How to generate ideas as an aspiring Indie Hacker

I created a product idea prompt generator exactly for that purpose https://prompts.productideas.co/ :)

1. No pain no gain > create a mindset of seeing problems around you

• Emotions are a great indicator for problems
• Look for everyday problems around you.

2. On topics that you have some interest and knowledge of.

• Don't browse topics that you're not (slightly) familiar with. The better you understand the topic, the easier it is to see the problem/ improvement.
• Talk to your friends, family, network. See if there's a problem you could solve for them.

3. Don't pressure yourself to much. Creating an idea is not an epiphany, it's a skill. And just like any other skill, you need to practice it before you get any results.

I am writing a mega resource on all the ways to get product ideas.

Here are some ways:

1. Request for Startups
   https://blog.plaid.com/fintech-rfc/

2. Read reviews - https://twitter.com/PierreDeWulf/status/1321902819876757507

3. Look at best selling Shopify products. Add “/collections/all?sort_by=best-selling” to the end of a Shopify URL to see what your competitors are selling and find their best-selling products.

4. Look at popular freelance jobs - https://twitter.com/cogentgene/status/1319551351571927040 - Upwork for example

5. Look for difficult work people don't like doing - http://www.paulgraham.com/schlep.html

6. Do a Sales Safari - Pick an audience that has problems and will pay you, hang out where they hang out, and find the issues and problems they have - https://dominikdotzauer.de/sales-safari/

7. Reddit DIY, find a way to sell the projects that people like. Package up the ingredients and instructions and sell etc.

8. Look at your personal or company credit card statement - https://twitter.com/jonhainstock/status/1295712754305826816?s=12 - One great way to find ideas is to list out every product you (and your business or the company you work for) bought in the last year. Then go through each product and identify things you struggled with or wished were better.

I have like 30 more I will share once I get it written up. Follow me on Twitter if you want to know when I post it.

Cheers!

Look for people complaining about products on forums.

I completely agree that it's about problems.

I'd try and find 10 problems that you have, badly.

Next, I'd trawl Reddit for 10 problems that other people have, badly.

Then for those 20 I'd choose the one where there's the most evidence that 1000s of people also have the problem.

I'd also seriously recommend finding problems with specific existing products, which can be solved via some kind of integration. For instance, a problem on Shopify that can be fixed with a plugin of some sort. It means your go-to-market is really clear, and people can get immediate value out of your solution.

Hi! Glad you asked I have been thinking about this for a while by generating 10 ideas a day.

Check out:

• https://twitter.com/10ideas_ where i post the ideas.
• https://tid.ai/app the platform that is still build in progress to host and connect ideas to people.
• https://tid.ai/landing the rough concept

Enjoy.
Ali

My newsletter solves this problem to an extent at https://gumroad.com/l/the-next-idea-pro

It helps you drill down a saas niche area. Also provides technical chops, Marketing chops, Cost analysis for every single saas idea.

Here is a sample from Pro Newsletter
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/building-1k-to-10k-mrr-micro-saas-products-around-twitter-audience-twitter-apis-d26423cf5a

Look to the people. Who are some people you want to help?
Are you interested in what they are doing? If so, talk to them.

DoorDash is IPO'ing and they got the idea from talking to 100 Small Restaurants. They didn't magically figure it out.

I like to focus on industries/niches that interest me and figure out what they need. I also like to get to to the people in the industry and create a following, so that when I do go to launch something it makes the whole process so much easier.

Also, there's some great discussions pinned to the top and some links on the right hand side here: https://www.indiehackers.com/group/ideas-and-validation

An approach I've been taking that's been helpful: I join subreddits for things I'm interested in or things I think I might be interested in and look for complaints or questions.

I will often post fresh startup ideas on https://auntyshout.com/category/new-and-unique-startup-ideas/

If you want to get your answer without reading below visit:

https://auntyshout.com/02-ways-to-generate-startup-ideas-03-reasons-why-i-share-startup-ideas-and-many-peoples-dont/

During my life I have seen hundreds of peoples and there are millions of peoples in this world who have expertise, knowledge, skills and talent but unable to generate ideas which can create a business for them, make them their own boss, give them freedom from working for someone else, make them money and make their life financially stress free and help the world.

I am also a common person like you, even many of you might be more capable, intellectual than me so, if I can generate and get startup ideas then why not you guys can do, even you can do better than me. Who knows after reading this motivational article your hidden talent can come forward and you start working on that and bring better change. You may follow the same procedures that I do on https://auntyshout.com/02-ways-to-generate-startup-ideas-03-reasons-why-i-share-startup-ideas-and-many-peoples-dont/

@Lyomann92

I tend to go where people are either directly or indirectly complaining about a problem they have. Product forums are a good place to start (directly complaining) and App Stores / Platforms (indirectly, these apps are supposed to solve a problem. You can pretty much compete with products there).

Problems are where ideas are generated, so if you find problems, generating ideas from those are much easier!

I wrote a 3k+ word article on how to find SaaS ideas, but to summarize two points:

1. Using job search engines: Type any industry into the Indeed search bar and read through job descriptions. The job descriptions will describe the problems that a company needs solved.

The best part about this is companies are trying to hire these people, so there must be money to be made there, if you help those people that get hired.

2. App Stores: littered with problems. Think about why, for example, the Shopify App store exists: the company itself can't build a solution to every problem, so they created an app platform so developers can build and benefit (read: $, if they charge) from it.

Good luck!

(Hit me up on Twitter if you want to bounce ideas off each other! )