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Adrian Neumeyer, Teaching project management @


tacticalprojectmanager.com Related Questions
Answered Feb 24
What are some great business ideas that you
Hi there.
wouldn't mind giving away for free?

This is a very popular question. What are the best ways to think of ideas for a
startup?
But it’s also not a very good one. I have something better for you.
What are the good startup ideas?

Background: I am 24 and want to start up my own business.


Which businesses can I consider?
I have spent years finding the right business idea, but never found it. At some
point in time I really thought something was wrong with me. Then I followed a What are small businesses that we can start from
home?
different approach.
What are the innovative business ideas?
Here is a process you can use for systematically developing business ideas.
What are the most interesting business ideas for
homemakers?
Since you are asking about a “business idea”, I assume you want to be “in
business”. What does that mean? It means you have customers paying for a What are good startup ideas for 2018?

product or service that you have created. Where can I find business ideas?

Step 1: Make a list of your skills What are some small scale business ideas?

 Ask New Question


What are you really good at?
More Related Questions
What challenges have you mastered?

In other languages
(Examples: Have you overcome depression, lost weight through healthy
eating, mastered to get into management without burning out) Auf Deutsch: Wie finde ich eine gute Gründungsidee?

What do you enjoy doing?


日本語で入力: ビジネスのアイデアを見つけるにはど
うすればいいですか?
What are skills where there is already a market?

Question Stats

For example, if you are great at coding, this is definitely a skill you can 480 Public Followers
make money from. The same is true for writing, for making great videos 379,491 Views
or teaching students higher-level math. Last Asked Aug 21
28 Merged Questions
Step 2: Choose an industry or niche Question Locked
Edits
The next step is to pick an industry and to specialize your offer. The more you
niche down, the more successful you will be in the long run, because it enables
you to offer tailored products/services which your market loves.

To take again the software development example, you could choose to create
software for realtors (again this is quite general, but you get the idea).

How do you choose an industry?

It should be a profitable industry where money is not the issue. For


example, the transportation or food retail industry have very low profit
margins, so it would not be a good a good niche. On the other hand, the

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fitness industry is highly profitable, so is the enterprise IT industry and


many other fields.

Choose an industry you already have access to. Look at industries


where your family or friends are working in. Is there an industry you
find exciting? Talk to your friends to learn more about their industry.

Easy vs difficult: Personally, I would always prefer to go into an


unpopular or highly specialized or complex industry than going into a
market that everybody’s familiar with.

Competitors: contrary to common belief, it is NOT a bad sign if there


are already competitors in your market. It shows that there is money to
be made.

Step 3: Immerse yourself in the market (talk to people in the industry)

Yes, I mean it: TALK TO PEOPLE.

This is what most people don’t do, but it’s the most important part.

Generally, you want to understand what problems exist in a specific industry so


that you can come up with solutions that people will actually pay for. You can’t
“see” these problems if you don’t talk to those people who you want to later buy
your products.

The “magic” behind finding a great business idea: Talking to people in your
market and learning about their problems

What you should do:

Make a list of companies you want to talk to (not 5, not 10, better 50 or
100 companies)

By talking, I mean having open conversations through which you learn


what companies are struggling with (and how you could help)

Try to identify people who could provide helpful insights.


This could be business owners, CEOs, mid- or top-level managers and
decision makers.

Make appointments with those people, either through a Skype/phone


call or better an in-person meeting.

Ask good, open-ended questions:

Tell me about your business. What are the biggest challenges in the
business you’re in?

What is something [in your business] you constantly worry about?

What’s your process for [getting some specific task done]?

Through these questions you could find out what problems are

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common in a company’s processes.

Let’s say you find out that some tasks could be automated/improved
or you could add machine learning to reduce errors and increase
predictability in a process, that would be great.

I suddenly recognize that you could solve some of the companies’


problems.

Once you’ve gotten a feel for the problems in a specific industry, you come up
with solutions (e.g. write some software). Ask the people you’ve interviewed
earler what they think of your idea and if they would be interested in trying
out your idea through a small order (they must be willing to pay?).

If you repeat this process several times, test different industries and talk to
a lot of people, there’s almost a guarantee you will stumble across a gold
nugget (a business idea … or at least something that can evolve into a great
business opportunity for you)

Why do only so few people manage to go from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur?

My view:

They look for a perfect idea
, i.e. a perfect concept (you’ll never find that)

They don’t experiment and they don’t try out a lot of things

They don’t talk to real people

They only read business book after business book without taking action

Can you do it better? I’m sure you can.

Good luck to you!

—Adrian

About me: The business I ended up doing is teaching project management to


ambitious young professionals with a technical background. I absolutely love it
and I get to work with a lot of wonderful people! I quit my corporate job in 2017
because I didn’t want to look back as an old man, regretting that I never started a
business. If you’re interested, my blog is: www.tacticalprojectmanager.com/blog

Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.


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Aaron Abram, 80% of The Top 500 Events Use My Surveys to Grow
Updated Sep 2, 2016

Reality Sucks:

A few years ago an entrepreneur who had just sold his startup for $300M+, told
my co-founder and I that an idea was worthless and more important was

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execution. We thought, if our product was great enough- surely customers would
seek us out?

Wrong. The big clients we currently have did not seek us out initially. They
didn’t even know of our existence. The difference for us, was making the cold
calls, convincing them to meet with us, and closing them. It was 100%
execution.

It took some time before we realized that execution was the name of the game.
After all, our competitors had sub-standard products that was making them tens
of millions of dollars. Great products aren’t automatically rewarded.

Great Ideas:

Assuming you know how to execute, then a great idea verse a good idea becomes
extremely valuable. Here are some criteria that can identify one from the other:

1. Look at a business and ask, How long can this last? How can I identify
the status quo and change it? Bigger industries = bigger opportunities

a. Understand the natural progression of an industry and determine


what is around the next corner

2. Find industries/businesses that are not sexy, but extremely valuable.


Look away from the trending ideas and examine huge industries where
technology is slow to adopt.

3. Disregard #1 and #2 and look at industries where you have a ton of


“unfair advantages”.

Four Examples

#1: Hotels

How long have they lasted? More than one hundred years. Has the status quo
ever been changed? Yes.

In the olden days a hotel was simply just a rented room. But as it became more
popular, it progressed. The major advancements in this industry came from
Conrad Hilton, Steve Wynn, and Sheldon Adelson.

Conrad Hilton’s (Hilton Hotels) created the first international chain that focused
on tailoring accommodations to tourists. Net Worth = $4.5B

Steve Wynn changed the concept of a hotel/casino into a luxury casino/resort


building the Golden Nugget , The Mirage , Treasure Island , the Bellagio .
Net worth = $2.3B.

