Guide to evaluating Startup Ideas

I was reading this article by Tony Wright and found it to have some good points. A lot is pretty obvious – getting users for free by marketing virally being one. One thing caught my eye though

Is it an invention or re-invention? Hats off to you inventors out there, but I strongly prefer an existing market to creating one from scratch. The companies whose equity I covet didn’t build anything NEW, they just built something BETTER (Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Craigslist, eBay, Zynga etc). In short, the first mover advantage is a crock of shit (most of the time).

I think that is a very good point – a lot of friends ask me about startups as I have done quite a bit in that area. They often seem to lose all faith in a good idea just because someone else is in that space. Dont worry about it. There will *always* be others doing what you do – just do it better and smarter. Yes, that may be easier said than done, but its a good goal to have

I recommend reading the article – definitely worth the time if you are into startups