Take a simple idea and take it seriously
jasonleow • 25 Feb 2024 •
What’s a simple idea in plain sight that we’re not taking seriously enough?
“Take a simple idea and take it seriously.” — Charlie Munger
Simple idea in an exploding market
Tony took a simple idea—a UI for ChatGPT—and took it to $500k in revenue. In a niche that most people thought would become commoditized. But take an exponentially exploding market + great distribution + awesome build skills, you got a runaway outlier. What are the markets out there that are expanding right now?
Simple idea with tired dominant players that people are sick of
Google is a great bad example here. When fake news of Gmail shutting down got around this week, everyone ‘fell’ for it. Not because they were easy to fool. But because Google keeps killing well-loved products. Trust in Google is so low, they’ll believe fake news. Imagine you create a Gmail alternative that promises to stay up no matter what. What a simple idea! Free email. Can’t get more simple than that. Or any of the countless popular products in the Google graveyard. Someone please bring back Google Jamboard, Google Optimize, , Google Short Links, Google Reader! Which other incumbent companies are facing this crisis of faith that you can leverage on?
Simple idea but make 1 Github commit per day to it consistently
This works really well when you enter validated niches, like say analytics or social media scheduling tools. Simple, common products that everyone needs. Make an alternative, add a small unique spin, and then put in the consistent work of building features, writing blog articles, doing marketing and SEO consistently. And eventually you’ll carve out a slice of your pie. That’s Pallyy’s story, a social media scheduling tool like Buffer. That’s also Tally Forms’ story, an alternative to Typeforms. Which other well validated products in big market could do with a simpler/cheaper/better alternative?
What other simple ideas are we missing?
Comments
@Winkletter Oh I’ve always loved the success story of Liquid Death. A classic “who woulda thought you can sell plain water in a new way”!
Liquid Death is an example of a well-validated product adapted for a niche market. They took an existing product (water) and marketed it to a different demographic. The company was founded by a graphic designer who noticed people at concerts drinking water from energy drink cans. Not only did they figure out a new way to sell water, but they’re piggybacking on the energy-drink companies’ branding of the “tallboy” can.