How did you come up with project idea?
Hey folks,
Tell me, how did you come up with the idea for your project?
For several months now, I've been waking up every day with the idea of launching a project. But I can't find something that would be interesting for me and make money at the same time.
I often see advices I have to find some problem and solve it. Ha-ha, if only it were that easy.
So, what would you recommend to me?
Here's a way I have come up with to build projects people will pay for:
Instead of thinking of it as "finding problems", I seek out gaps. Gaps of knowledge are hard to articulate, but gaps of tools are sometimes easier to see.
Look for loads of content/advice and no tool. It's very special to be able to code, to be able to build full products that actually do something. If you can, then you can look at really a ton of "informational" products and build a tool for them to use. Look for high volume keywords where there's a ton of info, but no tools. What's good about this approach is that you will be able to easily get backlinks to your tool, because so many people are advising to do this thing, and they just write content.
Having a bunch of study notes from high schoo and university and knowing that study notes are a very useful thing (for example, answers to tests, various tips, lectures, etc.), we decided to make a site with the possibility of exchanging or selling notes, so students can find what they need or sell his inspirational notes. As they say "Great ideas come unexpectedly" :)
The idea for my first project was inspired by a problem I experienced myself. Even though I validated that the others also shared the same issue, in the end, I couldn't come up with a sustainable and recurring business model. Eventually, I had to close down the project.
But, the problem seemed to exist, so what happened?
It's because the "look for problems" approach to kick-start a business is flawed. Inherently, we are all consumers, so when thinking about problems, we think about them from our perspective. This leads new founders to pursue ideas that have a high risk of failing since many people come up with the same thing (e.g. discovery apps).
I believe that a better approach is to analyze the trends and look for opportunities and niches in the market ready for some "disruption". I would also narrow down the search to the areas that you have a competitive advantage in, e.g. industry knowledge, connections, etc. Once you find a gap, search for problems in that space by talking to people in your target audience and by following relevant FB groups and online communities.
I used this strategy (to an extent) with my second project which I'm working on right now. It's an e-commerce D2C business with a very strong focus on the digital experience since it's my strongest suit. Although, if I was looking for a new venture right now, I would probably go for a B2B/SaaS and look for a co-founder with expertise in a specific industry/market.
I actually wrote an article with a few tips on how to look for a business idea. If you check it out, let me know what you think ✌️ https://medium.com/@dk.matusik/how-to-come-up-with-a-business-idea-2836b62962fa