I’m an unabashed fan of the Y Combinator startup incubation program and very much enjoy reading Paul Graham’s excellent startup blog. This past weekend Paul had a long post outlining 30 broad startup ideas that they would like to fund. After reading through the list several times, I got an idea of my own. Why not get back into my “A Startup A Day” blog in a big way – by spending the next 30 days working through the list one by one and coming up with an idea to address each and every scenario that Paul outlined in his post.
Here are a few of the ground rules:
- If by chance I’ve previously came up with an idea that addresses one of the scenarios, I’m allowed to repost that idea.
- I get to take weekends off – unless I get really inspired (aka bored) and feel like doing a bonus post
- I may need some help along the way – anyone interested in signing up to do a guest post for one of the ideas, just let me know!
This should be fun. Let the challenge begin!
38 responses so far ↓
Dan Mayer // July 21, 2008 at 11:02 pm |
Sounds fun good luck posting on each idea… perhaps next you should then take your favorite and give yourself 30 days to try to implement something?
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[...] About Me ← The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown Down: I’m Stepping Up to Paul Graham’s Challenge [...]
astartupaday // July 21, 2008 at 11:50 pm |
Thanks Dan, I’ll definitely need the luck. I like the idea of implementing my favorite idea – might be a good candidate for our next “A Startup A Week” episode (check it out at http://www.astartupaweek.com if you don’t know what I’m talking about)
AK // July 22, 2008 at 12:20 am |
I dont know – you sound smart – but at the end of day it seems like time, negative space and subconscious is where the good ideas really come from – hashing an idea out over days, weeks, months … I admire the effort though – why not?
Bombarollo // July 22, 2008 at 4:31 am |
The number two of the list is already here:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/21/we-want-a-dead-simple-web-tablet-help-us-build-it/
astartupaday // July 22, 2008 at 9:37 am |
Thanks AK. There’s actually two sides to this project. 1) Part of the challenge of coming up with an idea is being able to distill it down into a couple of paragraphs that people can understand. Traditionally I’ve been very bad at that, and this excercise forces me to practice this regularly. 2) Over the course of the past year or so, by constantly coming up with ideas and getting them out there in front of people, I’ve started to build a filter that gives me an intrinsic sense of what ideas are total crap and which ones might actually be feasible. Hopefully over time I’ll keep developing that sense and when that one really fantastic idea does emerge out of the “time, negative space, and subconscious”, I’ll be able to pick it out from the rest of the noise.
matt m // July 22, 2008 at 9:39 am |
That sounds good. I wonder how many other people are doing similar things? I am rocking a couple of them myself right now. Why wait for inspiration to strike when you can just get going? Let me know when you need teammates on some of the ideas!
Y Combinator Challenge #2 - Simplified Browsing « A Startup A Day // July 22, 2008 at 3:55 pm |
[...] July 22, 2008 · No Comments For more information about the Y Combinator Challenge, check out this post first [...]
Ross Hill // July 22, 2008 at 9:07 pm |
Great idea! I’m subscribed to see what you come up with.
astartupaday // July 23, 2008 at 7:03 pm |
Thanks, Ross!
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Y Combinator Challenge #5 - Enterprise Software 2.0 « A Startup A Day // July 25, 2008 at 1:29 pm |
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Y Combinator Challenge #9 - Photo/video sharing services « A Startup A Day // July 31, 2008 at 8:01 am |
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Y Combinator Challenge #11 - Office Competitor « A Startup A Day // August 4, 2008 at 7:02 am |
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Y Combinator Challenge #13 - Online Learning « A Startup A Day // August 6, 2008 at 8:02 am |
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Y Combinator Challenge #14 - Tools for Measurement « A Startup A Day // August 7, 2008 at 12:42 pm |
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Y Combinator Challenge #15 - Off the Shelf Security « A Startup A Day // August 8, 2008 at 10:25 am |
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Y Combinator Challenge #16 - « A Startup A Day // August 11, 2008 at 8:02 am |
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Y Combinator Challenge #17 - New Payment Methods « A Startup A Day // August 12, 2008 at 8:02 am |
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Y Combinator Challenge #18 - The WebOS « A Startup A Day // August 13, 2008 at 11:03 pm |
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Y Combinator Challenge #19 - Application and/or data hosting « A Startup A Day // August 15, 2008 at 10:56 am |
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Y Combinator Challenge #20 - Shopping Guides « A Startup A Day // August 16, 2008 at 11:41 am |
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Y Combinator Challenge #21 - Finance Software for Individuals and Small Businesses « A Startup A Day // August 18, 2008 at 8:03 am |
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Y Combinator Challenge #22 - A Web-Based Excel/Database Hybrid « A Startup A Day // August 19, 2008 at 8:03 am |
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Y Combinator Challenge #23 - More Open Alternatives to Wikipedia « A Startup A Day // August 20, 2008 at 8:02 am |
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Y Combinator Challenge #24 - A Buffer Against Bad Customer Service « A Startup A Day // September 16, 2008 at 8:03 am |
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Y Combinator Challenge #25 - Craigslist Competitor « A Startup A Day // September 17, 2008 at 8:02 am |
[...] September 17, 2008 · No Comments For more information about the Y Combinator Challenge, check out this post first. [...]
Y Combinator Challenge #26 - Better Video Chat « A Startup A Day // September 19, 2008 at 8:08 am |
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Y Combinator Challenge #27 - Hardware/software hybrids « A Startup A Day // September 23, 2008 at 8:04 am |
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Y Combinator Challenge #28 - Fixing Email Overload « A Startup A Day // September 24, 2008 at 8:01 am |
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Bookmarks about Startup // October 10, 2008 at 5:15 am |
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