Ask HN: Startup idea or just a fun project? (Hardware hacking startup) Hi HN, Me and some friends in college are working on a large project of ours that we think might make a good startup. However, we're honestly a bit unsure whether we're simply solving a problem only we and a few other people have (which isn't a bad thing, of course), or whether there would be significant demand for our project. Put somewhat simply, we're working on building the 'reddit of hardware hacking': a site where people can share their projects with the world, people can upvote these projects, follow people working on these projects, and so forth. The entire system is about gaining points by building things people like. Not to be overly ambitious (starting small is generally a Good Idea(TM)), but some of our side-projects currently include online blueprinting and circuit testing, all of which should of course become shareable with other people. We're also working on a sort of marketplace where people can buy and sell these hacks, but that's still in the not-sure-how-feasible-it-is phase[1]. Do you think this could make a good startup, or whether we should simply slow down and keep working on this as a 'fun project' kind of thing? [1] Mainly because of quality assurance, liability and price control. If you have any suggestions, they're very welcome! |