I’ve been a fan of Paul Graham’s essays for a while now. He’s written a lot about startups and programming. If you haven’t read his work, it’s worth checking out (he’s pretty qualified to talk about these things). He’s written a lot, and many of his essays are quite long, so I’ve posted some of the highlights (along with links):

From “The 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups” (http://paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html)

“In a sense there’s just one mistake that kills startups: not making something users want. If you make something users want, you’ll probably be fine, whatever else you do or don’t do. And if you don’t make something users want, then you’re dead, whatever else you do or don’t do.”

“It seems like the best problems to solve are ones that affect you personally. Apple happened because Steve Wozniak wanted a computer, Google because Larry and Sergey couldn’t find stuff online, Hotmail because Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith couldn’t exchange email at work.”

“…don’t get too attached to your original plan, because it’s probably wrong. Most successful startups end up doing something different than they originally intended—often so different that it doesn’t even seem like the same company.”

“The reason we tell founders not to worry about the business model initially is that making something people want is so much harder. I don’t know why it’s so hard to make something people want. It seems like it should be straightforward. But you can tell it must be hard by how few startups do it.”

From “How to Start a Startup” (http://paulgraham.com/start.html)

“I can think of several heuristics for generating ideas for startups, but most reduce to this: look at something people are trying to do, and figure out how to do it in a way that doesn’t suck.”

“If you can’t understand users, however, you should either learn how or find a co-founder who can.”

“…if you’re developing technology for money, you’re probably not going to be developing it for people like you. Indeed, you can use this as a way to generate ideas for startups: what do people who are not like you want from technology?”

“Most rich people are looking for good investments. If you really think you have a chance of succeeding, you’re doing them a favor by letting them invest. Mixed with any annoyance they might feel about being approached will be the thought: are these guys the next Google?”

From “How to Get Startup Ideas” (http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html)

“…by far the most common mistake startups make is to solve problems no one has.”

“When a startup launches, there have to be at least some users who really need what they’re making—not just people who could see themselves using it one day, but who want it urgently.”

“The clash of domains is a particularly fruitful source of ideas. If you know a lot about programming and you start learning about some other field, you’ll probably see problems that software could solve. “

For a sort-of example of this, read the comments here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8108250

“A crowded market is actually a good sign, because it means both that there’s demand and that none of the existing solutions are good enough.”

From “Mind the Gap” (http://paulgraham.com/gap.html)

“The only thing technology can’t cheapen is brand. Which is precisely why we hear ever more about it… In 1900, if you kept a carriage, no one asked what year or brand it was. If you had one, you were rich. And if you weren’t rich, you took the omnibus or walked. Now even the poorest Americans drive cars, and it is only because we’re so well trained by advertising that we can even recognize the especially expensive ones.”