How to come up with startup ideas (2020)
Tags: Startup, Lists, Projects, Business, Ideas

Have you ever wanted to start a business? Did you (or still do) struggle to come up with good, innovative, profitable startup ideas?

In this article, I aim to help you by showing you some of the best methods I personally use to come up with ideas. Let’s get rolling!

Find a problem to solve

Before you click away instantly, I know: everybody says this and it is widely known, but I HAD to include it otherwise this list wouldn’t be complete.

But what if you don’t know a problem to solve? Well, first of all, you should expand your knowledge, experience and do things you wouldn’t or have never done. When you have many interests, you will find many problems. Like, go hiking! Try to learn a new language! Do something (sort of) unique.

Most of the time if a problem is big enough and you successfully give a (clean & nice) solution to that, people ARE willing to pay.

Take an existing product and improve it

This method is my favorite. And also, this method is the fastest and safest way to start a business. Why? Because you can see if there is already a demand for that product.

For example, people saw how successful Google Analytics was, but they were annoyed by their Privacy Policy so they created better analytics platforms/services. Of course, they still needed marketing, but people were willing to use (and even pay) for something they already were using but had issues with it.

My advice? Go out there (I mean, use search engines) and find apps/websites/extensions with low ratings and see the bad reviews: what people don’t like about those products. Then with those feedbacks in mind, build a better version of that app/website.

(Want to get a list of 5,000 popular android apps with bad ratings? Click here.

Note: I’m the creator of that list, and there are a lot of different kinds of apps listed there. Not all of those are perfect for you, but I truly hope you can find a good idea there.)

Watch & read about different fields

I’m a web developer. Others are marketers, writers, photographers, etc. And in every field, you can find opportunities.

You don’t need to become an expert writer to know about the struggles they have. You can join writer communities, read about them. That way, you can learn about their passion and maybe create a tool, product just for them. Pick a niche and learn about that field.

Another cool and funny way to do this: find memes around the niche. E.g yesterday I followed an account with writer memes. I sure had a lot of laughs, but I also got to know some interesting problems they have and make fun of. I don’t say it’s the most efficient way to search for an opportunity, but it’s funny!

Join valuable communities to gain inspiration

I love reading about other people’s side projects and businesses.

A few communities I love:

ProductHunt: everyday people post (launch) their projects and others can upvote, share, and comment. I check this website every day to get inspiration.

IndieHackers: it’s a nice and interesting community. Entrepreneurs and indie hackers gather here and share insights and experiences (& their projects).

HackerNews “Show HN”: I LOVE Hackernews. But my favorite part is their “Show HN” section where people are free to post their stuff (like articles, projects & more), and others roast them. I like HN mostly because the people there are honest. No BS.

I want to keep this article short. I hope you found at least a few valuable pieces of information here.

I want to note though: there are no billion dollars ideas. There ARE good ideas but without execution they worth nothing.

And remember: the market and the people decide if an idea is good.

Don’t be afraid to launch, experiment & validate your ideas.