Recently a would-be entrepreneur said he wanted to start a company but didn’t have an idea yet. Hmm, I thought, there’s inspiration all around and a limitless number of startup ideas. True, it’s hard to find a seemingly great idea but there are many ideas worth pursuing in fast-growing markets. The key: just start.
Here are a tactics when seeking startup ideas:
- Read – Start reading for 60 minutes a day. Whether it’s fiction, non-fiction, blogs, articles, etc. it doesn’t matter. What matters that you’re actively soaking up as much information as possible so that the mind can find patterns and trends.
- Ask – Reach out to your five smartest friends and invite them to lunch. At lunch, ask about their current challenges. Ask about ideas they have for new products. Share your goal of starting a company and get their help.
- Mind map – Get everything out of your mind down in a mind map. Do one new topic or market daily with at least 25 ideas regardless of their quality. Force yourself to put something down, and do it consistently.
People think entrepreneurs have great ideas that magically appear. Not true. Most come from the little things, like encountering a problem and wanting to solve it. Be methodically and actively seek out inspiration for new startup ideas.
What else? What are some more tactics when seeking startup ideas?
David Cummings on Startups 