Wow that was pretty insightful. Never looked at it that way. It seemed like local startups are getting funded with half baked ideas or clones and I thought that I could do just as well as them so I was pretty hesitant to find a job. I guess that it was a little arrogant on my part to think of it that way. But yeah I have began to apply for jobs at local startups and some companies outside the tech industry. Thanks for the heads up!
1) Admittedly, my earlier startups are kinda just following the hype hence the Groupon clone and what not. I have since stopped following the hype. However, that is also the reason why I was stuck in my room for 6 months keep trying to find "the right one".
2) Fortunately, money is not an issue. I am very privilege to be in this position. With that being said, I can't just sit down and do nothing. I need to find some source of income.
3) I was messing around with Arduino, 3D printers and Raspberry Pi while I as still working in my friend's startup. Ever since then, I felt like I needed to do something more "serious" to make some money as I am out of job at the moment.
- I don't think "stuck in my room for 6 months keep trying to find "the right one"" is a good idea. Please change your plan/approach.
- Since money is not an issue, we can cross out the need to get a job to make ends meet and start thinking about fun things to do.
- I believe Idea is not a light-bulb moment after meditation for 6 months in your room; it sort of require you try doing different things in order to bump into the light-bulb moment.
More random advices:
- Do u like Hardware or Software? Assuming you are into tech ideas.
- Unless you have partners and funding, the scope of your project need to be within your own capabilities in order to reach mediocre success in terms of user adoptions.
- You don't need the best idea, just good enuf idea which interest you. Why passion/interest in important? So that you will work on it even though there is no money and users for 6 months, and you use/like your own product.
- Discipline. Build/Ship something every month is an interesting idea.
Well, the one thing that pops up is to create an Ebook about learning web development in 30 days. It's not going to be a startup or anything. It's just something that I could probably ship it in a month and I might learn how to sell a product at the same time. Only thing is, there are a ton of materials outside for free already, so I could potentially be wasting my time.
It seems like you're trying to come up with ideas you think are marketable. That's fine of course, but my advice is to worry about that much later. The best source of initial ideas is organic real-world things. You can't force it exactly, except by constantly creating new interesting things. Eventually you're likely to tap into at least one rich vein of human need.
Uber was created because Travis Kalanick wanted to be able to order Lincoln Towncars from his iPhone. He expected it to be used by rich people for airport and nightclub rides. A niche service for the elite. He had no idea they would be recruiting regular people to drive other people around. Now they're on course to change transportation across the world for everyone. They may eventually spare millions of people from drunk driven accidents.
