Dreamy Startup Ideas
I have an investment banker friend who is toying with exiting his well-paying job to enter the startup world. Occasionally, he runs startup ideas by me. Here is a conversation we had yesterday that illustrates the difficulty talented people in well-paying jobs face when considering an exit into the startup world.
Let me start by sharing the raw conversation:
Friend: Okay, my best startup idea ever…a wireless water meter reader that sits in the house beside the thermostat and keeps a real time tab on how much water you have used for the month and the cost. Also keeps historical data. Sold through sprinkler maintenance workers and possibly a small monthly subscription as you save on the device throughout the life of the product. All I need now is someone to program it.
Me: I’m not sure what you envision exactly, and I know startups doing this.
Friend: They are copying me.
Me: I’m confused how water usage is attached to the thermostat. Installing near the water meter makes sense.
Friend: It needs to be inside so that you can look at it everyday. How are you supposed to catch a water leak that is driving up your water bill if you only see it once a week?
Me: Smartphone notifications. Are you familiar with Nest? You can control everything from your phone.
Friend: That works, but only a fraction of the population is controlling everything with smartphone now. It can sync up to phone, but there is a need for an inside device for the majority of the population that likes something tangible on the wall. Maybe not though.
Me: Speak of the devil, I just ran across this tweet, https://twitter.com/blakepatton/status/ 421429221924536321
Friend: Shoot, they one-upped me. They can turn off the water remotely. Okay, new plan. How about a smart thermometer that tells your ground temp of your yard. I don’t know what for, but I’m sure that someone would want to know 🙂
Me: Haha, I know people doing smart soil analyzers for farms
Friend: Crap…literally!
I didn’t mean to rain on my friend’s parade. After this exchange, I thought about his situation. He is consumed by a demanding job and does not have much time to devote to searching for startup ideas. He’s essentially in the mode of just hoping that startup ideas flow into his mind.
There’s nothing wrong with that, and it’s a great start. But it is much easier to generate startup ideas when you’re living in the future as Paul Graham explained.
Also, just because someone else is working on an idea does not mean that you should be afraid to do it too. Many markets are not winner-take-all. Maybe you’ll out-execute those that have a head start. Knowledge of existing competition is just a data point in the analysis of whether or not to start a business, not a deal-breaker.
Today I met with Prem Bhatia who is starting up the Founder Institute chapter in Atlanta, focused on helping BigCo employees enter the startup world. I’m excited to be part of the great team of mentors assembled to kick off that program.
There’s a big leap of faith involved with going from a well-paying job to start a company. Often it is more palatable to leave a BigCo job to be an early employee of another startup as a softer path. In any case, at some point there is always a leap, and it is interesting to watch as others debate the decision.
What are your thoughts on generating startup ideas? How did you leave the well-beaten paths to join a startup?