Sheldon Adelson took Steve Wynn’s brilliance and changed the status quo yet
again by understanding the industry’s natural progression. He built The
Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center .
His genius was that he tied luxury hospitality to the convention business. He
realized that when a convention was in town the hotels were full. And so he built
convention centers within his hotels. Net worth = $25.9B.

#2: Television

Before the TV, families used to sit and listen to the radio. Seems crazy, but that
was the reality for millions of people. In the 1920s Philo Farnsworth invented
the television. Then someone created color TV, then plasma and LCDs, and a
million other innovations. Today, television is a $74B industry.

#3: Donald Trump

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The genius behind a net worth of $10B came mainly from his “unfair advantage”
than from other factors. What is his unfair advantage? He grew up in a family
whose father was one of the most well-known residential high-rise developers in
the country, but specifically in Queens, NY.

Think about all the conversations about real estate at the dinner table
throughout his childhood. His father, already an expert in real estate, taught
him all the ins and outs of the business. And because of this, Donald Trump
went out to create a fortune in residential high-rise real estate. He trumped his
dad’s $150M fortune by more than $9.5B.

Donald simply played to his strengths (unfair advantages) and won big.

#1, 2, & 3 combined

Reed Hastings was a seasoned entrepreneur who had already built and sold a
company for $750M before he had the idea of Netflix.

At the time, the competition was Blockbuster who although made millions, in
Reed’s opinion didn’t have a sustainable future. Late fees and due dates didn’t
make sense in a world where the subscription model was already successful.

He took the subscription model from the gym business and applied it to the
movie-rental business. With execution, Reed turned Netflix into a mega-
company (valued at $45B) which eventually forced Blockbuster into bankruptcy.

The brilliance of Netflix was that he used his 1) “unfair advantage” of knowing
how to grow a business and combined it with 2) a non-sexy business that no one
was paying attention to and 3) where he identified how to change the status quo.

Key Takeaway:

Knowing how to execute is the prelude to finding your idea and creating your
fortune. Acquire this skill and the keys to the kingdom our yours.
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Noah Kagan, Chief Sumo at AppSumo, formerly #4 at Mint & #30 at


Facebook.
Answered Apr 22, 2017

The first step is always the hardest. The same goes for starting a business.

Do you ever wonder how Elon Musk came up with the idea of PayPal? How Larry
Page came up with Google? Or Evan Spiegel with Snapchat?

It might seem like magic (or complete luck), but there’s actually a specific
approach to coming up with good business ideas.

Common Mistakes Made by Wantrepreneurs

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Know anyone who’s a wantrepreneur?

Maybe it’s you, or maybe it’s a friend who’s always talking about being “sooooo
close” to creating that 7-figure affiliate business and only working 3 hours per
week.

These wantrepreneurs are people who play business and dream about starting a
business “someday”… but mostly end up doing nothing.

Here’s what goes through the minds of wantrepreneurs trying to come up with a
business idea:

“Digital products are the trend now! It’s low cost, high margin. What a
no brainer! I’m going to make a lot of money, travel the world, and work
from the beach.”

“Developers make lots of money! I’m going to take a course on Udemy


and learn how to code. Then I’ll get my business idea and start building
my million dollar app.”

“SaaS is the future! Subscription and recurring revenue is the best


business model. I’m going to be super rich in a few months!”

See the pattern?

All wantrepreneurs want is to make money and get rich; full stop. And they want
to do it as quickly as possible.

Their logic in generating a business idea is working in the wrong direction.


They’re always looking for the most trendy business model first in hopes of
becoming rich.

When their plan doesn’t work out at the end of the day, wantrepreneurs blame
everything else except their half-assed business ideas or lazy action plan.

How I Came Up With an 8-figure Business Idea

Not to brag, but my old boss told me AppSumo would never work.

7 years later, AppSumo reaches nearly 1 million people a week, SumoMe helps
over 150k sites a day, and the Sumo Group as a whole is an 8-figure business .

How did I come up with these ideas?

Your first step is to recognize what you truly want. Before getting into market
research, building a business plan, or setting up a LLC, there’s an easier
solution…

Figure out your own paint point where you desperately need a solution.
Then, build the solution.

I’ve used this approach myself. For example, here’s how I came up with the parts
of Sumo Group, which have become an 8-figure business collectively:

AppSumo : Daily deal site, getting discounts of the best digital tools
for entrepreneurs. Why? Because I love free stuff!

SumoMe : Free tool to increase website traffic and build your email
list. We made it because we want to grow traffic and sales of AppSumo.

Monthly 1K : Digital course on starting your own business. It was


created because I was tired of answering questions about how I build
successful businesses one by one.
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I’m building something I want, so at worst, I’ll have one customer…

ME!

And in most cases, there will be lots of people like me who have the same
problem and want a solution.

Solve a Problem for Yourself

Here’s another big difference between entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs:


entrepreneurs solve actual problems (not just come up with random ideas). And
the best way to start is to solve a problem for yourself.

Entrepreneurs don’t start a business wanting to get rich quick, wantrepreneurs


do. Entrepreneurs find a pain-point and create a solution, while wantrepreneurs
find the most up-to-date market trend, jump in and hope to make money from
it.

These are some great examples of businesses that solve a problem for
themselves:

Spanx. An innerwear brand is invented because Sara Blakely couldn’t


find a comfortable innerwear to pair with her cream-colored pants.

MistoBox. A subscription service of fresh coffee beans is created


because the team wanted to try out coffee beans from different roasters
around the country.

Barbell Apparel. A denim wear for athletic people is built because the
founder can’t get a denim to fit his lower body without compromising
the style and comfort.

If you’re thinking, “Wait, Noah… How do I know the idea is going to make me tons
of money?”

Here’s my answer: You don’t for now.

You’re in the very first step, and your ONLY focus right now is coming up with a
valid business idea.

Focus just on finding ideas you want. Validating your ideas , marketing your
products, and branding your website? It comes later.

Start with Your Shower Thoughts

What are all the problems you have where you can’t find a solution?

Even if the product exists somewhere, that’s OK. If you haven’t heard of it, it
means there’s room in the market — or you can beat any competitors doing
better marketing down the line.

These business ideas are what I call “shower thoughts.” Write down any idea
that comes to mind, even the dumb ones.

Seriously, go off-the-wall crazy. After all, Facebook began as a website names


and faces. Dumb ideas are not necessarily bad.

