Ask HN: You have 12 weeks to make 100k$. What would you do?
Saw a similar reddit post which was obviously filled with comments with jokes. However, this is an intellectually interesting exercise so would like to pick HN's hive brain to see interesting methods.
7 comments
I would make huge bets on the stock market. [0]
I know most people here will think about creating some sort of software or SaaS to make $100k in 12 weeks. But I think the odds of succeeding that way is magnitudes lower than playing the stock market.
I think one must also throw out their morals. Exploitation of a platform or people is almost certainly needed. Quite frankly, I think a lot of people can get filthy rich if they don't care about others. IE. high functioning sociopaths like Elon and Trump.
[0] Assuming I have a bit of money to start with. If not, I assume that I can convince some family member, friend, or random people to lend me money.
I know most people here will think about creating some sort of software or SaaS to make $100k in 12 weeks. But I think the odds of succeeding that way is magnitudes lower than playing the stock market.
I think one must also throw out their morals. Exploitation of a platform or people is almost certainly needed. Quite frankly, I think a lot of people can get filthy rich if they don't care about others. IE. high functioning sociopaths like Elon and Trump.
[0] Assuming I have a bit of money to start with. If not, I assume that I can convince some family member, friend, or random people to lend me money.
How can you create 100K worth of value in 12 weeks?
What is 100K worth of value?
Around 30,000 coffees. 500 coffees a day. 12 hour days, 50 coffees an hour. Pretty busy cart.
What's something people need, all the time? Phone charger? Walk around the city charging people's phones? Doesn't sound like a good idea.
Use ChatGPT to create a self-help course, $50 a pop, time to create: 3 days. Spend the next 79 days selling it to 2000 people. You need to make 25 - 30 sales a day. That's 2 - 3 sales every hour. Could work.
Maybe a browser extension for lead finding and reach out that uses ChatGPT and automates a LinkedIn / SalesForce process? Could go big, but outlook uncertain.
Spend 84 days selling yourself as a software (some domain) expert to various companies. Aim for closing 3 - 4 big contracts.
What is 100K worth of value?
Around 30,000 coffees. 500 coffees a day. 12 hour days, 50 coffees an hour. Pretty busy cart.
What's something people need, all the time? Phone charger? Walk around the city charging people's phones? Doesn't sound like a good idea.
Use ChatGPT to create a self-help course, $50 a pop, time to create: 3 days. Spend the next 79 days selling it to 2000 people. You need to make 25 - 30 sales a day. That's 2 - 3 sales every hour. Could work.
Maybe a browser extension for lead finding and reach out that uses ChatGPT and automates a LinkedIn / SalesForce process? Could go big, but outlook uncertain.
Spend 84 days selling yourself as a software (some domain) expert to various companies. Aim for closing 3 - 4 big contracts.
100k/12 weeks = $8,333k/week or $1,388/day (Sunday off)
There are women pulling that kind of money doing onlyfans.
At the end of the day how much money one earns is a function of supply meeting demand and ability to distribute.
Someone with a huge following on Twitter can endorse some product and make 100k in an hour.
There are women pulling that kind of money doing onlyfans.
At the end of the day how much money one earns is a function of supply meeting demand and ability to distribute.
Someone with a huge following on Twitter can endorse some product and make 100k in an hour.
How much money can you invest in this? You have very different options for making 100k if your starting budget is 1$ and if it’s 1M$
I would start by thinking of a problem a lot of people struggle with in their daily life, and brainstorming some ideas for how you could help reduce those struggles in a way that is easy to scale really really fast.
The short answer: I would find something people generally don’t like doing, but have to do it, and I would gamify it.
This is my long answer on how I might actually achieve that in 12 weeks though:
It’s important to realise that the things that I think are problems a lot of people struggle with, are based on my own experience - so for that reason, I would probably spend the first week of my 12 week project talking to people, asking them about what in life is good, what’s bad, what could be better, what they think would make life better and I’d note it down. I’d approach strangers in cafe’s and at train stations, I’d talk to people at work, I’d go to places I don’t usually go and I’d ask people about the things in their life they they wish were better. Perhaps I could also use surveys to ask people online as well. I’d be all about the data, both quantitative and qualitative.
Then, I’d spend the next week of my 12 weeks collating all that qualitative and quantitative data looking for common themes. Then, with a few other people from diverse backgrounds (ie, a homeless person, a computer scientist, a CEO, a stay at home mum, a drop kick teenager, a nerdy teenager etc (where no one is allowed to tell the others what they do, and everyone is dressed sort of neutral) I’d try to facilitate some kind of group brainstorming session of wild ideas for ways you could take that data and create a product or service.
In the third week, I might decide to make some really basic good old fashioned paper wireframes based on the results of the brainstorming session for maybe a website or app that will be the platform for my product or service and then take those wireframes to another bunch of random people and get them to give opinions and feedback on it.
In week 4, 5 and 6 I might start to working in designing an actual prototype that is similar to what I think the real thing needs to look like, and I’d get even more people, from the groups I’ve already talked to, from my brainstorming team, and from new people I hadn’t met yet, and see what they think. I might to this, and cycle through this process two or three times before I feel happy that I have a product/service that people will feel adds value to their life.
In week 7, I’d launch my product/service. I’d be making sure I’d priced it well (not undervalued it. None of this free trial sort of business. And from there I’d try to scale up. Launching at week 7 would give me time between there and the 12 week deadline, to make the $100k, there might still be issues so early on so it would still give time to keep reiterating.
In fact, if the whole thing failed. I’d rather it fail fast, than linger on and waste my time. Fail fast, and try to make $100k another way.
The short answer: I would find something people generally don’t like doing, but have to do it, and I would gamify it.
This is my long answer on how I might actually achieve that in 12 weeks though:
It’s important to realise that the things that I think are problems a lot of people struggle with, are based on my own experience - so for that reason, I would probably spend the first week of my 12 week project talking to people, asking them about what in life is good, what’s bad, what could be better, what they think would make life better and I’d note it down. I’d approach strangers in cafe’s and at train stations, I’d talk to people at work, I’d go to places I don’t usually go and I’d ask people about the things in their life they they wish were better. Perhaps I could also use surveys to ask people online as well. I’d be all about the data, both quantitative and qualitative.
Then, I’d spend the next week of my 12 weeks collating all that qualitative and quantitative data looking for common themes. Then, with a few other people from diverse backgrounds (ie, a homeless person, a computer scientist, a CEO, a stay at home mum, a drop kick teenager, a nerdy teenager etc (where no one is allowed to tell the others what they do, and everyone is dressed sort of neutral) I’d try to facilitate some kind of group brainstorming session of wild ideas for ways you could take that data and create a product or service.
In the third week, I might decide to make some really basic good old fashioned paper wireframes based on the results of the brainstorming session for maybe a website or app that will be the platform for my product or service and then take those wireframes to another bunch of random people and get them to give opinions and feedback on it.
In week 4, 5 and 6 I might start to working in designing an actual prototype that is similar to what I think the real thing needs to look like, and I’d get even more people, from the groups I’ve already talked to, from my brainstorming team, and from new people I hadn’t met yet, and see what they think. I might to this, and cycle through this process two or three times before I feel happy that I have a product/service that people will feel adds value to their life.
In week 7, I’d launch my product/service. I’d be making sure I’d priced it well (not undervalued it. None of this free trial sort of business. And from there I’d try to scale up. Launching at week 7 would give me time between there and the 12 week deadline, to make the $100k, there might still be issues so early on so it would still give time to keep reiterating.
In fact, if the whole thing failed. I’d rather it fail fast, than linger on and waste my time. Fail fast, and try to make $100k another way.