Be weary of a new idea

On Indiehackers there are multiple posts a day on the topic of whether or not you should compete if your product idea already exists in the market.

This comes in several formats. Looking at the front page right now there are two examples:

• "Copying someone idea is it good..."
• "What I do after coming with an idea and after seeing prople doing the same?"

I learned through painful (and expensive) mistakes a golden rule that I now follow. I only pursue ideas where I can google the problem and a solution already exists. If I can't articulate the problem I'm solving into a Google search I know it will likely be tough to find customers.

Too many people just starting out focus on building something entirely new. This is a really, really bad idea.

Educating customers is very expensive. If you're a bootstrapper you likely don't have the resources to provide this education.

What are your thoughts?