You’re not trying to come up with the most brilliant idea worth billions right
now. Step one is: look for a problem you’re facing yourself, create a solution.
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Kristoffer Tjalve, Founder at Human/Curated (2017-present)


Answered Jul 23, 2014

The best tip is to make sure you broaden your own horizon. Being able to draw
on multiple experiences will make it easier for you to connect the dots and come
up with new business ideas.

John Cutler's answer to How do I find a good startup idea provides 10 awesome
tips to broaden your horizon. Exploring unknown territories should become
your new daily habit. It is a way of living.

3 exercises for idea generation

That said. There are various exercises you can use to find a good business idea.
Below I am presenting three of my own top methods for generating new
business ideas.

These exercises work best when you apply them to a specific industry and/or
business environment. If you don't have any preferences, just pick one you find
the most fascinating.

When doing the exercises consider to invite some other people to join the
brainstorming. Multiple view-points allows for better ideas, as long as you
structure the brainstorming properly. I recommend you to: a) postpone
judgment, b) capture all ideas and c) follow the rules of hybrid brainstorming.

#1: Future tech trends

Apply a future tech trend to a current problem/your current job. What new ideas
emerge from this? Currently many people are looking at 3D printing, Google
Glass and drones, but don't forget to look at advancements in materials too.

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To make this exercise easier, I recommend you to use tech maps. Envisioning
has several good tech visualisations you can download for free.

Example: Drones used by real estate agents to show potential buyers the view
from a building before it is finished.

#2: Societal trends

Similar to the one above. Just look for societal trends instead of tech trends. This
can, for example, be changes in values or demographics. Recently sustainability
is getting a lot of traction. How would this influence your industry? And how
could you profit from this?

To steer the exercise you can download a free trend map from What's Next (as
a bonus it can also be used for the tech trend exercise).

Example: Made by Many   is working on solutions for isolated and lonely


people. This is a growing societal trend and will surely bring a lot of revenue to
successful solutions. Btw. read the blogpost titled, The greatest social challenge
of our time is an ageing population , they wrote about their experiences - it is
worth any minute

#3: Business model analogies

This exercise is maybe my favorite and one we almost always used at my

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previous workplace (Board of Innovation ). The exercise simply forces you to


apply aspects from interesting business models to your own domain.

To structure the exercise I recommend you first to (hybrid) brainstorm on


aspects from one particular business model and only subsequently transfer
those aspects to your own domain. Of course you can do multiple sessions. We
would often brainstorm on 3-5 different business models.

When brainstorming aspects from one particular business model I recommend


you to use the business model cards developed by Board of Innovation. You can
download 30 examples for free here.

Example: Consider for example the army of startups copying elements from
Airbnb and Uber.

5 Alternative routes to business ideas

Of course there are plenty of other ways to find new business ideas. Below I
share 5. Some of them less serious than others.
...(more)

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Walter Bernacca, CEO at Shoes Dsire (2014-present)


Answered May 1, 2017
Originally Answered: Where do you search for business ideas?

For most of my adult life, I worked in creative departments, both online and
offline. I’ve always spent time with people labeled as creative, some who even
considered themselves masters (aargh!). Nowadays, at the peak of my maturity,
if there is such thing, I firmly believe that the term “Creative” is totally
inappropriate.

I say this without the fear of being wrong and remembering what Antoine
Lavoisier said over 200 years ago: “Nothing is created, everything is
transformed.”

Totally immersed by such thought, very few, or even better, few rare exceptions
create something in the full meaning of the word, and I’ll include myself in that
group.

I believe we observe, absorb, and transform things that attract our attention,
either positively due simply to their existence or negatively because they bother
us. The latter creates a gap, and in order to solve such “issue,” we get an idea
(which I still don’t know how it happens). But we end up thinking of a solution,
something that innovates or gives a new perspective to same situation.

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Instead of calling such people creative, we should refer to them as


“transformers” — not as the heroic Autobots, but rather in the sense of being
transformational people.

Picasso once said “Good artists copy, great artists steal”, while Steve Jobs
himself, in an interview given in 1994 about the Apple Macintosh, stated “We
have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.” He was probably
referring to Xerox PARC (who knows?).

But it was the same Steve Jobs who decades later sued those copying Apple,
saying back in 2010 “I’m going to destroy Android because it is a stolen product.”
That is a very ironic statement, but a subject for another time.

If something already exists, then we should say that we copy (I know many will
hate me for the term that I am using, but it is true) and transform, or as some
might say, we are inspired to adapt to a new vision.

I extend this thought to all artistic areas — for many years I worked in the music
industry and I’ve heard a lot of music using sampling (1), several of them very
well produced. Nonetheless, taking a sample then changing the pitch and
adding filters and other features is not a creation, but a transformation with
props and still a copy.

Daft Punk, the French electronic music duo formed in 1993 by Guy-Manuel de
Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter is a great example. Video

There is a video called “Everything is Remix ” , which shows much better and
in more details what I am talking about; a video that was also copied and
transformed.

In fact, this article is nothing more than a copy adapted to my optics of the video
above. Transformers.

(1) Sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and
reusing it as an instrument or a sound recording in a different song or piece.
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Tochukwu Amadi, Founder at Easyi33 (2016-present)


Answered Jun 5

Over 500,000 new businesses are started each month, however less than 50%
are still up and running after the first year. This shows you that while it’s fairly
easy to come up with a business idea, finding a sustainable, lucrative idea is not
as simple. In this article, we’ll go through the steps of how to come up with a
business idea that will actually work. We included top tips from entrepreneurs
who have been in your shoes and know a thing or two about coming up with a
business idea that takes off.

Step 1: Train Your Mind to Identify Areas of Opportunity

Step 2: Start Making Lists of Problems that Need Solving

Step 3: Come Up with Possible Solutions

Step 4: Filter by What You’re Passionate About

Step 5: Narrow Your Ideas Down to One

Once you come up with a great idea, test it by writing up a business plan. Access
over 500 business plan templates and examples with LivePlan. Click here to
learn more.

Step 1: Train Your Mind to Identify Areas of Opportunity

There is no real formula to coming up with the next great business idea. The key
is knowing how and when to look for good ideas. Your eureka moment can strike
at any moment, so you need to be able to recognize it when it comes.

“I’ve seen people find business ideas as a spin from their current job, from a
hobby or simply from a moment where they were frustrated and thought
something could be improved. If you really want a business idea and don’t know
where to start, try to come up with one business idea each day for a month and
see if you can train your mind to identify areas of opportunity.”

