Ask HN: Where to start?

I graduated from university a year and a half ago and started my own web business. The company now makes enough money to support myself entirely.<p>The business was borne out of desperation. I needed to make money quickly so I spent a weekend thinking about: 1) What other people were doing online that made money; 2) Where my unique set of skills and experiences would give me a competitive advantage; 3) Whether I could build the business and start making sales without the need for cash upfront (I had none);<p>I settled on selling law revision notes to those studying UK law (www.oxbridgenotes.co.uk). Having studied UK law I could easily spot high quality revision notes. I knew my market. I knew what law students wanted and what their concerns were. I knew exactly what terms they type in Google when faced with a difficult essay. These were my competitive advantages.<p>The "make money" aspect is very important. Too many startups I see around me (I'm in Ireland) come up with a "great idea" which ultimately never makes a penny. Don't be one of those people. Ask yourself "what can I do that could __make__ __money__ within two months" and you will be off to a good start.<p>You said you've started a few good projects. I suggest that once you find a project that makes money (assuming you haven't already) you should drop the other projects and focus all your energies. You can always return to the other projects once you're rich.<p>-- Jack Kinsella

Connect with other hackers and startups in India. See <a href="http://hackerstreet.in/" rel="nofollow">http://hackerstreet.in/</a><p>Make something, however simple, even just a webpage talking about yourself and your interests and put it up online. Put your contact details and skills in your HN profile.

Do you have programming skills? If you do, just start building small things like your own CMS or a simple social news site. This will help get the creative juices flowing and pretty soon you'll be thinking of other cool things to add to these small projects.<p>I can't find the quote at the moment but I saw one along the lines of: Ansel Adams took maybe 100 photographs for every 1 that turned out decent.<p>Basically.....build a lot of small apps/programs/websites and eventually you'll come across one that you can't stop thinking about it's potential (a good indicator is how many sleepless nights you have because you can't stop brainstorming about an idea).

Maybe start looking for specific problems that need solutions and start building them.