Hey all! MuskLevel.com is my second project on Product Hunt - the first was Leanflix.
Here's the story behind MuskLevel. I saw this thread on Twitter by @vgr about Musk-level ideas: https://twitter.com/vgr/status/6...
The thread had some great discussion and generated hundreds of ideas. I bought MuskLevel.com and we threw up the site in a day using the open source code for Lobste.rs.
This was just a good opportunity to launch an idea I've been toying with for a while. There are lots of resources for people who already have an MVP built - accelerators, Product Hunt, etc. But getting to a viable MVP can be hard, especially for first-time entrepreneurs - they may build an MVP just to find out they've built the wrong thing, or they may never even get past the point of having an idea because they don't know if it's good or they don't know where to start.
For every nascent entrepreneur, there are a hundred dormant ones.
I want to build a community for pre-product startups - think of it like a Product Hunt for people who are at the idea stage. A person or startup can post their idea and get feedback before building anything. The 'big vision' / potential revenue model would be funding the exceptional, outstanding ideas / teams with a $20k investment for x% equity. This would require raising a ~$400k fund so we can fund 20 ideas over a year period.
We'll see if Musk Level turns out to be the right venue for this...not sure if the content will be serious enough or if it'll just end up being a fun site. In any case, look forward to hearing and implementing your feedback.
@zackkanter what about people who try to steal other people's ideas from the site, for their own use. It's not like everyone can a patent on their idea :/
@therealcoelho@zackkanter I like to think that if you have an idea that can be stolen just by reading a tagline, then you don't really have an idea at all :)
If Elon Musk had posted 'Premium, mass-market electric vehicles' or 'Inexpensive, reliable rockets and spacecraft' on MuskLevel, most people would not have been able to turn around and spin up Tesla or SpaceX.
As they say, ideas are just a multiplier of execution: https://sivers.org/multiply.
To quote @sama:
'Keep in mind that if you do come up with a great idea, most people are going to think it's bad. You should be happy about that, it means they won't compete with you.
That's why it's also not dangerous to tell people your idea. The truly good ideas don't sound like they're worth stealing. You want an idea where you can say, "I know it sounds like a bad idea, but here's specifically why it's actually a great one." You want to sound crazy, but you want to actually be right. And you want an idea that not many other people are working on. And it's okay if it doesn't sound big at first.'
@zackkanter
1)can one get an idea validated with an MVP on musk level?
2)Also the site name musk level may be intimidating for many to post an idea there.
3)expecting ideas to be posted on musk level that cannot be copied, is asking for too much. I do agree execution carries weight and ideas are dime a dozen.
@sridhar_kondoji@zackkanter
1. They can post links to mockups, etc, but we don't have any specific functionality for evaluating MVPs at this point.
2. I agree, I'm putting some thought into this.
3. I agree - I'd like it to be more accessible. Again, will think it over!
I hate to say this, because I love thinking about and tackling big problems, but I think this site will struggle to find traction.
PH, HN, and Reddit-type sites all work because they get people to come back every day, which they do because the site offers them something they desire. It's selfish behavior, in the neutral sense. Musk Level, like charities, is the type of thing where anyone can look at it and say "neat idea" and remark how much something like that should exist because, hey, big problems should be solved. But ultimately there aren't that many people who actually get as much selfish fulfillment out of talking about ideas on a daily basis—certainly nowhere near as many as PH or Reddit users—let alone ideas about big problems that are hard to grok and lack solutions.
That said, I do hope this finds its legs and a community. I think the actual community of people who are looking to *do* something about big ideas is larger, so maybe Musk Level could connect do'ers. Or even just make the listings focus only on *solutions* to big ideas, not the ideas themselves; that's more approachable and concrete to mere mortals.
Either way, big ups for making this and you have my support! 👊
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