How do you decide what to make?

It is holidays like Cinco de Mayo that usually involve hanging out, which often times brings up those random conversations about making things. Cool things. Things that everybody wants. Or at least what people think you should make for them. Since this question seems to be common in at least one form or another, I figured I would share a few related thoughts. 

First, Jeff and I have always wanted to build something. Those early conversations covered everything from software products to building furniture. The easy part was coming up with ideas. We could always sit down and over a 20-30 min period come up with several really good ideas. Ideas that would be fun to develop and make. Ideas that could make a difference, at least to us. The hard part? Taking one of those ideas and having the ability to actually make it. Ability being knowledge, skill, money, and time (money and time seem to always be closely related). Our solution? To build a business which would hopefully allow us to make some of our ideas as well as some great ideas of others. 

So what decides if a project gets made at Mobelux? The idea basically has to survive the work phases. Idea discussion, brainstorming, wire-framing, designing, code prototyping, production and testing. Many great ideas get held up because of the amount of time and money it would take to build it. Others simply move slower because of available resources to have dedicated to work on it or some of the potential risks that a young company can’t afford to take on. But we have continued to dabble in a variety of different types of projects, as we always want to foster an environment of creation. Many of these starts will be the basis of hopefully some great things to come. 

The ground rules for us… make something that you would want and would use. Something personal. Something that fills a void you currently have. See if that idea truly resonates. Discuss it with others. Does it still “feel” right? Can you really do something better than what exists and would it make you happy? Tumblrette was a strong gut feeling that just felt right. Carousel, something you’ll learn more about soon, was another one of those that we just knew we had to do. 

The most important thing is that you have to constantly have the attitude and hope that you will create cool things and find ways to keep working at it. Enjoy the “skeletons” (projects you start and never finish) that you make along the way. Great products come from not being afraid to keep pushing and trying.