a well established market that, but indeed there are plenty of new companies whose innovations will help that sector - self driving cars and meal delivery services, robot companions (I'm a little cynical about that mind you, seems a bit inhumane) etc
With an ever aging population that market is not getting any smaller.
That kinda begs for this Medium post The Startup Idea Matrix:
https://medium.com/the-mission/the-startup-idea-matrix-182bf2e6a53a 😃
But imo I learned quite a bit from you @blunicorn on how to make an engaging post+ get exposure. And I mean it in a good way.
oh yeah that's very cool, I hadn't seen that post, thanks for sharing @dv8 :)
Happy to be of help :)
Ha. Never heard that before. Equal parts brilliant and hilarious.
Anyone can have a good general idea. I think the really cool subtleties of an idea are more rare, but maybe that falls under execution.
Yeah true, I think there is the initial idea followed by a thousand smaller ideas during execution. I work at a company that is scaling up at the moment, and whilst the initial business proposition was good we've really built momentum by bringing great ideas to the table regularly and making them happen (and failing a often too I might add!).
I like mission-driven startups, the ones that benefit our society. For example, something that helps underprivileged kids or the environment.
What's the benefit of these kinds of ideas (besides helping people/environment)? A lot of people will be willing to help you whenever you stumble upon some problem. And they'll promote you for free because you'll be doing something good.
Absolutely, socially and environmentally conscious start-up ideas are far too rare :( VC funding and so much of the startup scene inherently hinges on capitalist 'ROI' model in purely financial sense...it would be great to see more businesses looking to improve the world longterm rather than just make life more convenient for people in the 'West'!
Great ideas are all around you. Every single company in the world is one good idea. Just compete in the B2B arena. A small business can easily compete with a market-dominating established company any day in the B2B space. This is the formula I'm following at HostedMetrics.com, by the way.
In the B2B SaaS space, products seem to compete with each other on the surface, but for the actual clients (who are very discerning) every single product is quite different and not easily interchangeable.
I guess arguably the big ideas aren't even the important factor because, as you're saying, there are lots of companies competing in identical markets that actually differentiate themselves on the small details/ideas instead.
An addendum to that would be what would you want to stop doing in the next 10 years. This would be helpful if you want to create a company that very few people are thinking about now.
There are the obvious big ticket items like rent/mortgage, doing the 9 to 5 etc :)
On a personal level I'd like to not have to take the trash out and separate out all the different recycling - I'd like to know that was happening at the other end. And I'd like to go to the supermarket and be able to fill my cart with fresh produce that isn't wrapped in endless quantities of plastic (big problem in Europe where I live).
What about you?
I’m so particular about produce that I hesitate to use any “shopper” service when it comes to groceries. This may already be addressed through adding notes to orders stating preferences, but I haven’t seen advertising that addresses this potential concern. This could also be a totally irrational fear that few people worry about, too!
I love the rephrasing of the concept “create something that helps others, solves a problem, etc.” As a mom, I can take it a step further and ask “what do I want to stop doing for my family in order to spend more quality time with them?”
Yeah definitely, I'd like the equivalent of a roomba to gather up my toddlers toys when play time is over :)
The phrasing of the original title was the statement that was overheard in that tweet, and whilst it does translate to 'create something that helps others' I guess the original sentiment the tweeter was expressing was also a little bit of a dig at the Silicon Valley model (where college kids and recent grads who are used to being looked after/having all their needs catered for by their parents end up using VC funding to build products that essential take over that role). But, as you say, this is easily turned on it's head if you just think it's also liberating for parents to not have to doing many of these things and spend more time with their children.
Or for employees, "What is my employer doing that I currently can't do?"