I posted this question to Hacker News today and received dozens of great comments within a few hours. To quickly recap,
I have
- low expenses
- time (currently without a job, voluntarily)
- a decent amount of savings
- decent skills for the tech side of a web business
I don’t have
- a specific idea of what to work on
- someone else to work on an idea with
- a very good location (Dallas)
I left my job with the intention of doing full time studying, but I realized - hey, I could be working on something and learning. As it is, I’m just sort of reading lots of tech and teaching myself things I’ve wanted to learn for a while. Hacker News is a great place to ask for advice about such a situation, so I did.
To recap the most common / outstanding replies
- travel, travel, travel (and cheaply) while you can
- learn, learn, learn (this was my plan)
- read and experience things other than tech (to get out of a mental rut)
- write down any problems or nits I have, and any ideas regardless of how “good” they are
- pick a company / idea that’s already out there and do it better
- be more social. instead of reading at home try co-working and meetups
- start a side project. anything, really, just make something you like
- join another startup with an idea you’re passionate about
- work on your “brand”. just make and get your name out there
- start freelancing and find / solve general problems you find that multiple people have
All great ideas, and I’m probably missing some. Where to begin…