— Adam Broetje, CEO, Odd Dog Media

Not every idea that you come up with is going to be a good one. The point is to
train your brain to notice a potential opportunity when you see one. The first
step is simply learning how to identify a gap in the market.

Step 2: Start Making Lists of Problems that Need Solving

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Once you are tuned into looking for areas that can be improved upon, you will
want to start writing down the problems that need solving. The process of
making lists will keep you focused on finding areas of opportunity.

Where do you find problems that need solving?

You will not be able to come up with problems if you are not looking in the right
places. You need to be actively looking yourself, asking friends and colleagues,
and considering products that can be improved upon.

Find Problems in Your Day-to-Day or Current Job

“Our business was started when we routinely serviced safes and vaults that we
were called out to open and found that the safe industry had been taken over by
cheap imports. Clients were constantly asking us for recommendations for a
high quality safe that wouldn’t leave them in a lockout situation. That’s how we
came up with our safe manufacturing business”

— Lynel Brown, VP, Brown Safe

Find Problems with Existing Products

“There are very few truly original ideas. That said, the opportunity to improve
on an existing product concept (or business model) is ever present, so my advice
is always to look for ways to really innovate—to ‘build a better mousetrap,’ so to
speak. This may be technology-driven (like Uber’s revolutionizing ride-sharing)
or it may be customer experience-oriented.”

— Dr. Lucas Lu, CEO, 5miles

Find Problems through Networking

A great way to get out and find problems in an industry is through networking.
Go to events in the industry that you are interested in learning more about and
talk to people there. Learn about their pain points and what they wish could be
improved upon. Networking will give you insight on what common problems
people are having in a specific area.

Step 3: Come Up with Possible Solutions

You should now have plenty of problems listed, so the next step is to start going
through and coming up with solutions to those problems.

If you have one or more people whose opinions you respect, then it may be good
to bring them into the room with you for this ste...(more)

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Eva C. Reder, Program Manager Manos Accelerator | Growth Hacker |


Founder
Answered Oct 30

How to come up with the "Next Big Thing"…

Have you ever thought about a company and been like "OMG if only I would
have had the idea for Instagram... or Reddit... or Starbucks..."?

You want to start your own company but don't know how to come up with a
good startup idea?

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[DISCLAIMER: business ideas are worth nothing without execution. In the end,
it's about the work you put into your company not the idea... but anyway, you
need to start somewhere]

I found six bullet-proof methods to think about new startup ideas:

1) Look at trends in other markets


What companies have solved a big pain point in other markets that you could
bring to another market? E.g. look at Y-Combinators top 100 companies list
http://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies/ and find the trend. What
problems are they addressing? Does your market face the same problems? Could
you start the XYZ of your industry or your country?

Spoiler: MANY of them are in HR, payroll, taxes, accounting, and finance (access
to capital for companies and individuals)

2) Identify emerging technologies and build solutions for them. E.g.


cryptocurrencies, the blockchain, AI, etc

There are many new technologies on the rise right now. You don't have to be the
first to invent them. Sometimes, it's enough to join the game and just do it
better.

Are you an expert on these topics? Go and become the second-mover!

3) Ancillary services
During the gold-rush in the US, the people that made the most (and most stable)
income were NOT the gold miners... it was the people who sold ancillary
services TO gold miners and expatriates: the people who sold equipment,
entertainment, food, accommodation and garment to the evolving industry.

The same is true with emerging technologies:


Oil >>> gas stations

Cannabis >>> dispensaries

Bitcoin >>> "Antminer" computers (Bitmain the company that makes the
specialized computers required for mining bitcoin just filed for one of the
largest IPOs in the world (18 billion USD) and makes more money than most
direct investors in Bitcoin....)

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Again, you can use the Gartner hype cycle graphic to identify attractive
industries and then build ancillary services around them.

4) Always disrupt the middle-man


As technology advances the safest bet seems to be to disrupt the middleman in
any industry.

Real estate brokers, financial brokers, headhunters, purchasing agents, tourism


agencies, booking agents, etc etc

Why let somebody make a cut when you can connect the consumer with the
provider directly through technology (and make a new kind of middle-man or
sell ads)

5) New upstarts in an old industry


What are old industries that you can disrupt through new technology? A new
kind of "bank"; technology that disrupts the legal industry; tech that disrupts
the banking industry; AI to make cleaning businesses more efficient; etc

6) Look at Y-Combinator's request for startups


Y-Combinator and some other accelerator programs and investors actually
publish lists of the kind of opportunities they are looking for. Why not get
inspired? https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs/

All of these prompts can help you brainstorm new ideas!

I already thought about DOZENS with this system.

Do you have another method for brainstorming startup ideas?


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Aloyce Nyakunga, studied Medicine and Healthcare (2017)


Answered Jun 30

400 Business ideas you can start anytime

In this article, we will only mention all business ideas online and offline we
have

1. Ice cream cone making

2. Ice cream making

3. Invitation card making

4. Iodized salt production

5. Jam jelly-making business

6. Jute bag making

7. Latex rubber thread

8. Lathe machine unit

9. Leather bag making

10. Lemonade production

11. Liquid soap making

12. Meat processing

13. Microbrewery

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14. Milling machine business READ HERE ALL 400 BUSINESS IDEAS

15. Cooking oil manufacturing

16. Coconut oil manufacturing

17. Groundnut oil production

18. Rice mill plant

19. TMT bar manufacturing

20. Min paper mill

21. Naphthalene ball making

22. Naphthalene balls

23. Noodles making

24. Nuts bolts making

25. Mineral water plant

26. Packaging box manufacturing

27. Palm oil processing

28. Papad making

29. Paper bags making

30. Paper cup making

31. Pasta making

32. Phenyl floor cleaner making

33. Liquid phenyl

34. Pickles making

35. Plastic product manufacturing

36. Air bubble sheet making

37. Pet bottle production

38. Plastic toothpick production READ HERE ALL 400 BUSINESS


IDEAS
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Andrei Petrik, CEO & Co-Founder at NetHunt (2015-present)


Updated Aug 29

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-find-a-business-idea 16/34
10/11/2018 (7/1) How do I find a business idea? - Quora

For most people starting a business , the issue should not be coming up with
something so unique that no one has ever heard of it but instead answering the
questions: "How can I improve on this?" or "Can I do this better or differently from
the other guy doing it over there?" Or simply, "Is there market share not being
served that makes room for another business in this category?"

