Quotation
Make something people want.
– Paul Graham. http://www.paulgraham.com/good.html
I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others… I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent.
– Thomas Edison, 1847–1931
Discussion
You have to be the sort of person who makes things: a maker.
But it’s not enough to make something that you think is cool, or that you want.
You have to make something that other people want – enough to use often, and preferably enough to pay for it.
If you don’t, your startup will not succeed.
If you are a maker, and people admire what you’ve made but don’t actually want it enough to use regularly or pay for, you don’t have a startup. You might better off looking for a patron for your art project.
If a very small circle of your peers admire what you’ve done because it’s hard or elegant or illustrates some new principle or discovery, or you’ve built a technology that other people can build upon, you might have a Science Project, but you don’t have a startup.
Solution
- Find a patron who will give you a grant for your Science Project or Art Project.
- Find a way to commercialize it.
