How to Come Up With a Business Idea

1. Start With Problems, Not Products

Instead of asking:

"What business should I start?"

Try asking:

"What problems do people have that could be solved better?"

Pay attention to frustrations you encounter in everyday life.

Think about:

• Tasks that take too long
• Services that are difficult to use
• Products that are unnecessarily expensive
• Processes that are confusing
• Problems people repeatedly complain about
• Things people currently solve with spreadsheets, notes, or workarounds

A useful business idea can come from making an existing process faster, easier, cheaper, or more convenient.

2. Look at Your Own Experience

Your own experiences can be a useful source of ideas.

Think about:

• Problems you've experienced at school
• Problems you've encountered at work
• Hobbies you understand well
• Industries you are familiar with
• Communities you are part of
• Tasks you wish were easier

You don't need to be an expert in everything. Having firsthand experience with a problem can simply give you a better starting point for understanding it.

3. Pay Attention to What People Are Already Doing

Sometimes the best opportunity is hidden inside an existing workaround.

For example, imagine people repeatedly using:

• Multiple spreadsheets
• Several different apps
• Manual reminders
• Group chats
• Notes documents
• Complicated processes

That could indicate an opportunity to make the process simpler. An existing workaround doesn't automatically mean there is a viable business opportunity, but it can be a useful signal worth investigating.

4. Generate Multiple Ideas

Don't stop at your first idea. Try creating a list of 10–20 potential problems or business ideas before deciding which one to pursue.

At this stage, the goal isn't to prove that every idea will work. The goal is to create enough possibilities to compare.

For each idea, write down:

• Problem: What problem are you trying to solve?
• Customer: Who experiences this problem?
• Solution: What could potentially solve it?
• Current Alternative: How do people solve it today?
• Why Now: Why might this problem be worth solving today?

5. Research the Problem

Once you have an idea, research it. Look for evidence that the problem actually exists.

You might examine:

• Search results
• Online communities
• Product reviews
• Industry discussions
• Competitors
• Customer complaints
• Existing products
• Public market information

The goal isn't to prove that your idea is guaranteed to succeed. Instead, you're trying to learn more about the problem and identify assumptions that need to be tested.

6. Identify Your Biggest Assumptions

Every early business idea contains assumptions.

For example:

"College students have this problem." That's an assumption.

So is:

"People would pay for this solution." And:

"People aren't satisfied with the alternatives."

Write down the assumptions behind your idea. Then ask: Which assumption could completely change whether this idea is worth pursuing? That is often the assumption you should investigate first.

7. Talk to Potential Customers

One of the simplest ways to learn about an idea is to talk to people who might actually experience the problem.

Instead of immediately pitching your solution, ask about their current experience. For example:

• How do you currently solve this problem?
• How often does this happen?
• What is frustrating about the current process?
• Have you tried other solutions?
• What would make the process easier?

Listen carefully to what people actually do rather than only what they say they might do.

8. Compare Your Ideas

Once you've researched several ideas, compare them. You might consider factors such as:

• Problem severity
• Target market
• Existing alternatives
• Ease of reaching customers
• Potential willingness to pay
• Competition
• Your personal knowledge or experience
• Difficulty of building the solution
• Evidence you've found

There isn't one perfect formula for determining whether an idea is good. The goal is to make your thinking more structured.

9. Turn the Idea Into an Experiment

You don't always need to build a complete product immediately. Instead, ask:

"What's the smallest experiment I can run to learn something important?"

Depending on the idea, that could mean:

• Talking to potential customers
• Creating a landing page
• Building a simple prototype
• Offering the service manually
• Testing different messaging
• Creating a waitlist
• Running a small experiment

The purpose of an early experiment is to learn. A result that challenges your original idea can be just as valuable as a result that supports it.

10. Keep Developing Your Ideas

Business ideas usually change as you learn more. Your original idea might:

• Become more specific
• Target a different customer
• Solve a different problem
• Change its pricing model
• Add or remove features
• Turn into a completely different business

That doesn't necessarily mean the original idea failed. Learning can help you find a better version of the opportunity.

Frequently Asked Questions