General

• Who is this for?

If you are a student or an aspiring entrepreneur looking for interesting problems to solve. There are also a lot of talented folks - be it developers or designers, or those who are thinking about starting up (and have the domain expertise) for whom Ideaspace would be helpful. Think of Ideaspace as an community where you can think through your venture out loud and get constructive feedback and Get Started!

• I’ve signed up what do I do now?

During the Beta stage, we are reviewing each of the registrations one by one and approving them. You’ll get an email to authenticate your email address, once you do - just give us 4-6 hours to approve your login in the back-end. Once that is done you should get another email notifying you.

• How much does it cost to be part of this platform?

Hold your breathe! Nothing. The Platform is free to be part of.

• How do you plan to make money with this?

We don’t. We’ve been organizing In50hrs for close to four years now and one of the things we realize is how unprepared a lot of ideas are. We are hoping with Ideaspace, that will improve.

• What are these points that I see, that I have? What can I do with them?

Those are engagement points. You need them to vote up a problem statement (if you think its bang on) or vote down (if you think its really not a real problem). You can also use the points to post your own problem statements - observations or insights you have about a pain point someone is facing.

• Can I get funded via this platform?

Nope. This is not a funding platform.

• Can we meet in person to talk about our problem statement?

No. Feel free to take a leap and post it here - it is always better to ask a community than one individual for his/her opinion.

• Will you sign an NDA? How do I know you won’t steal my idea?

We don’t sign NDAs at this stage. Almost no one would.

Stage #1: Problem Statements

• I strongly feel a problem or have observed a problem. What should I do next?

Quick check: See if you have five points left on your account. If not, don’t worry. You get five points in your account each week. Once you do, you can click the post problem statement button and go through the wizard to submit the details.

• I like someone’s problem statement. What should I do?

You can vote up. All problem statements need to reach x number of points before they open up for ideating solutions. So if you think a problem is real, vote up!

• Wait! What do you mean Problem? I have an Idea!

We have a fundamental disagreement here. We believe solving a problem, with an idea is a better approach to building products or startups. Identifying the problem comes first.

• Can I upvote my own problem statement?

Nope.

• I am working on a product that solves a problem you’ve stated. Can I talk about it?

Yes You can. If you can mention a disclaimer that its your product, its better. You can leave a comment on the problem thread.

• What happens to the problem statement after I post it?

The first step is to get problems validated - to see if enough folks think that its really a problem. Once a problem statement reaches X number of points (vote ups), we will open it up for folks to ideate solutions keeping the feedback and observations of the community on the problem thread in mind.

• What if I don’t get enough upvotes for the problem statement I’ve posted?

You’d have to assume that it is not a problem a lot of folks are kicked about solving or can relate to. Maybe it needs a bit more digging and research?

• I signed up. How do I keep myself updated with new problem statements that get posted?

Click on the follow button. The system will email you everytime there is a new problem statement.

Stage #2: Ideating Solutions

• I have an Idea. What next?
• What if our group has more than one idea?
• What happens after I post my idea?
• Will my ideas get stolen here if posted?

Stage 3: Forming Teams

• How do I form a team?