How to Generate a Startup Idea? Strategies, Tips, and Mistakes to Avoid

The first step when creating a startup is to generate an idea. This is the heart of your business which all the processes are centred around. Therefore, it is the idea that primarily determines startup`s success — it can either lead to its well-being or result in a total failure.

However, generating an idea is easier said than done. It requires great creative thinking and the ability to feel people`s needs. Although there is no one-size-fits-all formula for creating a good startup idea, there are certain techniques that can facilitate the search. Today we`ll teach you the art of idea hunting by disclosing proven methods and splitting sensible tips.

Startup Idea VS Business Idea

First of all, it`s necessary to understand what a startup idea is. Many confuse it with traditional business and hence get misled. Here are key criteria to distinguish a startup concept from a business one.

• Innovation. A startup idea tests unconventional business models in order to increase marginality or lower the threshold for entering the market. Such ideas bring new solutions to the surface and contribute to progress.
• Uniqueness. In contrast to business ideas where everything has been already created, startup founders have to come with something that hasn`t existed before. That makes them both one-of-a-kind and vulnerable since no one knows if they will succeed or not. For instance, a French restaurant is a business idea while a cafe with robot waiters is a startup.

• Investigation. Entrepreneurs are constantly looking for new, unexplored ways of doing a business. Business ideas are more reliable as they are based on proven and explored patterns, whereas startups are aimed to create new ones.
• Bigger profit. As the saying goes, the higher the risk, the higher the profit. When it comes to venture projects, the risks are huge — only 10% of startups manage to take off in the first two years, while the rest inevitably shut down. Simply put, a startup is supposed to bring in much more money than a traditional business.

8 Ways to Generate an Idea

Once you have a clear picture of what startup ideas are like, you can get down to search. We`ve collected 8 ready-to-use techniques that can boost your imagination and make you think out of the box.

Be future-focused

To generate innovations, you should think not only in the context of the present, but also the future. Use something that didn't exist yesterday. Read about new inventions. Think about products for the next generation.

The future belongs to wearable gadgets, self-driving cars, DNA tests, and atom-thick materials. What products and services should arise around such things?

Think about change by ending the sentence "If you are in the future..." For example, "if you are in the future, all books are digital" or "if you are in the future, no one uses cash." This technique will help you make your thinking future-based and provoke offbeat ideas.

Become an expert

There are areas where you can't easily get. For instance, to work in customs, prisons, medicine, defense, nuclear energy, bridge construction, you need specific knowledge and permission. Typically, entrepreneurs set up their own company in such areas only after many years of experience working in someone else's. You should become an insider to open a way to a large market with a high entry threshold.

To acquire a powerful advantage, learn how to make mobile apps, online stores, or use blockchain. Then meet a bunch of different people, ask about their problems, and see if you can help them.

Be great at two different things at once. Agriculture and sales, real estate and gaming, data science and education. There are a lot of unique opportunities at these intersections.

Solve your own problems

Look for things that complicate your living. Mind this when you can't find a ready-made solution for something or problems arise once something changes in your life. It's the same in the B2B sector. You have one company, and it can't solve some problem of its own. To cope with this, another company is created, and it suddenly becomes larger than the first one.

Look for pressure points

See where people waste time and money, work inefficiently, or get negative emotions. Your idea should rescue them from these difficulties. Learn as much as possible about hunger, poverty, epidemics, unemployment, crime, traffic jams, pollution, and corruption. Make friends with those who have been working on these problems for years.

Copy and improve

Most of the ideas are derivatives. Many big-name companies didn`r reinvent a bicycle, but simply started out as clones. See what you can add to successful ideas — from new sales channels and better service to improved product quality.

The venture market is constantly changing, making new things trend tomorrow. These trend waves move through the world with a significant delay, and you have time to be inspired by a new one. It's more reliable than something unknown, and more fun than buying a franchise. Use modern technology to rethink the ways to do everything, whether this is about making breakfast or driving a car.

Travel

It`s important to view businesses from different angles of our planet. Each industry has its own innovation centers. Fashion business ideas come from Paris and Guangzhou, software — from the Valley, financial — from New York and London.

