My problem is, I don't know what to do. I have some startup ideas but they are small ideas which I think they will not be a revolutionary startup. I would like to hear best advices to train my idea muscles of my brain to come up with some good ideas, or any new ideas from you.<p>Below I wrote down my skills and some info. But as you know, with this money I can hire any professional to do the work. To save money I'll use my skills, I'll do whatever I can.<p>My skills:<p>- Professional graphic & web design, ui/ux design (7 years in industry)<p>- Professional illustrator (diploma from painting school)<p>- Professional SEO knowledge (4 years experience)<p>- HTML, CSS skills, basic PHP skills.<p>- Professional Oral surgeon ( 2 universities, 10 years of study, doing my MD now)<p>- Intermediate Marketing skills (read some books, reading daily blogs, magazines, implemented on a startup)<p>- Intermediate Entrepreneurship skills (read some books, reading daily blogs, magazines, implemented on a startup)<p>- Small startup experience. Still CEO.<p>- Professional Piano player (5 years of piano school)<p>- Live in Germany, but don't have EU citizenship. Have residency permission as a professional doctor. Citizen of Azerbaijan Republic.<p>- Married, no kids.<p>- I'm 25.
Whenever you get frustrated about a tool, a process, a company, a product, or an interaction you have (basically anything that is not a personal relationship), write it down.<p>Keep a list of these. Come back to them once a week and think about what you would like to be different or how you would make your experience better. Cross off any frustrations that you would not pay money to fix.<p>Refine this list by determining if:<p>a) Others (people) have similar frustrations to you<p>b) Others would pay money to fix or reduce their frustrations<p>That should get you started in the right direction.
You need to consider what you want out of that money -- if you really want a fiscal return on your investment then you should stay away from startups. But if you serious...<p>First you should probably not consider being a simple angel investor unless you really know what you're doing. Unless you fully expect to lose all that money, with little to show other than a business card. The experience of being an angel investor will only really benefit you if you expect to have another infusion of cash in 6 months that you can blow through.<p>A more prudent course is to find a partner who might have an idea and an advisor who has been through the world of startups and stock before (they could be the same person, but just make sure the partner is not taking you for a ride). Then build it! Know that you can go for sometime without raising money, paying your bills out of the savings. Odds are you will still lose your money, but you will have learned a lot in the process -- including some learning that will really help you to be an angel investor in the future.
Wow 7 years of graphic design, 5 years of piano, and 10 years of study as an oral surgeon and you're only 25!<p>Sounds like you should pick up some skills in Mobile Development and solve a problem that you've encountered through out your extremely diverse life experiences. I recommend mobile because the distribution mechanisms are straight forward and more accessible.<p>Don't worry so much about whether some of these problems have already been tackled by others, but think about how you could solve them better.
Are you asking what startup to invest in or to start?<p>Startups are extremely high risk and the only way people make money investing in them is to invest in <i>a lot</i> of them. Given the amount of money you have, investing in startups would essentially be gambling. If you had 25x that amount, you could diversify enough to maybe see a positive return in 5 years, but even then it would be a gamble especially if you don't have any experience evaluating startups.<p>If you want to start a company, well that's different. I still wouldn't invest more than say, a quarter of that, but at least you'll have enough money in the bank that you don't have as much pressure on you.
Honestly, it sounds like you really need to decide what you want- do you want to launch an internet startup or do you want to continue as a professional oral surgeon?<p>If you choose to take your money and launch your own general internet startup (ie a "Dropbox"), I suggest you quit your MD tomorrow. Treating an start-up as a side project (and a side skill) is a bad idea. After all, your competitors are spending 100% of their time on their competing start-up.<p>That said, you do have domain expertise in oral surgery- try and leverage that domain expertise. Use your unique blend of skills to your advantage.
> Professional Oral surgeon ( 2 universities, 10 years of study, doing my MD now)<p>Invest in a way to help people maintain their teeth better. Any improvement in technology in this field would benefit a very large amount of people, and reduce pain and discomfort for people. This is something people would be very willing to pay for. Perhaps you can imagine some areas within dentistry where you could improve things? If you have a good idea to improve people's oral health, then I would be interested in investing the same amount as you in your idea.
If I understand you have $100k burning a hole in your pocket and you want to use it to fund a start-up in some way. If you want a riskier way but more input and ownership, you can post on angel list. You can post on HN for potential start-ups that need funding. You can invest in many project on kickstarter and spread the risk. Also, I personally have several niche start-ups that could use funding and man-hours to move a little faster.
I have a couple of friends who are oral surgeons. There are many pain points in the software and process they use. Being in the field, I'm sure you can find some start up ideas to alleviate the pain?
I'd suggest start with what you know and your background. If you don't do a start up, at least you can find companies that are in your industry to invest in.
Remember, don't put all your eggs in one basket!
If you don't have an idea or a burning desire to start something _right now_, then you're probably just going to end up burning 100K really fast. Why not just put it in a savings account, earn a bit of interest, and keep it handy for when you come across that brilliant idea?
I recommend reading Atul Gawande's books:<p>The Checklist Manifesto
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right/dp/0312430000/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328814006&sr=1-1" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right/d...</a><p>Better
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Better-Surgeons-Performance-Atul-Gawande/dp/0805082115" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Better-Surgeons-Performance-Atul-Gawan...</a><p>He's a New Yorker writer and practicing surgeon. His books contain lots of insight about ways that medicine could be vastly improved by innovation. Unfortunately, few techies are doctors.