Ask HN: How should I choose which startup idea to work on?

6 points by anorphirith 3 years ago | 4 comments

I've been a programmer for the last 7 years and my ADD brain is very good at pattern recognition, so I always get tech startup ideas. Lately I've been wanting to actually execute and start one of those ideas. I have a list of about 8 ideas that are scalable & realistic but I'm having a hard time on just picking one to focus on. Any tips or guidelines for picking ideas amongst others? (I'm aware of Pieter Levels's "one idea a month" but other like Sam Altman advocate the opposite) thanks !

robocat 3 years ago |

Your ADHD will be your biggest challenge. Unless you find a way to keep focused, how will you invest enough grit and determination for long enough to make any business work?

Perhaps find a non-developer cofounder, who has complementary skills to yours, and who is a bit more obsessive about making just one business work. Find an idea that interests you both enough to stick at it.

I co-founded with someone in part because I admired his tenacity, and that helped keep me focused. We also co-founded with two others that had other complementary skills to us (four founders with a successful result is uncommon). We had worked together so we had some ideas of each others morals, strengths, and weaknesses. We just did a boring miniscule B2B sector, but we had worked on parts of it together before at our job, so risk was relatively low.

throwawayjs 3 years ago |

I would pick the one that you would have the easiest time completing. That’s how I make my decisions: the one with the highest chance of execution and follow through.

NotInTech 3 years ago |

Talk to potential customers, ask how much they’d pay and build the one with the highest total, anticipated revenue.

readonthegoapp 3 years ago | |

think i'd agree with this general sentiment. would someone pay for it, how long would it take to complete it/mvp, etc.