While travelling, you may get inspired and discover new things that were invisible before. On top of that, you can adopt brilliant business strategies or find partners.

Follow emerging markets

New products from big companies create many attractive opportunities. If you react quickly, you can become part of this market. Bearing this in mind, venture capitalists establish special investment funds for Facebook applications, Google cash applications, and bitcoin services. When big changes come, entrepreneurs and investors try to ride this wave. It also works for small local establishments.

Enhance your networking

Some have more great ideas than time to implement them. Don`t hesitate to ask creative people to share and make a brainstorm together. In addition to the idea, you can immediately get your early customers.

Any successful startup is the result of great talents. So feel free to involve others in the process of idea generation to make it faster and efficient.

How You Shouldn`t Generate Ideas

There are also some wrong strategies that may end up useless or even prevent you from successful idea hunting. We recommend that you avoid the following methods.

Vacuum method

You can't run a random combination generator in your head and churn out genial ideas. It's a dead end. There should always be some context to cling to. You need to set a general subject and then gradually narrow it, getting to the point. Whether it`s your own problem, observation, or existing product that could be improved, you should think within this scope.

Money focus

There should be something more than a desire to earn money behind the idea. It is necessary to think from the market`s perspective, without overestimating its scale and your own capabilities. Alternatively, you can start with the question of what can be changed for the better and how exactly people will realize their current need in 3-5 years.

Chasing after trends

Indeed, trends can become a powerful boost of your startup. However, you shouldn`t blindly follow them. Instead, approach every trend critically to see if it really can help your project in a long run. There were many buzzwords that suddenly disappeared and ended up needless. You have to be particularly careful in case you want to totally focus your idea around some trend.

Hard to explain

Everything ingenious is simple: the more difficult the idea of your startup is, the less likely it is to be a resounding success. Even though you are developing a complex project, try to simplify its description as much as possible. Ideally, your idea should fit into one small sentence so everyone understands what it is like.

Listen to wrong people

When you are at an early stage of the project, it`s very easy to beat you off the track. There can be a bunch of shaky tips that can mislead you. So try to listen only to the people you trust or experts in the area you want to develop in. Don`t take things for granted, but approach them critically and filter your communication environment.

No knowledge of the industry

One of the things you have to acquire is the market knowledge. Although you may not be an expert in the industry you`re focused on, you should be aware of its main trends, problems, major players, and segments.

In addition, when you start to research the industry, your idea is changing and you begin to see it from completely another perspective.

Tips for Successful Idea Generation

Our congrats, you`re almost a professional idea hunter! Finally, we`ll share a couple of tips to make the process of idea creation even more fruitful.

Offset value judgements

You never know where a good idea will come from. The key to coming up with cool ideas is to establish an enabling environment where everyone feels able to say what comes to mind and allow others to build new ideas on top of their own.

Creativity requires some space free from criticism or disapproval. Let the flow of ideas come to your mind and then make a list of ideas without judging them right away. Have some time to mull over each of the ideas to cross out those that don`t meet your requirements.

Crazy ideas are welcome

The aim of an entrepreneur is to go beyond the boundaries. Often even the wildest fantasies can give impetus to creative breakthroughs and serve as an associative bridge to rational solutions. When we come up with stupid and completely unrealistic ideas, we begin to think about what we really want to achieve without any limitations.

Mix and develop ideas

Taking a positive point of view and being able to build new ideas on the basis of others is not so easy, you need to acquire this skill. Try to think of offbeat idea combinations that might even seem crazy at first. After, make them more viable and realistic by adding or omitting certain characteristics.

Stick to the subject

Try to focus the discussion around a particular subject. Otherwise you risk going far away from the area in which you are developing a product or service. At the same time, it is important to avoid restrictions. The solution is to set a topic that all the ideas should be related to.

Visualize

Nothing helps an idea to be visualized as quickly as a drawing. You can draw everything that crosses your mind and then hang it in your office. Take advantage of stickers and notebooks to keep all your thoughts visual. This will boost your imagination and provoke new ideas.