Fantastic Ideas and where to find them?

Topic of the Week

Fantastic Ideas and where to find them

Ideas are all around us but more often than not - we find it hard to zero down on high-quality ideas.

In today’s edition, I am going to share some frameworks that will help you find, categorize and filter ideas.

While we will take examples of Tech ideas but these methods apply to all sorts of ideas.

Types of Ideas

According to me, there are three broader ways in which an Idea may strike you -

1. Epiphanies - You randomly come across an idea and get fascinated by it. These ones are a result of your observations, thoughts and sometimes an amalgamation of both.

   These ones are largely solutions looking for problems but sometimes these are also the ones that become multi billion dollar companies.

2. Inspirations - You see something and you get inspired.

   In 2010s, Everyone was inspired by Uber to build an Uber for X - such as Uber for food delivery, Uber for Vacations and so much more.
   You pick an existing idea or a model and then apply it to a new domain or a niche.

   These work well only if the timing is right as such ideas may be cyclic.

3. Domain Expertise - You work in a domain for years, understand the value chain and solve a tiny or a big enough problem.

   In my opinion, These are the best ideas as you know the problem and you also know your customers well enough

Having said that, no idea is good or bad - It is very important that you play with ideas because you never know what can change your life.

How to find ideas?

While the last section touched upon types of ideas, Here we have a few methods that will help you find ideas.

Remember, your idea should be based on a real problem. A lot of ideas that entice us are solutions looking for problems - please avoid those. Whenever you get an idea, ask yourself - “What is the core problem that I am solving with this idea?”

For instance, building a cab service with air conditioning & entertainment system may be pretty cool but it will only work if the customers feel that not getting air conditioned cabs is a problem but it is most likely that the problem may be finding cabs within 10 mins. Your idea will never take off if you arent able to solve for the core problems and you get stuck with solving for features.

1. Personal Problem Statements

   • What is that something bothers you on a day to day basis? What is something that you want to get solved right now?

   • These are the best ideas because you are solving your own itch and you are less likely to lose motivation - one of the biggest reasons why most ideas never see the light of the day.

   • Dropbox was founded because the founder was tired of sending his files on email to retrieve them later from anywhere.

   • Evernote was founded because the founder couldn’t find a decent enough holistic note-taking app.

2. Observe your friends & family

   • Is there something that your friends/family crib about a lot? Like not being able to find a cab in Bangalore or not being able to decide what to eat?

   • This is a great way to find real problems

   • Make sure you ask your friends/family if they will pay for a solution if monetisation is a goal for you.

   • Venmo was founded when the founders saw their friends finding it hard to do peer-to-peer transfers

3. Look for signals on Twitter/Reddit

   • Reddit & Twitter are perhaps the best social media networks to find ideas

   • People are very vocal about their thoughts, opinions and problems on these platforms

   • Follow your interests, observe and you will find a lot of ideas

   • UMAX, a tool that rates men based on their grooming, was built when the founder saw a lot of men asking for feedback on the r/mensgrooming subreddit

4. Reviews on G2, AppSumo, E-commerce Sites

   • People rarely write good reviews (unless incentivised) but always write bad reviews when something is wrong

   • This happens across categories - SaaS, Ecommerce, Services etc

   • Just look at reviews and you will find problems with existing products - that is your cue to build a better one :)

   • A lot of B2B software is built based on reviews on G2/Capterra and other such platforms

   • D2C brands look for insights on Ecommerce sites to build better and new products

5. Get Inspired from Existing Apps & Tools - App Stores

   • Copying something completely is bad but inspirations aren’t. I think everything that we do is based on inspiration in some way or the other.

   • App Store, Play Store, and Product Hunt are great platforms to discover new tools and get inspired

   • You can always build a similar tool or an idea for niche or a demographic

   • Calm, a popular meditation app, was inspired by Headspace

6. Deep Domain Analysis

   • If you have worked in a domain or a sector for a long time, chances are that you know the value chain for that domain/sector much better than everyone else

   • This is an edge - you can find and solve problems much better than anyone else

   • For instance, if you have worked in Fintech and you know there banks find it hard to reconcile data, you are much better placed than anyone else to build a solution in that space

   • These are perhaps the best ideas because you know the problem as well as the customers better than anyone else

How to filter ideas?

Answer these questions and if you answer each one successfully - then only pursue.

1. What is your objective?

   • Do you want to start up, build a side project or build a lifestyle business? This determines the amount of effort and the answers to the next set of questions

2. Does the problem exist

   • Always make sure that you know the problem that you are going after. Do not pursue if you are not 100% clear with the problem.

