How do you come up with new project ideas?
One of the biggest challenges I've found was finding ideas. I always come up with ideas but after thinking about it for a few days I start to second guess it when thinking about it myself or when talking to other people about it. I try to find ideas that I can personally relate to/have exp in. I look at Indie Hacker, Product hunt and other places for inspirations. Curious what other people use to come up with new ideas. Do you have some sort of criteria list you go through when evaluating if an idea is worth pursuing or not? Thanks
Disclaimer: just my personal experience!
At the moment I got 16 ideas sitting in my notes app, all waiting to be worked out, all being thought about for a while, all potential good ideas, otherwise I remove them.
(I left uni 6 months ago, so give me some time to work them out;)
The key that I have this many ideas worked out pretty well is really the notes app itself.
All day long you read stuff on the internet, you absorb information and that’s what your brain is busy with. Then, when you put your computer (in my case iPad) aside you brush your teeth, you go to bed, you read a nice book (Napoleon hill, Richard Brandson etc;) after that when you are about to sleep. Then finally your brain has time to think about the information it absorbed. At that time you better be sure to have your note app next to you, because then ideas will come (most likely). What I also do occasionally is reading back old ideas, rethinking them etc.
Another moment is Ofcourse the morning shower, although not for me most of the times.
Or sometimes ideas pops of while reading stuff Ofcourse, the key is to always have your note app close to you!
At some point you have to go for it, it will never ever be perfect. The idea I chose is the idea I like the most, which contributes to the world, which would make me proud if I could make it a success.
In order to force myself to commit to an idea I give it a name, while naming the idea I look on a website where I can buy the domain for it, so I am sure the name is available. Then I sleep a night, or two about it. After I spoke about it with some people, asked them what they think about it (the name) I buy it. At that moment you will start thinking even more about it! I want to earn the money back!
In order to do this I simple get a lot of paper and a pen. What is my catchphrase? Who are my customers? What makes my product good? How can I actually make it? Howmany potential customers and thus revenue can I have? Think of the logo, what do you want it to tell? Etc etc. And what happens a lot is that my ideas change, due to the name I came up with😂. What also happens sometimes that I come to the conclusion this name eventually won’t work (rip €7)
In short:
Work it out. Lot’s of great resources on the internet. Search something in the lines of from idea to business or so:)
This is what I personally do, I don’t say this is the way, I don’t say it is good, I just wanted to share what works for me.
I agree with domain hunting. If you have an idea but can't find a catchy name that you can register a domain for it is usually a show stopper for me. Especially if you want to gather interest for your website/project with the help of spreading the word.
Ofcourse you can always throw money into marketing but that money is better spend elsewhere. Good products that ppl love market themselves
Yeah exactly!
wow Dylan thank you so much for walking through your process on thinking of new ideas. I really love the part where you always have your notebook on standup and write up any thoughts at a moments notice.
No problem!
There's some great resources on the right hand side of the Ideas and Validation group - https://www.indiehackers.com/group/ideas-and-validation
Ooh I didn't know about this group that's a great place to get some opinions and feedback thank you!