Over the last few weeks I have been coming up with every idea I can for a web company. Between Ian's mad coding skillz and my design and creativity I KNOW we can make something amazing. The first website we ever made won an award for the best in its industry (www.aitginc.com). I am definitely going to create some kind of community based site but I have no idea what (you can tell how far I am from making my decision!). There are a few things that i'm keeping in mind while coming up with ideas.
1) It needs to be remarkable! This means that it must be an idea that people will make remarks about. Whether its in their blog or just talking to their friends in order for the idea to spread it needs to be remarkable.
2) I want to try to use people's egos to help spread the idea. That sounds evil but really its not. I need people to WANT to spread the word about this site. What better way than to use their egos to help? example: Check out what I did!!!
3) I want to promote productivity. I don't want a bunch of lazy ass users. People who use this site will be driven and motivated which will make the community an active environment.
4) I cant be afraid to team up with other web companies to get it done. For example, If part of the site involved adding pictures, there is no reason for me to host and manage them. We could use flickr, picasa etc.
5) It has got to be something that im interested in. I watched a panel discussion the other day and one of the GUYS was starting a community for single mothers. I doubt he is interested in that and I cant imagine it succeeding for just that very reason.
6) It needs to be able to make money. Not to be a greedy bastard (which I am), but if I am going to put a lot of time and energy into this it would be nice to come up with an idea that can be profitable. The more revenue streams the better. I can use ads, payed services, sell products or even build a site specifically to become takeover bait.
7) Some part of the company has to involve something super innovative. I could always rip off some other site and make a "Me Too", but the site has to be known as the first website that let its users _________.
If you have any ideas for a company that meets all these criteria let me know. I am recording all of our ideas at www.splitp.com. It is password protected so if you want to get involved or even just tell me why all our ideas suck, drop me an email and I will give you access to the site.