Get the Juices Flowing

How do you start the idea process? First, take out a sheet of paper and across the
top write "Things About Me." List five to seven things about yourself--things you
like to do or that you're really good at, personal things (we'll get to your work life
in a minute). Your list might include: "I'm really good with people, I love kids, I
love to read, I love computers, I love numbers, I'm good at coming up with
marketing concepts, I'm a problem solver." Just write down whatever comes to
your mind; it doesn't need to make sense. Once you have your list, number the
items down one side of the paper.

On the other side of the paper, list things that you don't think you're good at or
you don't like to do. Maybe you're really good at marketing concepts, but you
don't like to meet people or you're really not that fond of kids or you don't like to
do public speaking or you don't want to travel. Don't overthink it; just write
down your thoughts. When you're finished, ask yourself: "If there were three to
five products or services that would make my personal life better, what would
they be?" This is your personal life as a man, woman, father, husband, mother,
wife, parent, grandparent--whatever your situation may be. Determine what
products or services would make your life easier or happier, make you more
productive or efficient, or simply give you more time.

Next, ask yourself the same question about your business life. Examine what
you like and dislike about your work life as well as what traits people like and
dislike about you. Finally, ask yourself why you're seeking to start a business in
the first place. Then, when you're done, look for a pattern to emerge (i.e.,
whether there's a need for a business doing one of the things you like or are good
at).

They Delivered

Here's a business startup story that's a great example of seeing a need and filling
it. Entrepreneur magazine is located in Irvine, California, a planned community.
Many years ago, there weren't many fast-food restaurants in the business area.
Most were across town, where the neighborhoods were. Two young men in
Irvine found this lunch situation very frustrating. There weren't many

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affordable choices. Sure, there were some food courts located in strip centers,
but the parking lots were really small and the wait was horrendous.

One day, as they were lamenting their lunch problem, one of them said,
"Wouldn't it be great if we could get some good food delivered?" The proverbial
light bulb went on! Then they did what many people don't do--they did
something about their idea. Coincidentally, they purchased one of
Entrepreneur's business startup guides and started a restaurant delivery
business.

To date, their business has served more than 15 million people! It's neither a
complicated business nor an original one. Their competition has gotten stiffer,
and yet they're doing phenomenally well. And it all began because they listened
to their own frustrations and decided to do something about them. Little did
they know that research cites the shrinking lunch hour as one of the biggest
complaints by American workers. Some only get 30 minutes, making it nearly
impossible to get out, get lunch and get back on time. So while these young
entrepreneurs initially thought they were responding to a personal need in their
local area, they actually struck a universal chord.

That is one way to get ideas--listening to your own (or your co-workers', family's
or neighbors') frustrations. The opportunities are all there; you just need to
search them out. If your brain is always set in idea mode, then many ideas may
come from just looking around or reading. For instance, if you had read an
article about the shrinking lunch hour, and if you were thinking
entrepreneurially, you would say "Wow, maybe there's an opportunity there for
me to do something. I should start researching it."

Inspiring Moments

Inspiration can be anywhere. Here's another classic startup story: Ever get
charged a fee for returning a video late? Bet you didn't do anything about it.
Well, when Reed Hastings got a whopping $40 late charge, instead of getting
mad, he got inspired. Hastings wondered "How come movie rentals don't work
like a health club, where, whether you use it a lot or a little, you get charged the
same?" From this thought, Watch TV Shows Online, Watch Movies Online , an
online DVD rental service, was born. From its start in 1999, Netflix has grown
into a big business with revenues topping $1.3 billion.

Getting an idea can be as simple as keeping your eyes peeled for the latest hot
businesses; they crop up all the time. Many local entrepreneurs made tons of
money bringing the Starbucks coffeehouse concept to their hometowns and
then expanding from there. Take Minneapolis-based Caribou Coffee. The
founders had what they describe as an "aha moment" in 1990, and two years
later launched what is now the nation's second-largest company-owned
gourmet coffeehouse chain. Other coffee entrepreneurs have chosen to stay
local.

And don't overlook the tried and true. Hot businesses often go through cycles.
Take gardening. For the last few years gardening products and supplies have
been all the rage, but you wouldn't consider gardening a 21st century business.

In other words, you can take any idea and customize it to the times and your
community. Add your own creativity to any concept. In fact, customizing a
concept isn't a choice; it's a necessity if you want your business to be successful.
You can't just take an idea, plop it down and say "OK, this is it." Outside of a
McDonald's, Subway or other major franchise concept, there are very few
businesses that work with a one-size-fits-all approach.

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One of the best ways to determine whether your idea will succeed in your
community is to talk to people you know. If it's a business idea, talk to co-
workers and colleagues. Run personal ideas by your family or neighbors. Don't
be afraid of people stealing your idea. It's just not likely. Just discuss the general
concept; you don't need to spill all the details.

Just Do It!

Hopefully by now, the process of determining what business is right for you has
at least been somewhat demystified. Understand that business startup isn't
rocket science. No, it isn't easy to begin a business, but it's not as complicated or
as scary as many people think, either. It's a step-by-step, common-sense
procedure. So take it a step at a time. First step: Figure out what you want to do.
Once you have the idea, talk to people to find out what they think. Ask "Would
you buy and/or use this, and how much would you pay?"

Understand that many people around you won't encourage you (some will even
discourage you) to pursue your entrepreneurial journey. Some will tell you they
have your best interests at heart; they just want you to see the reality of the
situation. Some will envy your courage; others will resent you for having the
guts to actually do something. You can't allow these naysayers to dissuade you,
to stop your journey before it even begins.

In fact, once you get an idea for a business, what's the most important trait you
need as an entrepreneur? Perseverance. When you set out to launch your
business, you'll be told "no" more times than you've ever been told before. You
can't take it personally; you've got to get beyond the "no" and move on to the
next person--because eventually, you're going to get to a "yes."

One of the most common warnings you'll hear is about the risk. Everyone will
tell you it's risky to start your own business. Sure, starting a business is risky, but
what in life isn't? Plus, there's a difference between foolish risks and calculated
ones. If you carefully consider what you're doing, get help when you need it, and
never stop asking questions, you can mitigate your risk.

You can't allow the specter of risk to stop you from going forward. Ask yourself
"What am I really risking?" And assess the risk. What are you giving up? What
will you lose if things don't work out? Don't risk what you can't afford. Don't risk
your home, your family or your health. Ask yourself "If this doesn't work, will I
be worse off than I am now?" If all you have to lose is some time, energy and
money, then the risk is likely worth it.

Determining what you want to do is only the first step. You've still got a lot of
homework to do, a lot of research in front of you. Buying this book is a smart first
step. Most important: Do something. Don't sit back year after year and say "This
is the year I'm going to start my business." Make this the year you really do it!

