An essay by John Melonakos
Startup Ideas that I Dropped During Grad School
Yesterday I posted about startup ideas that I dropped during my undergrad. Today, I’ll share ideas that I dropped in grad school, prior to running with AccelerEyes.
Prior to AccelerEyes, I tried a number of startup ideas and ultimately left those behind:
- Dry Cleaning Point of Sale Software – one of my friends had a connection with the head of the Korean Cleaner’s Association of Atlanta (which represents over 90% of dry cleaners in Georgia). From him, we gained insider information that Korean’s hated their current POS systems and wanted more advanced software. We spent a summer on a prototype and realized that our hearts were not in dry cleaning. So we shut it down to pursue better opportunities more aligned with our technical backgrounds.
- MesmerEyes – We started work on building a computer vision virtual mirror for applying makeup. It would enable a woman to virtually try many more shades than is physically possible in a store. We did some customer development. I took several trips to cosmetic counters in malls to understand the customer pain. We shut this down for a few reasons: 1) team was wrong – a bunch of guys with no cosmetic background, 2) there were several patents in the space already and other firms developing similar technology, and 3) it was clear that virtual mirrors would never replace the customer service experience of the counters in retail stores because the human element is a significant part of that experience. Even though a VP at L’Oreal had given us the “verbal interest nod”; we shut it down.
- Immunohistochemistry Colon Crypt Image Analyzer – We received funding from a professor at Emory to work on a computer vision program to analyze colon crypt imagery that the doctor studied in his lab. We hoped to be able to spin the software out into a commercial business. We shut this project down for several reasons: 1) the market of labs studying colon crypts is small and the work to extend to a broader audience was large, 2) we failed to get NIH SBIR funding for a commercialization of the work, and 3) Emory University would not release the full ownership of the intellectual property to us.
In hindsight, it is clear that AccelerEyes was a much better bet than those ideas, but at the time things were not so clear. When looking to start a business, it’s important to fail fast and iterate until you find something that works.
What ideas did you explore before settling on your current startup? How do you fail fast when exploring startup ideas?