I have a million ideas! How does one pick?
I think I’ve started and stopped 3 ideas in the last 48 hours. I get started building and then think to myself “this is stupid and nobody wants this” and then stop and work on the next thing and then have the same thought about that thing. Does this mean I haven’t found a good idea to work on? How do I commit and not get discouraged before moving on to the next idea? How do you pick an idea? I feel like my criteria are constantly changing.
But overall, I want the project to be:
- something that people will actually use (duh)
- pretty simple to build. Would like to get a decent MVP in 3-4 weeks. I have a full time job and wouldn’t be spending all my time on this. Probably just a few hours a day.
- something that could eventually make money.
I know these are all so broad!! And everyone wants this for every project they build lol. I guess you don’t know until you shop around the idea and build a little something to show them 😞 Not sure a soul is reading this, but how do y’all narrow down what you’ll work on?
@csallen has a google doc checklist of questions he links to on some of his posts or comments that he uses/used to answer this question. I'm not sure of the URL off hand, but if you look through his old posts/comments you'll find it. It's a great starting point to validate your ideas to see if they are worth building.
In my case, I also suffer from 'lots of idea paralysis' but in the end, I have chosen the one that i can answer 'yes' to the following :
Do I really want to build this? If the answer is no, why bother wasting time, regardless if it might be successful.
Does this solve a problem for me? (i.e. would I use this if it existed?) If it's not useful to me, then I am not going to be expert enough to build something that solves someone else's problem, nor am I going to care enough to do so when I get bored/frustrated.
Is there any money being spent by other's on this/similar projects already? If not, the chances of me magically building something and creating the one thing others will finally spend their money on in this space is probably slim to none.
Will I learn anything form this project even if it fails miserably? I am smart enough to understand (logically, if not emotionally 😃 ) that whatever I am building will probably not be successful at first, but can it teach me something for my next attempt (coding skill, marketing, talking to customers, etc)? You say you have a 'million ideas', so that just means you can burn through a dozen or a hunderd so you can get the bad ones out of the way. In doing so, hopefully you can iterate on the startup process so you can 'do it right' once you start working on the 'one'. The problem is, unless we're very lucky, we don't know what the 'one' is if we have so many ideas - unless we pass them thorugh a validation process like the one Courtland made for himself.
Good luck! I hope you choose a great project to work on!
Hi! Wow thank you so much for this thoughtful response!! This is really helpful. And you’re absolutely right. For the ideas I’ve already churned, I couldn’t answer yes to those 4 questions. I think I’ve got one that’s brewing that does meet those 4 criteria, and I actually really love the idea. But I’m almost afraid to work on it because I’d care about it too much?! I’m afraid for it to fail. But whatever, I should just go for it :)
I think one other important point to be mentioned is don't forget to not fall deep in love with your first idea or initial iteration that you make out of the idea. Pivoting is major in succeeding, listening to your users/costumers and moving your idea in that direction. But I do agree with @Scotalia , just start! The knowledge you'll gather from the experience will be a major push into new and better ideas!
I'd say just go for it. Worst case it fails, and although that can be scary, at least you'll know. Plus there's nothing stopping you from building it out, it failing ORIGINALLY, you moving on to another idea or several, then circling BACK to the original idea to iterate on it once you have some experience in building more projects.
Again, worst case is you build it and it flops. The alternative is that you DON'T build it and you never know - this is probably actually the worst case.
Good luck!
Is this what you're thinking of? https://www.indiehackers.com/post/how-to-brainstorm-great-business-ideas-ab51c3d51c
Most popular post on IH ever—for a reason!
It's not, although this seems like a great write-up for coming up with an idea.
I went back through @csallen history and posts to try to find the link to it (i hoped I had it saved, but must not).
THis seems to be a good post too from courtland where he opens the question up to IH members. He posts some good insight in the comments, along with all the other commenters: https://www.indiehackers.com/forum/what-s-on-your-idea-validation-checklist-c16137b637
If i find a bit more free time later, I will try to find the original Google Doc link I am thinking of and post it back here.
Good one! Mentioning @lindseyo, too, because IH doesn't notify people of replies to replies.
Thank you!!
Thanks for linking!!
@lindseyo finally found it! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e-pmkZCM96V_3FhwYFK5ubY8l52YNk9j4i25HWt6oyY/edit#
Hope this helps you narrow down your ideas to good ones / the best one!
Thank you for hunting this down!! And for all of the encouragement and advice :) love your point about an idea originally failing but that not having to be the end of it! It could just be a matter of not having enough experience or tools in your tool belt yet
Hi Lindsey! I love to read People like you because it reassures me that I am not alone in this boat !
I had the same exact reflexion recently and I came to learn something: This is the sign of someone who is too hard with himself. You judge yourself so hard that you don't even give you the chance to see what the outcome would be. Above all, you don't let others judge your results. You are answering for them: they don't need your idea! It's like seeing a nice girl but not asking her out because you have this mental noise that tells you she'll say no! All your saying to yourself in that moment, is that you are not worthy.
I am approaching this problem in 2 ways. First, I am working on myself to try to be less perfectionnist. 0 perfect product is less good than 10 imperfect products. So my attention is set toward the completion of an idea. Once it's done, I can then make it better. Second, I know I am very creative and I have ideas faster than I can accomplish them. If I am currently on a project, I will right down the ideas in a list. Once my project finished, I would revisit the list and pick the most appropriate project.
You can't head nowhere when you always change direction... for me at least. Appreciate yourself, have faith that you have value to bring to the world. Money should not be the aim, nor validation from others in that instance... simply to finish this first project will be a giant leap !
Stay strong and may the force be with you!
Thanks for this thoughtful response!! Love your point about believing that I can bring value and have something good to offer. And letting that guide me instead of an obsession with perfection. That’s a wonderful thing for me to keep in mind.
I was struggling with the same idea 1 week before, But now I have chosen and is started working upon it
You can read my story at : https://vivekgautamj.hashnode.dev/i-chose-not-so-unique-idea-lets-build-in-public
Glad you’ve chosen something and are pushing forward! An inspiration!