Source
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Michael L.F. Slavin, Business Owner (24 years), Business Author,


www.onemillioninthebank.com
Answered May 20, 2016

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-find-a-business-idea 19/34
10/11/2018 (7/1) How do I find a business idea? - Quora

The New Business Idea

I’m not going to give you advice on finding a problem to solve that people are
willing to pay for? That is the one approach that everyone thinks of and can be
extremely frustrating if you can’t think of a new business. Even if you do, it is
untested, and you really don’t know if it is ahead of it’s time or just not going to
make it. Of course if you hit just the right thing, it could be the next Facebook.
This is the high risk, high potential reward route.

The Tried and True Business Idea

This is what I suggest as an option. It is not as sexy, but it is a lot more sure route
to become a millionaire in 3-7 years. Start your research on an everyday business
that has some interest to you, preferably something you have done before to give
you a headstart. It could be commercial cleaning, a plant nursery, a tour
company, a pottery making business, a construction company or any of
hundreds of everyday businesses.

These businesses have track records, you just need to do it well and scale
enough to make some real money. It may take 3-4 locations, one of the secrets is
that before you start, figure out what you need to be able to clear after taxes
$300,000 or so a year.Don’t just stumble into a business and just make yourself a
job. You can also get experienced mentoring from SCORE and the SBDC of
people who have actually owned your type of business. That is great insight.

If you can’t decide on the exact business, which people will tell me often, then
start a business plan on anything that might interest you. I am not talking about
your passion, just something that might be fun. This is the action that will move
you forward in the right direction and start you doing the kind of research you
need to do. So many people do nothing while they try to think of the perfect
business. Also start taking classes, reading books, and taking seminars on the
skills you will need, marketing, sales,websites, quickbooks . By doing this it
keeps you thinking, and gives you great opportunities to get lucky.

Good luck! You can do it.

Michael L. F. Slavin Author of 6 time award winning One Million in the Bank:
How To Make $1,000,000 WithYour Own Business, Even If You Have No Money
Or Experience

www.onemillioninthebank.com
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Chris Herd, Currently developing a start up. Won competition to act as


Skycanner CEO
Answered Dec 23, 2016

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10/11/2018 (7/1) How do I find a business idea? - Quora

What are your passions and what are the biggest problems you see in the world?

At the intersection of those two questions is the business idea you should
pursue.

In order to have a business you need to be interested in the thing which you are
selling. Overnight successes are extremely rare, if you’re not willing to hustle
and graft for 5–10 years you’re wasting your time.

And most people aren’t.

We get an idea, run with it until we reach the first obstacle and give up. If you’re
not willing to stick with it, to climb the mountains that will rear up
unexpectedly in front of you give up now, save yourself the time and effort.

People think entrepreneurship is easy. Think again.

It’s like trying to raise a child, who’s trying to bankrupt you and ruin your life.
Every single day. When thing run smoothly you’ll love it more than anything in
the world, but the majority of the time you’re fighting to avoid catastrophe.

If you lack the perseverance to continue to put one foot in front of the other
when everyone else is sniggering you have no chance. To find a business idea it
is critical you possess the above. Adversity is inevitable.

The ability to relentlessly pursue an idea is the most valuable tool any
entrepreneur can ever have, more important than any idea. Implementation
trump ideas and obsession will always beat interest. Normal people cannot
compete with obsessions, you need to find yours.

What is your obsession, what obsession can you cultivate? That is the business
idea you should find.

Sure, you can pursue an idea that that you aren’t interested in and it might be
incredibly profitable, but you most likely won’t have fun doing it. If you’re
enjoying what you are doing, if you cultivate interests aligned with the business
you envision and pursue you’ll never truly work a day in your life. You can
succeed without happiness, but without joy what is the point.

You have to love what you do, find what you love and do what you love. Never
settle.

Interest in the area your business operates within is the first prerequisite of
establishing a business.

What unique insight do you possess? The true voyage of discovery is not in
seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes. It’s about seeing the same things
from a different perspective, things that other people haven’t noticed. It’s about
reinventing an existing business model or innovating and creating something
new. The former is the safest route, the latter often the most profitable but far
more dangerous.

It’s about love not exploitation. The internet has ensured transparency on an
unprecedented scale, your customers are your new marketing team. If they
don’t love what you do they’ll tweet about it. If your product is terrible quality
they’ll Instagram it. If you campaigns are terrible they’ll mock you on snapchat.
If they love you their whole network is advertised to willingly for free. You need
to create things people love, if you can do that you’ve found your business idea.

Which means you have to share.

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Stop being so precious with your ideas. We hide what we are doing for fear that
other people will steal it. If they would, great, it means you have a chance. Most
likely people won’t care of see the value. Their questions will enable you to
develop and iterate on your idea. To your business idea it is essential you get
feedback, perhaps more important than anything else.

Find out how you’ll fail, find out the problems and fix them.

It’s about solving real problems. If you can help someone you can make money
from it.

But it shouldn’t just be about solving problems people tell you they have. The
problem is people only think they know what they want. If they could dream of
the next development they’d be creating it. Sometimes products are so far
beyond the realms of comprehension that it doesn’t catch on. History is littered
with products that were before their time and their use never grew in popularity.
To find a business you need to make sure people are ready for it.

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”―
Henry Ford

So your business idea needs to be more than what other people tell you they
need.

Most of all you have to be relentless and view failure as a bedfellow you will ride
on the path to success.

9 out of 10 businesses fail, so start 10 and you’ll eventually arive across your
solution.

But never have a plan B, if you do you’ve already started to entertain the thought
of failure.

Greatness most frequently arrives from prolificacy. It’s about quantity not
quality because quality is bred through quantity.

It only matters that you don’t fail the last time your are willing to try, so keep
trying and you will find your business idea.

Be relentless and unmerciful and persevere with obsession as you watch others
jump ship.

And always love what you do.


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Andrew Mcconnell, Co-Founder & CEO of Rented.com-connecting owners


of rental homes with managers.
Answered Sep 12, 2016

This trucker has turned his seemingly mundane Indianapolis 2BR home into a
Wonderland-themed “artist frat house ” rental .

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This Vancouver native has decided to share her hippie lifestly with the world
by turning her camper van (which is also her primary residence) into a rental .
(It’s almost always booked but guests are on their own when it comes to finding
a bathroom!)

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10/11/2018 (7/1) How do I find a business idea? - Quora

This Berlin couple created a rental furnished nearly entirely from recycled
wooden floorboards.

