Stupid ideas for startups
As I met entrepreneurs over the years, often my first reaction upon hearing their pitch is “that is one f-ing stupid idea” — and I mean I was not free of guilt either, as sometimes (often) was on the receiving end of that feedback.
Over the years some of those companies failed, some succeeded. I think by now I am starting to develop a theory around it. Basically there are unique ideas that are stupid but that nobody is doing[1], more often than not turned out ok [2] because markets develop and not having competition is a great thing. Having a technical team helped but there were successes either way.
The really stupid ones are the ones that are not necessarily stupid per se but they become so because everyone is doing it. Just because someone did “Uber for X” ten times in NY doesn’t mean that someone might crack the design, but sometimes non-technical founders come up with something stupid, that every single MBA student came up with every single year without trying to understand why others failed, how to keep costs low, and how to design something people want (one my favorite stupid ideas that keep seeing is stuff around optimization of airline points usage, which is something that nobody, and I mean NOBODY in the whole fucking world[3] gives a shit about, ever. Another London favorite is about trying to insert themselves as middlemen between landlords and renters).
Conversely, those ideas that sound lukewarm-ish good but that when you scratch under the surface and you find nothing are doubly bad because they fail often and because it happens after someone invest in it, never before.
TLDR: if you are doing something stupid, make sure you are the only one doing it.
[1] Possibly this is because there is so much luck involved in each success, by virtue of being alone means that you get to roll the dice over and over until it works.
[2] Just to be clear here I learned this the hard way by being proved wrong over and over. I’m not some sort of oracle here.
[3] I’m sure there are people that disagree with me on this subject. I also know where bears defecate.
