Finding Your Startup Idea
Finding Your Startup Idea
Choosing the right path is a huge determinant of success. Before applying your energy, one should explore all directions. Deep thinking and real-life experimentation helps.
Pursuing a startup idea is similar. Here are some ways to find your startup idea:
Understanding Yourself
The purpose of understanding yourself is to find the vision that drives you. This will give you the energy to continue even when exhausted. Startup life creates almost insurmountable obstacles. Your vision will help you get through this.
As Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs said, "If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don't have to be pushed. The vision pulls you."
Ignoring Almost Everything
I'll highlight two common issues that many first-time founders grapple with:
Experimenting In Real-Life
An idea that stays within our mind is like a hallucination. An idea that someone wants to use and pay for is the real idea.
The initial prototype can be all mechanical. A simple shell that performs the desired output. Users don't need to know what's inside the shell. If they are happy with the output results, then you should go about building the real product.
In some cases, founders do have a good idea. But they need to go through iterations to find the most applicable user segment.
Exploring Many Passages
Many passages could lead to your startup idea:
Ideas lead to startups. Startups are the innovation engine of our future. The impact of these ideas is what progresses humanity
from one stage to the next. Keep experimenting and building!
Pursuing a startup idea is similar. Here are some ways to find your startup idea:
Understanding Yourself
The purpose of understanding yourself is to find the vision that drives you. This will give you the energy to continue even when exhausted. Startup life creates almost insurmountable obstacles. Your vision will help you get through this.
As Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs said, "If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don't have to be pushed. The vision pulls you."
Ignoring Almost Everything
I'll highlight two common issues that many first-time founders grapple with:
- Sizing the Potential:
- In the beginning, best is to forget the opportunity size. Start a parallel experimentation process. Some ideas will find initial success. Zero down on these. Explore the ones that show compounding growth. You will start seeing new paths that aren't obvious to the others. Too many examples of huge companies that started with a small market size:
- Amazon: Online store for selling books.
- Facebook: Social media website to connect Harvard students.
- Airbnb: Air mattress bed and breakfast during conventions.
- Uber: Timeshare limo service via a mobile app.
- In the beginning, best is to forget the opportunity size. Start a parallel experimentation process. Some ideas will find initial success. Zero down on these. Explore the ones that show compounding growth. You will start seeing new paths that aren't obvious to the others. Too many examples of huge companies that started with a small market size:
- Becoming a Builder:
- A lot of investors only invest in builders. Founders who can build things on their own. You will become a builder if you find a vision that drives you. Once you find it, you will do whatever it takes to build upon that idea:
- Learning to code outside of your day job,
- Figuring out how to attract and assemble a small starting team,
- Making yourself knowledgeable enough about a brand new domain,
- And much more...
- A lot of investors only invest in builders. Founders who can build things on their own. You will become a builder if you find a vision that drives you. Once you find it, you will do whatever it takes to build upon that idea:
Experimenting In Real-Life
An idea that stays within our mind is like a hallucination. An idea that someone wants to use and pay for is the real idea.
The initial prototype can be all mechanical. A simple shell that performs the desired output. Users don't need to know what's inside the shell. If they are happy with the output results, then you should go about building the real product.
In some cases, founders do have a good idea. But they need to go through iterations to find the most applicable user segment.
Exploring Many Passages
Many passages could lead to your startup idea:
- Solving a problem from one or more of your life segments:
- Personal,
- Work or
- Social.
- Discovering your dream:
- What do you care about?
- What makes you super happy?
- What gives you the feeling of being on top of life?
- Going random:
- Some people are makers. They like to hack things. Play with stuff. Tweak and create better versions of what exists today.
- Not trying to find an idea. Observe everything. Talk to everyone around. Ask random questions. Listen to absorb and process. Think. Think again using a different angle. Write and draw. Iterate till something exciting emerges.
Ideas lead to startups. Startups are the innovation engine of our future. The impact of these ideas is what progresses humanity
from one stage to the next. Keep experimenting and building!
Let's Talk: If you have a true experience that resonates, please send me an email.
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