I know this is a recurrent fear of new IndieHackers: How can I find some new ideas?
In fact, opportunities are everywhere! There is plenty of ways to find ideas:
Scratch your own itch.
What are you doing on a daily that can be improved? What are you struggling with? What do you hate doing?
Hang-out in communities and look for recurrent pains
I'm a BIG fan of Reddit for that. Pick a community with 100k members, spend some time, and look for patterns. After a few weeks you will notice recurrent subjects. That's the kind of problem you want to solve as an entrepreneur!
Go to a review site like TrustPilot, look for a bad noted app,and start a better alternative…
There are tons of bad software out there. Just copy the purpose and the target audience but make something better (more features, better UI, more integrations, etc…)
There are 4 questions you should ask yourself before starting:
Hard to distribute is a NOGO. You don't want to build something you can't sell.
Same for small pains, not recurring ones. You'll create a "nice-to-have" product. That's super hard to grow.
Hard to build can give you a competitive advantage. The question is: can you make an MVP in a month or two?
If the answer is no, you can either go find a new idea or start to consider moving into a startup mindset (with external funds and hiring)
Once you find an idea, you need to validate it.
If the calls with the 10 people validated that the pain exists, it's time to move to the 2nd step!
Build the more lightweight MVP possible. It can be some screenshots, a demo, a super lightweight website (use #nocode!). The only purpose of this MVP should be:
I know your pain, I'm working on a solution to fix it
Be as specific as possible, no BS, no jargon. Use the words of the people you interviewed in your content!
Once your MVP is ready, create a pre-order page on Gumroad (way easier to set up than stripe).
Then, bring some traffic either with ads or by asking for feedback on a community.
And wait.
If you make a few sales with this super minimalist MVP you can start building something (and you have some extra cash now!).
If you don't make any sales, schedule some new calls, try to get some feedback. It may take a few shots before making it!
If you want to read more content like this follow me on Twitter: @angezanetti
I build all my product in public and share a lot of insights about how to launch your startup.
(original post: https://blog.spreadtheworld.net/posts/how-to-find-ideas-validate-them/)
Wow, a lot of helpful information - I find myself a technical guy, so it's always hard for me to talk with potential customers.
Any advices on that? Yes, I'm reading The mom test book right now;)
I bought the mom test based on this comment - thank you!
Thanks man! The mom test is really a good one!
It's hard to talk to customers but the more you do it the easier.
Right to the point! We're currently getting our low code data-stream builder to market and constantly readjusting and listening to feedback is super important (even though we have been in startup mindset for quite some time now).
Yep, we all need to iterate on the content or the product. It's super hard to create exactly what people wants!
I really liked your view. Keep on posting.
I will!
Good stuff Angel!
Why do you have to record a telephone call? What if I talk to peers over in a beer in a pub instead?
Don't take my joking too serious. I just think your steps were too specific so I didn't even read the rest;)
Your customer's words are the best content marketing you can imagine. So, takes notes, record on your phone, do whatever you want but try to keep their exact words :)
Well, just came from your Twitter post, and bookmarked this article, Awesome article!
Really nice piece of info! I find it similar to what Jason Cohen says and that's great :B
I didn't know Jason Cohen, now i do! Thanks ☺️
We at NurtureLabs help in building an MVP that can easily test your assumptions at a minimal cost.
Awesome post, Xavier!
Thanks man :)