> He said if I could build a search engine that searches the top 500-1000 sites for this industry, it could be 'really' valuable
Let's say that you can get past any legal issues with scraping... Don't dive into a startup based solely on this anecdote. Figure out what you can do to size the market. He says it's valuable. How valuable? Do customers understand why they need this? Are the spending any money on something similar today? How would you target them and sell to them?
I'd treat these questions as equally important as the legality when it comes to "should I start?"
Let's say that you can get past any legal issues with scraping... Don't dive into a startup based solely on this anecdote. Figure out what you can do to size the market. He says it's valuable. How valuable? Do customers understand why they need this? Are the spending any money on something similar today? How would you target them and sell to them?
I'd treat these questions as equally important as the legality when it comes to "should I start?"