Selecting Your Project

This is your chance to come up with pie-in-the-sky ideas including overly-ambitious projects. After you come up with your list, you’ll pare it down, and likely simplify the goals to make it more approachable.

Inspiration

• Reflect on your day-to-day: where do you see an opportunity for an optimization or an improvement?
  • An old product development trick is to observer users creating their own systems and then turning it into an app
  • For example, roommates might keep a shared doc of pantry items they run out of to use when grocery shopping - could this be a dedicated app?
• Current VC-funded apps tend to address the needs of wealthy white consumers with high disposable incomes so they can trade money for free time
  • Think of other markets more related to your and your family’s life experiences
  • Who is not being served by current apps? What needs do they have that are different that the assumptions baked into current apps?
• What do you think about a lot? What adds friction to your life or those you see around you?
• Consider whether to make a feature into a standalone project. Look at some of your favorite apps, sites, or products. Can you re-purpose and improve upon one of its features?
• As a Techtonica participant…
  • What is a tool that could be useful for future participants?
• Analyzing Data
  • Is there a dataset you would love to dive into?
  • What questions do you have about your city or locale? Could data answer it?
  • DataSF - hosts free data about the city
  • Many popular apps have APIs or offline anonymized datasets for student research

Idea Generation - Alone

• Despite popular opinion, thinking alone produces better ideas than group brainstorming
• Put yourself into FLOW MODE (mute slack, etc)
  • Using paper is likely best
• Review the above criteria
• Check out the sample idea list
• Set a 5 minute timer on your phone
  • Write down as many ideas as you can think of
  • Using paper may actually be better
  • Don’t go into detail, just give them short names
• Use a new sheet of paper. Set another 5 minute timeer
  • Write down another set of ideas
• Repeat as needed until you have ~20 ideas
• Put them in a markdown doc - add some notes to each so someone else reading has a basic idea of what you meant
• Create a Gist and Slack URL to the Seam

Idea Generation - Pair

• Review your pair’s list from the solo exercise
• Synchronously in-person or over VC, set a strict 5 minute timer
• Come up with more ideas
  • these can be variations of your pair’s idea (Like your X but with Y)
  • they can be something that combines an idea from your list with an idea from your pair’s list
  • they can also just be unrelated ideas
• After the 5 minutes, read them off and explain them
• Tell your pair which of their ideas is your favorite you’d most want to steal
• Create a Gist and Slack URL to the Seam

Example Final Project Ideas

Many of these would be too large in scope for a final project, but hopefully they can help get your brainstorming hat humming and come up with your own.

Examples in the World

• Look at some example projects:

  • Hack Reactor
  • Hackbright

For some inspiration, see ProductHunt for lots of existing products of every shape and size.

Web Applications

• LikeShop clone - solves the Link in Bio problem. Make a simple MVP that Techtonica can use on their Instagram page
• Group chat app
• An app that helps a student learn a programming topic

Plug-ins, Extensions of Existing Products

• Instead of /randomcoffee, make your own Pair Bot
• Day Lead bot - sends the Day Lead reminders to start stand-up/wrap-up, etc
• Build a browser extension to make a mini app inside the browser

Hardware / Internet of Things IoT

• 📦 Time Qube - a colored-light that is a subtle cue for speakers that they’re running out of time
• Digital Pomodoro Timer - make a display of your current task
• IoT Projects - the companion for a book. Might be good to see some other ideas