Entrepreneurs: How do you come up with Ideas? How did they do it?

[Rip]

For the past 5-6 months or so, me and my group have worked on creating a new "social media" website...Or atleast, we have been trying to come up with a unique idea for such a website. We have come across a number of ideas, but none of them are really unique enough or atleast attractive enough for us to continue on making the website (and pour thousands of dollars into the project).

So, my question is, how did the world-famous entrepreneurs do it? How did they come up with their Ipods, facebooks, HD-TVs, production companies, Playboys, Harry Potter, American Idol, etc? Did they specifically look at what consumers/people demanded at a particular time period, or did they come about such things by chance and created demand "randomly."

Is the idea behind "entrepreneurship" centred around "creating/inventing" new things, or is it taking one thing and finding a new use to it? I mean, facebook wasn't the first social network, it was, in fact, a derivative of "hot or not" and another Harvard-based social networking website in 2003/2004.

We're trying to create a "new service." But our discussions end there most of the time, because we don't actually know what "new service" means. How did Twitter or facebook create new service?

Thanks for your help. O and, what are your likes and dislikes of using giant social networking tools like Twitter, facebook, foursquare, LinkedIn, etc (kinda like a survey).

[?]

If you are looking to create a "new service" try and find a solution to a problem which you can build a business around. Entrepreneurship doesn't always mean creating/inventing or building something new to something that already exists. Although they can go hand to hand, so to speak. So with the ideas you have discussed do they solve a problem or, better yet, offer a need that the public could use.

[Head Exposed Press]

Cool! It's indeed nice to know that you're looking for ways to innovate or create another brand of social media. Hope it turns out successful in the near future!

In my opinion and observation, what makes social media networks like Facebook work is their capacity to bond individuals. Consider one of the hierarchies of Abraham Maslow, belongingness. It's one of the needs of man. Once man feels that he/she belongs somewhere they feel right, it downright becomes a hit. People will join the hub and get into that interesting site where they feel that they can get into. I think that's it.

And yes, I agree that innovation is pretty much about using the basic concepts and adding a twist to it. There are lots of ways to market your ideas such as through a true-to-life story, a touching image, etc. So perhaps social media can still engage with those basic concepts of belongingness and friendship. Or you can add in a different kind of mix to your network. How about a spot where people can be featured for a day? for doing something really simple yet extraordinary? It's a simple yet touching way to give in a boost.

Hope this helps, and do let me know if you've already started the site.

- Celine (from headexposed.com)

[Ray]

Did you know that "My Space" actually has its own computer virus named after it? It must have been used by hackers as the main breeding ground and caused severe damage to some computers. Not good for business. How about web sites that are easy to log onto? Playing 50 questions to log on angers some (me). Personally, I could give a damn about social networking. I have 2 friends and I have a phone. - Walter

[Apollenaire]

How did they do it? Steve Jobs had already created Apple when he came up with Ipods, it was just an extension of what he was already doing and seemed (to him) a logical next step. He had an uncanny sense of what people would use and that is what made his business so successful. Facebook wasn't the first social network but had characteristics and timing in the presentation of those characteristics that made it successful, HD-TVs was a case of the technological advancements coming together. Playboys was just an idea Hugh Hefner had for a magazine he wanted to publish and it coincided with what the public (or enough of the public) was ready for and wanted. Harry Potter author JK Rowlings was working for Amnesty International and conceived Harry Potter when a train she was taking was delayed. She married, had a kid and divorced and then finished the series. Like Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg) or Playboy, Rowlings did not start off thinking that her enterprise would make them world famous and ridiculously rich, the simply were passionate about something they felt could be out there and possibly pay for itself and if they could live off it fantastic (but I think only Hefner thought it could make a living, Zuckerberg just saw a need and Rowlings just wanted to write). Jobs took existing technology and applied it to a problem (accessing music).
Specifically looking at what consumers/people demand in a particular time period requires research (which anybody with the funds can do) so it requires a little luck. Now even if a group of companies do the research they are not equally placed to act on it. If they already have a reputation or can get into production quicker or can adapt it to a changing marketplace will determine if they are a trivia question or a large multinational in five or ten years. For the most part, if you have a group who is interested in social media, very interested and follow all that goes on in social media and think they have a way to improve on social media or some aspect of social media as it exists today then you have a workable idea. Or if you can come up with technology or use existing technology that replaces social media as it exists today or improves (facilitates) social media you have a workable idea.

A new service means just that a service that didn't exist before you implemented it. There were magazines with pictures of nude women before Playboy. What Hefner did was say I want more than just pictures of nude women, I want penetrating interviews, I want relevant articles, I want tastefully photographed models, I want famous models and he got Marilyn Monroe for his first issue which gave him a ton of publicity and sold a boatload of magazines which got him the advertising dollars to continue. So he didn't create something new, he enhanced it. Henry Ford didn't create the car, he created a method for mass producing the car. Teflon wan't invented to coat frying pans, it was invented by NASA to protect space ships re-entering the atmosphere, later it occurred to someone it could have commercial applications.

[kemperk]

my peers are correct. Some Es were trying to solve specific problems and some did and some wound up
solving other problems on the way.

Others just tinker and wind up luckily with new toys or gizmos.

I am not a fan of SN AS IT EXISTS. Thus, I am presuming you are only seeking SN as it is.

Linked in is a psydo biz/whatever, sn site. There are many that don't accomplish anything.

while you think of this.......sn gig, also remember a power and opportunity you have;

newspapers are slowly dying out but no IT system is taking up the slack; there is a void there.

what would happen if you communicated with every village in the US and contracted with someone
in each village/city for LIVE news. LIVE. YOU would, in 6 mo, have the largest news "system" in the world
at negligible cost.

another thing I want to do; for fun for now, biz later--have computer cams buried in many bodies
of water so we can see fish and what occurs under water here and there. you can join me

a lot more opport exists.

Can talk about it tomorrow or whenever you wish