<i>Require little, or no money, avoiding the need for outside investors.</i><p>This excludes most ideas that can affect the world.<p><i>Is not being worked on by anyone else (i.e. no direct competitors).</i><p>Dropbox had about a dozen when they started. Viaweb had none, but quickly had a dozen. Maybe the author means the latter is a good situation to be in?<p><i>The first mover has a major advantage. [...] Is a natural monopoly that can be defended.</i><p>Without funding, you won&#x27;t be able to exploit these advantages. But they seem some of the most important to aim for, if possible. E.g. Uber and Ebay.<p><i>Solves an interesting and&#x2F;or important problem that will make your mother proud.</i><p>Most parents are shocked by what their children work on which later turn out to be great ideas. There are an even larger list of parents who were right, though.<p>The author makes some good points. I&#x27;m misunderstanding the point of this list, I think. Aiming for all of these seems to exclude two kinds of ideas: those that can affect the world, and those that can get you rich.  But aiming for a subset of them depending on your goals seems more promising.