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

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How to Come up with Good Startup Ideas
Trip Adler
Co-founder and CEO, Scribd
Founders Institute Presentation
May 19, 2009
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The Process of 
Startup Ideation
The Scribd Story (SS)
The Trip Method (TM)
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Idea A
Nowigo - a ridesharing service
Lesson: Just because you have an idea, it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea
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Idea A-B
Nowigo - transportation search engine + ridesharing service
Lesson: Work on something that has potential to be huge
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Idea C
Hulist - Craigslist for colleges
Lesson: Work on something that has a built-in mechanism for getting huge fast
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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
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Idea E
1-800-ASK-TRIP - A call center for everything
Lesson: This idea is awesome!
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Idea F
Almost Twitter - Rate-your-happiness
Lesson: Bounce your ideas off smart and creative people; get them involved in the creative process
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Idea G 
(Scribd Beginning)
A way for academics to publish online more easily 
“The YouTube for academic publishing”
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Idea G-H
A way for academics, creative writers, or anyone to publish online more easily 
“The YouTube for all kinds of writing”
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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”
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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”
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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
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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)
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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
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Trip Method Unit (TMU)
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Putting the TMUs together: Path to Success
A
B
C
A-D
F
E
F-G
F-G-I
J
H
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Thanks
Trip Adler
trip@scribd.com
www.twitter.com/tripadler