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10/11/2018 (7/1) How do I find a business idea? - Quora

This group created some interesting artistic, short-term rentals out of odd
urban spaces in Austria, like converted soup kitchens and former working-class
apartments.

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This couple has turned this historic home into a rental by heavily marketing
its historical past, including the fact that the home was originally the residence
of a notorious murderer in the 19th century nicknamed “War” (this was
profiled on the HGTV show “If Walls Could Talk”).

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In my area of focus (short-term/vacation rentals), there is a lot of really


interesting innovation happening with hosts on Airbnb. Thus, from time to
time, I will browse the site for inspirational, novel business ideas (such as those
listed above) from those who have already been successful.

I would encourage you to do the same for your area of focus whether it’s
browsing new items in-store at Wal-Mart or online at Amazon (CPG or retail),
checking out recently sold homes on Zillow (real estate), being old fashioned
and spending a day in clothing stores at the mall (fashion), etc.

In the words of T.S. Eliot: “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.”

If you happen to be in (or are looking to break into) the short-term/vacation


rental space and are looking for more ideas, feel free to check out an ultimate
guide to short-term/vacation rental ownership that I recently collaborated on
with some other professionals in the industry.

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10/11/2018 (7/1) How do I find a business idea? - Quora
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Jacob Aron, Simple Habits & Adventures at BeTheForklift.com


Answered May 30, 2017

Business ideas are the output of two factors: problems and passion.

There is a simple formula I use when speaking with other entrepreneurs and in
analyzing my own businesses:

Problem X Passion = Idea

To start a business or a start-up, don’t worry about coming up with ideas.


Instead focus on the following two items:

Solve A Problem - Instead of researching and writing down a bunch of


ideas, identify and research as many problems as you can. The bigger
and more painful a problem is for people, the stronger and faster your
business can grow. These problems might be in the design of current
products that you can improve on or you might identify current
marketing problems for an industry or you might be able to identify
some daily pains in a group of peoples lives that you can solve.
Basically, the more people who have a problem and the more painful it
is for them, the bigger (and faster) your business can become.

Be Passionate - What ever problem you end up solving and starting a


business around, the more that it is part of your current lifestyle,
identity and interests, the better. You will thinking, talking and
dreaming about this business for at least the next two years…and more
if you are successful. After the initial excitement wears off, it will take
discipline and focus to remain dedicated to your business.

In this simple formula, the stronger each variable can be, the greater chance of
success of you will have.

Here are a few examples:

John is a rocket scientist and while watching a group of surfers on his


beach vacation, he realizes that a sur oard could be exponentially
more stable if the board had an extra fin in the front of the board.
However, John lives in Kansas and does not even know how to swim so
he continues reading his paper and forgets about the design change. As
you can see here, there was a strong problem but minimal passion.

Chris is an avid runner who runs up to 10 miles each day. He loves


everything about running and it is the center piece of his life. It is his
passion for running that keeps him motivated to do his daily run when
there is 2 feet of snow and -10 degrees outside. In attempt to start his
own business, Chris starts selling water bottles. After the first year,
Chris decides to shut down his business become of poor sales. In this
example, Chris had the passion but did not solve any problem.

Lastly, Roger is a professional guitar player who after 30 years of playing


still wakes up eager to learn new songs and techniques. During all these
years of playing, Roger and all of his guitar play companions are
plagued by blisters on their fingers. And as Roger comes to find out,
every beginner guitarist is also plagued by this issue. So Roger solves
this problem by designing a finger cot which allows you to feel the
guitar strings as normal yet the guitarist does not get a blister. Rogers
company earned $10 million in its first year. In this example, Roger

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solved a painful problem and he had the passion to talk about his
product everyday on its road to success.

Stepping back in your life, what are you passionate about and what problems
can you identify?

To help you get started, you can use following Lean Canvas template to
organize your list of problems and build them out to a business model.

Entrepreneurship is one of the most amazing and rewarding journeys we can


endeavor on in life. You will experience the highest of highs and the lowest of
lows, but in the end you will be much happier than you could ever be working a
routine and mundane 8 to 5 job.

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Tony D. Ibi, I write about Personal Finance on www.centremoney.com


Answered Sep 22, 2017

Entrepreneurship is interesting and dynamic. Finding a business idea may


sometimes be frustrating especially if you’re trying to come up with one.

While I do think innovating is great, you could also try to improve an existing
product or service.

See what’s missing out there and if you can’t really come up with your own idea
then simply see what you can do better than an existing business in a particular
industry.

Do a research on an industry. Let’s just say coffee industry. The coffee industry is
evergreen which means it never ends, it’s not seasonal. There are billions of
people who drink coffee everyday and are addicted to it. From this, you might
get inspired and decide to start a coffee shop .

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The thing now is that you should provide good quality and service for people to
come at your place. But if your quality is not as good as another competitor’s
doesn’t mean you’re not going to realise profit. That depends on other factors
too.

If you’re interested in knowing how to start a coffee shop click here:

How to Start a Coffee Shop Business?

When you go out with friends ask them what can be better or what ideas they
have. What can be improved. Explore more and more and read books.

You will find your inspiration…


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Liz Huber, 6yrs+ experience building & growing startup companies


Answered Aug 14

Looking for a business idea? Stop googling “business ideas” and start mastering
the process of idea generation itself.

One of the best ways to generate a consistent flow of new ideas is to approach it
from as many different angles as you can think of.

Need some inspiration? Here is a list of different angles including specific idea
generation strategies for each one to get your creative juices flowing!

Scratch your Own Itch

1. Create a solution for something that you find really annoying or


painful in your life.

2. Create a better solution for something that you do every day — e.g.
make the process more efficient, less expensive or more enjoyable.

Solve a Problem for a Niche Audience

3. Build an email list around a niche topic and survey them about their biggest
challenges about it.

4. Analyse the activity in niche forums and on platforms like Quora and
Reddit to discover the pain points and desires of niche groups.

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Discover Business Ideas in your Corporate Job

5. Look at the internal processes of the company you are working for
(Human Resources, Finance & Accounting, Marketing, Management, Sales,
etc.): What are processes that could be made more efficient? How could they be
improved with the use of technology?

6. Look at the people working with you: How could they get better at what they
do? How could they be happier at what they do so the company can keep their
best-performing employees?

7. Look for improvement potential of the company’s core service. How could
its product or service be made better, cheaper or more efficient? Think of out-of-
the-box ways that the big companies are missing as well as business ideas that
benefit from small agile startup teams instead of big capital and resources.

8. Look at transferability of its products and processes: How could its


processes be used in a different industry? How could its products be made
accessible to a completely different market (e.g. a cheaper, more basic version in
third world countries)?

