15777171-How-to-Come-up-with-Good-Ideas-for-Startups-the-Scribd-Story-and-the-Trip-Method

How to Come up with
Good Startup Ideas
Trip Adler
Co-founder and CEO, Scribd
Founders Institute Presentation
May 19, 2009
The Process of
Startup Ideation
The Scribd Story (SS)
The Trip Method (TM)
Idea A
Nowigo - a ridesharing
service
Lesson: Just because you
have an idea, it doesn’t mean
it’s a good idea
Idea A-B
Nowigo - transportation
search engine + ridesharing
service
Lesson: Work on something
that has potential to be huge
Idea C
Hulist - Craigslist for colleges
Lesson: Work on something
that has a built-in mechanism
for getting huge fast
Idea D
Moobub - Spam-your-friends
Lesson: If you try it and it
doesn’t work - and this
causes you to lose confidence
in the idea - then stop
working on it
Idea E
1-800-ASK-TRIP - A call
center for everything
Lesson: This idea is
awesome!
Idea F
Almost Twitter - Rate-yourhappiness
Lesson: Bounce your ideas
off smart and creative people;
get them involved in the
creative process
Idea G
(Scribd Beginning)
A way for academics to
publish online more easily
“The YouTube for academic
publishing”
Idea G-H
A way for academics,
creative writers, or anyone to
publish online more easily
“The YouTube for all kinds
of writing”
Idea G-H-I
 A way for academics, creative
writers, or anyone to publish
online more easily by uploading
documents sitting on their hard
drive and displaying them in a
web browser
 “The YouTube for documents”
Idea G-H-I-J
 A way for academics, creative writers,
or anyone to publish online more easily
by uploading documents sitting on their
hard drive and displaying them in a web
browser, and drive traffic to them from
Google, social sites, the Scribd
community, etc.
 “The YouTube for documents”
Idea G-H-I-J-K-L-M-….
(Scribd Today)
 Many more major ideas along the
way: iPaper, groups, API, mobile
reading, ads in documents, Scribd
Store, etc.
 A social publishing company that
aims to liberate the written word
by democratizing the publishing
process for everyday people
The Trip Method of Startup
Ideation
 The basic idea:
A startup is not just one
idea, but a series of ideas put together
 What this means



Just come up with an idea and start working on it
Constantly keep pushing yourself to come up with
new ideas
If you come up with a better idea
- And it fits into the original, then merge
- And it’s totally different, then switch (okay early
on, much harder later)
The TM: Basic Principles
 Push yourself to be creative


Usually two hour bursts once a week
Stop everything to ‘be creative’
 Move your best idea forward 90 hours per
week
 Building it, researching it, promoting it, etc.
 Trust your instincts and don’t worry
about others’ opinions
 Always evaluate, combine concepts, and re-evaluate
 If your gut tells you an idea is good, then it’s good
Trip Method Unit (TMU)
Idea B is better
Idea A
Idea B
Idea B is good and
related to idea A
Idea B is bad
Idea B
Idea A-B
Putting the TMUs together:
Path to Success
Quality of idea
Success!
F-G-I
F-G
F
A-D
Time
A
B
E
C
J
H
= TMU
Getting Started
 Think of something you need/want
 Think of something others need/want
 Figure out what’s broken and how can you fix it
 Find out what’s working for other companies and apply it in
a new way
 Invent a new technology and figure out how to apply it
 Think of a marketing/growth strategy and then fit a product
into it
How to Evaluate an Idea

What other people think (probably better if they don’t like it, but not always)

User data; reaction by the user / customer

Success of similar ideas

Sounds different / weird / radical

Potential to change direction / leaves options open

Has a way to get big fast

Potential to be something huge / game changing

Something you have the resources / knowledge / expertise to build

Your gut feeling - what matters the most - needs to be developed through TM
More Ideation Lessons
 Having a great idea is often about connecting
the dots
 Creative ideas often form from intersection of
two people’s thinking
 If any idea seems too good to be true to you,
then get started
 It’s often about simple innovations - taking
existing elements and repackaging them
 Don’t pay too much attention to what’s trendy,
but learn from what’s working for others
More Ideation Lessons
 Being a good founder is a learned
skill - through trial and error
 Commitment is good but always
challenge your current ideas
 Hard work + creativity + TM =
Success
Thanks
Trip Adler
[email protected]
www.twitter.com/tripadler