How to generate Startup Ideas?
Generating ideas is a tricky topic because startup ideas are subtle, but you can train yourself and become idea generating machine
Introduction
No one knows for sure which ideas will succeed, but there are specific ways of generating ideas that are much more likely to succeed than others. KnowledgeHunt team scratched the web and curated the best advice regarding idea generation.
The process takes time, so be patient and follow the advice that you think best fits your skills and moats. Remember, consistency is the key here. Don’t worry about validating ideas at this stage, just go with the flow and write down as many ideas as you can think of. In the next blog, we will talk about how to validate ideas quickly and effectively.
Read further to read about:
Why idea generation matters even if you already have an idea
What you should know about Idea
How to generate ideas
Best tools and websites that can help with idea generation
🤔 Why it matters?
Idea generation can be taught
It has a learning curve; the more you do, the better you get
Generating ideas is essential later in the course of running a startup
“YC once tried an experiment of funding seemingly good founders with no ideas. I think every company in this no-idea track failed. It turns out that good founders have lots of ideas about everything, so if you want to be a founder and can’t get an idea for a company, you should probably work on getting good at idea generation first.
🔍 What should you know about ideas?
There are some misconceptions about ideas that are not usually true. In this section, we will outline the main points that debug common (wrong) impressions.
You don't need unique ideas; only a few ideas are truly unique.
You don't need a brilliant idea; good-enough ideas work well.
Ideas morph over time. Initial ideas are almost never the same as the final product.
Most good ideas are very un-sexy.
Your idea doesn't have to be the next big thing; small businesses are killing it.
If others think it's too hard, that leaves a gap for you
You'll be putting a lot of time into the idea, so make sure you enjoy it.
The competition is good. It means people want the product.
Always start with questions: what problem it solves?
Don't rule out ideas that are already executed; seek niche improvement
Most companies succeed not because they have a unique ideas, but because they are consistently well executed
Many ideas come when you least expect them, be sure to write them down ASAP
💎 How to generate Ideas
“The best ideas are fragile; most people don’t even start talking about them at all because they sound silly. Perhaps most of all, you want to be around people who don’t make you feel stupid for mentioning a bad idea, and who certainly never feel stupid for doing so themselves.”
Think about a product that you love but is not available in your location/region
Write down what your team is best at (skills, industry knowledge, ...) and think of ideas that you would have an unfair advantage in executing. All these ideas have automatic founder/market fit.
Think of things you wish someone else would build for you.
What would you be excited to work on for 10 years, even if it didn't succeed? - remember, consistent quality work can lead to huge success even with OK ideas.
Think of things that have changed in the world and ask yourself: what is possible now that was not possible before? Good example is Covid, Blockchain, AI, and ML.
Make a list of recently successful companies and consider if you can make new variants. A good example is companies replicating the tech of successful giants for smaller players: Shopify made it possible to create 'Amazon' for your own small shop in just a few clicks.
Talk with experts in a particular field and ask them about their problems.
Make a list of industries and think about which is the most broken, then think about how you can solve that. An excellent example of this is a YC company called LendUp, which is a replacement for payday lending. And part of the founding story of LendUp is that the founders just noticed that payday lending was a broken and scammy industry.
More general ways to ideate:
Do boring stuff throughout the day. Most ideas are born when you do things on autopilot.
Meditate - get used to thinking about nothing.
Start writing. Write anything; just don’t stop. It helps you think about things you would not have thought about otherwise.
Do brainstorming sessions with your friends.
⚒️ Tools and websites that can help
Use ProductHunt to get inspired on what’s building
Visit and read IndieHackers daily
Follow Newsletters
Scroll through half-baked ideas
⏭️ What is next
At the idea generation stage, don’t worry about filtering them. Just write them down as much as possible.
The next stage is to learn how to validate them quickly, very quickly. In the upcoming newsletter, we will gather the best practices on how to validate the ideas that you already have. Don’t miss out!
Here is an additional read for idea generation:
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