What No One Tells You About How to Generate & Choose a Business Idea.
Like many of us, I used to get overly possessive about my ideas.
A specialized tampon for women with tilted uterus’, a better pavement material that does not fuck up our knees, an app to predict crowd density and patterns — just you name it.
But as the idea gets out there — as it does — like a child, I get overly needy for validation and demotivated at the sight of disapproval. And maybe many of us feel this way because it is OUR idea and it is hard to think of good ideas, OK!
So, when we finally have one, we think its gold and we’re fucking geniuses! And if all the ideas you have ever thought of are actually great, and they work amazingly, and people are buying into it — Great! This article simply is not for you. (and btw, call me, you might just be the demi-god I’m looking for).
However, for everyone else who is stuck, I wanted to jot down what I learnt from working in a startup for almost 2 years and being surrounded with people who have brilliant ideas everyday.
Anyone can come up with an idea. Really, it is not that hard. Right? That is what TEDx and my grandfather tells me everyday.
Well from what I have learnt so far, the answer is both Yes and No.
When we think of a solution, we almost surely penguin hole ourselves to:
- Only that 1 idea, and can’t think of anything else.
- Something that there might be no demand for
However, when we start thinking of/properly defining the problem, we really start to opening ourselves up to the many different ways in which that 1 problem can be solved. This is essentially called “creativity”, I guess.
For example, take a simple appliance like the vacuum cleaner. A great solution. Though, it becomes quite hard to think innovatively about something like a vacuum cleaner. But, if you take a problem statement (eg: Cleaning your floor.), it becomes a lot easier to come up with many ways to do that. Baking soda and vinegar, a broom, building a broom that also vacuums, shoes that clean your floor as you walk, etc. You get the point.
Heard of this before? Well follow along, because it is not all that easy. If it were, I would be a millionaire and not currently writing this article.
Unlike the vacuum cleaner example, truly defining a problem is actually quite a hard thing to do. It requires you to immerse yourself in a domain, ask the right questions and talk to the right people. And after doing that, the even harder part is understanding if the problem is even worth it to work on. Is it big enough, do people care, is there an actual way to make money here, will people pay, will I get investment for this, is the market ready for this solution? All very giddy-ing questions.
To illustrate this with some ridiculously stupid examples, I would urge you to watch a video of YouTubers hilariously ripping apart the channel 5 minute Hacks/Crafts. You know what, here it is:
I mean, the problem is kind of there, but really, is it worth it to solve? Black marker to cover up a hole in your sock, I mean, come on. And is that really the best way to do it? Isn’t there already a better way to solve this? Like buy another sock? Or simply, not care instead of covering your toe with a black marker? Ok, point made, Sarah.
Well, I hope you are following me so far, because this stuff is pure genius.
Although these are comically stupid examples, you will actually find very real startups or even organizations who go out of business for making these mistakes.
So, how do we know decide which problem/solution to work on? Well honestly, I have no idea. I have a few good guesses. Like early concept validation to make sure there is a demand for our product. Or crunching a bunch of numbers based on a business model we think will work and have “validated” to make sure we can hit profitability at a certain scale. Making sure we can hit that scale by sizing up the market. Etc. etc.
I mean, there are lots of things we can do, and I would honestly love any feedback on the matter. However, the conclusion I have come to so far is that at the end of the day, it is all about trying to come with the best/most viable hypothesis to test.
We have to bet on something and try to make that work. Launch it, test it, improve it, and hopefully grow. We also have to really listen and observe to understand when something really is not working. And I know that is a very tough decision that many founders feel heavy chested making.
And so maybe the most important thing is trying to detach ourselves from our ideas so we can objectively judge them at every stage of their life cycle. Not so that we can give up, but so that we can find a way to actual success.
If you liked this post, learnt something from it or violently disagree with it, I live for soul crushing feedback, so please comment below.
