If you’re looking for advice on how to come up with startup ideas, you’ve probably come across lots of basic advice like “brainstorm ideas”. But this type of advice fails to give you any actionable tips on how to actually get startup ideas.
Instead, you need frameworks that you can implement to generate your new idea. When you use a systematic approach, you can methodologically work your way towards a business idea. In other words, it’s a more direct approach than just sitting down and trying to brainstorm a startup idea out of thin air.
For most people who are starting a business, the issue should not be coming up with something so unique that no one has ever heard of it but instead answering the questions: “Can I do this better or differently from the other guy doing it over there?” or “Is there a market not being served that makes room for another business?”
Upon close review, the answer might be a lot clearer than you think.
1) Look for Founder-Market Fit
A great way to find the right startup idea is to think about your unique skills, expertise, and relationships and how those could be used to build a product. By creating a startup around these unique personal advantages, you’re finding what’s called founder-market fit.
Once you’ve taken note of all your unique advantages as a founder/founding team, start thinking about what types of product and service ideas you would particularly excel at executing.
2) Solve a Personal Problem (Bottom-Up Approach).
Whether you’re in school or well into a professional career, think of different problems you have in your personal and professional lives and start brainstorming products that could solve those problems.
Another way to look at this is to think about what products you wish others would build for you. Then consider building them yourself.
3) Employ Strategic Foresight
Strategic foresight consists of making informed and educated guesses about the future. To use strategic foresight to find an idea for a startup, look at past recurring trends, and think about how they might affect the future to try and predict coming market trends.
Specific areas to consider in order to employ strategic foresight include trends and developments in political, economic, social, technological, and legal environments.
4) Crowdsource an Idea
Even if you don’t have a personal problem you can solve with a product or service, someone close to you might.
Ask friends, family members, colleagues, and other people in your social and professional circles what products and services they wish existed to help you come up with an idea for your business.
If you know people with expertise and experience in certain areas, those can be particularly interesting individuals to talk to. They can give you insight into specific problems in different industries or areas of life in which you might not have any personal experience.
5) The 10x Rule
The 10x rule is the idea that you can build a great product by “10xing” something — making it 10x easier, 10x faster, 10x more fun, or making the user experience 10x better in some other way. Look at products or services that already exist, and think of ways you can drastically improve them.
The business world is overfilled with ideas, and it might seem like it is impossible to create something entirely different and innovative. It’s easy to get stuck and feel like none of your ideas is the right one, but by implementing these frameworks, you’re much more likely to come up with an idea that’s good enough to get started on.
Understand that this is no rocket science. It’s a step-by-step procedure. So take it one step at a time, and if you need an extra hand, Tech Ranch is always ready to help no matter where you are in your journey. So, take a look at our programs and choose the best fit for you.
Sources:
https://www.ycombinator.com/library/8g-how-to-get-startup-ideas