How to know when an idea is worth pursuing?

My approach is always like:

- Donate 40 hours to that idea. Doesn't matter the goal. - During this 40 hours evaluate the following: - Feasibility - Long term goal. - Team needed it. - Create a score card (2x2 concept here positivexnegative, fastxslow). - Explore ideas for it(Design thinking approach here). - Explore the feedback from people you know. - Now that you have spent 38 hours. Use the last 2 hours to pitch and collect from other people that you don't know and pitch the idea, and place in the score card.

If you have enough evidence (data) you can discover insights (analysis) to peruse or not not. If you still have other areas to cover, I will limit the cut off time to 100 hours.

That's how I discover if ideas are worth my actions.

Well, there's many factors to consider, any of which could make the idea, worthwhile or not:

- The market, a new type of buggy whip might not have much demand anymore [1].

- The investment for an MVP, building a rocket for mars is a great idea but may take millions of dollars and years of time.

- The competition, creating a new Search Engine is a great idea, but the field is dominated by big powerful companies like; Google & Bing...

- The novelty, a new JavaScript framework work web apps must be pretty different to attract much attention these days.

- Your expertise, creating a new baby toy with no knowledge of babies may turn out terribly.

- Your passion, if the idea doesn't excite you, then it's probably not worth dedicating your time to.

Passion is probably the most influential factor in my opinion, because it should keep you motivated when things get tough.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/10digi.html

It's amazing how many people e stumble across the Ask HN and manage to navigate the sign-up-and-post procedure but fail to grasp how Google works. Here's some suggested search terms "mvp" , "proof of concept", "how do I validate my idea", or perhaps "is there anyone out there who can help me Google"?

I highly recommend you post your ideas somewhere - not necessarily here - but somewhere you can get feedback on the idea. Ideas can't be copyrighted, only implementations, so you don't loose anything by putting it out there and you can bend the ear of real industry professionals to validate it.

It depends on your goals - if you are pursuing it for a business, you need to validate that there is a market, and a monetization path. If you are doing it as a mission-driven project, you need to evaluate what already exists to fulfill that mission, and determine if your efforts will add to the solutions, or if you should be collaborating with existing groups. Or if this is purely a personal project, then it is all about your own prioritization of your own time and energy.

Tell us more about what kinds of projects you are thinking of, and I'm sure more detailed answers can be provided.

That is a good idea to pursue. The idea that the value of an idea can be figured out before too much time is wasted on it.

Then again nothing is every truly wasted when you pursue what brings you joy.

I guess there are two ways. 1. Listen to your gut and be passionate about it. If you truly believe in your idea, you won't give up that easily. Even if you do, you won't feel bad about wasting that time. At least you tried and no "what-ifs" will ever haunt you. 2. Do some research. If you are a more practical type of person, explore your idea from every angle. Collect the data and analyze the potential. If you ask me, my personal approach is the first one.

1) Validate that people are willing to pay something for the benefit you would provide, or 2) validate that the benefit would help the people you want to help, and it's a pain they acutely feel

When it consumes you is the metric I use. That method is not without major caveats of course.