9. Look for improvement potential in its supply chain: How could processes
of its suppliers or customers be made more efficient?

Analyse Trends

10. Look at the trending topics on Social Media Sites like Twitter, Reddit,
Buzzfeed, YouTube etc. Remember the Fidget Spinner? If you are able to jump
onto trending topics fast enough by creating or reselling related products or
services, you can build a valid business.

11. Become a trend spotter yourself: Read, read, read. Pick an industry and
spend a couple of months reading everything about it. Do it until you get to the
point where you are able to spot and predict upcoming trends yourself.

Explore your Passion

12. Look at your past jobs and analyse what you liked/did not like in your
role. Think of industries and types of businesses that would allow you to do
more of what you like. For example, if you loved working with people in your
customer service job, why not build a coaching or consulting business?

13. Make a list of things you love to do and would do for free. Think about
how you could turn these things into a business. For example, if you are
passionate about healthy living and spend your free time researching recipes,
finding new ways to workout and read up on the newest health trends — why not
start a blog or coaching business with your expertise?

Build on your Strengths

14. Look at your past jobs and analyse what you were really good at.Think of
industries and types of businesses that would allow you to use your skills and
strengths. For example, if you were really good at writing blog posts in your past
marketing job, you could start a business as a freelance writer.

15. Think of businesses and industries that you would have an unfair
advantage in. This could be based on extensive industry experience,
knowledge, skills or network. How could you use this advantage to build a
business?

Become an Idea Machine

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-find-a-business-idea 31/34
10/11/2018 (7/1) How do I find a business idea? - Quora

16. Train your brain to come up with ideas on tap by writing down 10 ideas
about one topic every day. They don’t need to be business ideas but they need
to be related to just one topic. This will force your brain to get really creative. For
example: write down 10 ideas to make cooking easier, 10 ideas to loose weight,
10 ideas to sell books, etc.

17. Read, Read, Read. The more you read about different things in all sorts of
areas, the more ideas will come to you naturally. By expanding your knowledge,
you are expanding your realm of business ideas.

Apply a well-known business model to a different industry or product

18. Build the Uber for X, the Airbnb for Y or the Warby Parker for x. You get the
point.

19. Find a niche and resell products on your own dropshipping store, Amazon,
eBay or other market places.
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Bjorn Grubelich, Product Manager


Answered Mar 21

Don’t brainstorm. It’s not that productive.

Entrepreneurs who come up with good ideas are more observers than they are
thinkers. In other words, they aren’t sitting down looking at data or researching
online. They are out in the world doing something and see something that
sparks their curiosity.

There’s a few common ways:

Transplantation: Take a successful business from one market and implement it


in a different market. Could be across industries, or could be geographically.
Starbucks, zipcar, discount airlines, are all good examples of this.

Disintermediation: Cut out the middleman. If you find a way to better connect
suppliers and producers to customers, you can generally unlock value because
you increase contribution margins.

Look for sunk costs to exploit: This is a really good way that can be applied
across any kind of market and operations. When businesses have capital
equipment or assets which aren’t being used those fixed costs are sunk costs.
Unless the equipment, warehouses, machines etc are being used at full capacity,
they have an incentive to use them to fill capacity. Think of Uber. They went to
black car drivers who were looking for time to fill between their client’s rides.
AirBnB went to to people on Craigslist who were trying to rent out their homes
they owned. Flexe renting out warehouse space. AWS, Google others in the cloud
infrastructure services business. IDM Foundries moving to Pure play
Semiconductor Foundries.

I saw a few answers that said don’t think of a product, go listen to the market.

That can be true. But there are two sides to that argument, product first vs
market first. Market first is as described by many. Go listen to customers, which
can be very successful since you sometimes can identify people’s pain and
create value from that.

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-find-a-business-idea 32/34
10/11/2018 (7/1) How do I find a business idea? - Quora

However the problem with market first is sometimes customers don’t know
what they want. Steve Jobs was famous for saying Apple never did customer
surveys. The reason he didn’t is because early on he tried and realized quickly
his potential customers had no idea what they wanted, because it didn’t exist.
How would you have come up with the iPhone in 1999 by asking people what
their problems with their cellphones were?

So product first can be extremely successful but also very risky.


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Kudzai Munyavi, Blogger at entrepreneurcrunch.com


Answered May 23, 2016

FINDING BUSINESS IDEAS, HOW CAN I?


1: Find and take away pain – I don’t want pain, they don’t want pain and you
don’t want pain. Everyone is running away from pain. Look for pain and be a
painkiller. Ask your target customers what pains them most in their jobs or daily
routines and see if you can find a solution to that pain. If look for ideas this you
will be guaranteed on revenue as they will potential paying customers.

2: Ask why – Ask: why do you do it this way, why do you have to go that way, why
do you have to buy that, ask why!

3: Look for weaknesses in competition – Analyse the products and services of


your competition and flag the areas where there are weaknesses and come up
with your product or service that capitalises on those weaknesses in your
competition.

4: Make them lazy –People love to have more time at their disposal so that they
can do what they love. Why can’t you make people lazy or give people time?

5: Celebrate when you see problems –When you see problems, roll up your
analysis sleeves and find the solution to it.

6: Create A Need, And Fill It –If you have an innovative mind, you can create a
need (or activating a dormant need) and create the product to meet the need.

7: Jump onto the bandwagon - Keep up with current events and be ready to take
advantage of business opportunities.

8: Who are you? – Examine your own skills to find business ideas. Look at your
skills and leverage on them to offer a service for value.

9: Carry a notebook – business in one part of the world is a business idea in


another part.

10: Ideas are around sharks – just swim with sharks!

11: Make wishes come true – make wishes come true really!

STEP II: I GOT THE BUSINESS IDEA, NOW WHAT?


1: Take the first step with the resources you have now – it’s about taking action
with the means at hand. You don’t have to wait until everything falls into place.

2: How much are you willing to lose – what are you willing to lose. To act on your
ideas without risking it all, you start risking what you are willing to lose. That
means, if you lose that money or time, you will not lose sleep, curse yourself or
commit suicide.

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-find-a-business-idea 33/34
10/11/2018 (7/1) How do I find a business idea? - Quora

3: Learn from what you experience – the key to success is learning from what
you are experiencing. Measure and re-act. Start new action, Stop what’s not
working and continue what’s working.

4: Pursue or Pivot – if it’s working Pursue and if not Pivot.

Business ideas, Unchained: Just how you can find viable business ideas and take
the entrepreneurial action, an Ebook by Kudzai Munyavi
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