3. Who is your customer?

   • Even when you have identified a problem, you need to know exactly who you are building it for

   • If you are building for everyone, you most likely building for no one

   • Always build for a niche - Be clear of your target audience
     Tip: Use our free target audience tool to find the target audience for your idea

4. Does your target customer have a paying propensity?

   • If monetisation is priority, do not build a product for which your target user might not pay or do not build a product for which your target customer will not have the propensity to pay

5. Can you build it?

   • While AI, No-Code, Low Code and the serverless stack have democratised the process of building products but do build something that you have no clue about - such as Rockets if you are not a rocket scientist or something in gene therapy if you don’t have the requisite background

6. How fast can you build it?

   • Most products do not see the light of the day because makers lose motivation after a point because either they don’t find the time to work on their products or they lose steam over time.

   • Set deadlines and build fast

   • Prepare milestones and prioritise

   • Remember that your product need not be perfect but it should solve a core problem well.

7. How will you find your first 100 customers?

   • Most builders hate marketing and distribution but product and distribution go hand-in-hand.
     Success = product x distribution
     If either of these go below 1, success tends towards zero

   • Make sure you have a clear path to your first set of users

8. Sleep over an idea, Do you still find it interesting enough?

   • Last but also the most important - make sure to build something that you will enjoy working on at a later point as well

   • Some ideas entice us only for a short while - Best to sleep over ideas and figure out if you really want to pursue that idea.

I hope this will help you find and filter ideas. Don’t forget to write to us if you build something - we would love to support you with a shoutout :)

Do you want to evaluate an idea? Get The Builder OS Idea Generation template for free

BuilderKit

_{Looking to Build an AI SaaS?}

If you are a founder or a developer looking to ship an AI SaaS - Do check out our AI SaaS Boilerplate - BuilderKit.ai

It is a Github repo with modular customisable code for landing pages, auth pages, waitlist pages, auth, payments, emails, SEO and everything that is required to get an AI tool live!

Furthermore, it comes with pre-built apps such as Chat with PDF, Chat with Youtube, Multi LLM ChatGPT, Content Writer Tool, Image Generation Tool, Voice Notes Tool and many more.

The Builder OS Sessions

The Builder OS Sessions are a series of Masterclasses, Info Sessions & Interviews with the top 1% of experts & builders

Last week we did two amazing sessions - One on No Code 101 with Madhuri and the other with Utsav on Supergrow’s journey from o to $120K in ARR

Next set of sessions -

1. Product 101 with Ishant Juyal (Crework)
   A must attend sessions for Builders & Founders looking to get an overview of Product
   When? June 23, Sunday, 11 AM IST

   Sign up here
   

2. Start, Grow and Sell a Newsletter with Angad Sirgi (Marketing Monk)
   Get to hear Angad’s story on how he started a newsletter, grew it to 35K+ followers and sold it for over $50K in just 6 months
   When? June 22, Saturday, 11 AM IST
   Sign up here

These sessions and masterclasses are free to attend but the recordings will be made available exclusively on Builder OS, Founder sessions will be uploaded on YouTube.

Community Learnings for the Week

• Natia shares ways to get more eyeballs and promote business for free

• Dan shares how he reached a 40 DR for Shipixen 

• Li shares insights on the market for fractional in house design for early stage startups

Story of the Week

Feedback Management tool makes $50k+ MRR

Upvoty is a user feedback software that helps businesses collect and manage user feedback in a structured and efficient manner.

Upvoty’s growth is marked by a strong focus on content marketing, word-of-mouth referrals, and leveraging the power of user feedback to drive product development and growth.

Early Days and Private Beta

Upvoty was founded by Mike Strives, a serial entrepreneur from Holland. The idea for the product came from Mike's own need for a user feedback tool while working on his previous SaaS product, Vindy. Initially, Mike built Upvoty as a side project, but it quickly gained traction and became his primary focus. The first beta version was launched in August 2018, and within a few weeks, the product attracted over 300 sign-ups. This early success led to the official public launch on Product Hunt in February 2019.

Growth Strategy

Upvoty's growth strategy has been centred around content marketing, with a focus on providing valuable resources to early-stage founders and product managers. The company has published several ebooks, sponsored podcasts, and promoted its product through social media and YouTube. Additionally, the "Powered by Upvoty" mention and link in the feedback portal have driven referrals and new customers.

Key Metrics and Milestones

• First 50 customers: Upvoty reached its first 50 paying customers within a couple of months after the public launch, resulting in an MRR of over $1,000.

• $1,000 MRR in 2 months: The company achieved this milestone shortly after its official launch.

• $20,000 MRR in 3 years: Upvoty has grown organically to $20,000 MRR, with a growth rate of over $1,000 per month.

• $50,000 MRR: with to focus on sales and advertising.

Lessons Learned

Mike Strives, the founder of Upvoty, has emphasized the importance of working on something you are passionate about and narrowing down your target audience. He also stresses the value of user feedback in driving product development and growth.

Upvoty's growth story is a testament to the power of user feedback and content marketing in driving business success. By focusing on providing value to its target audience and leveraging the power of user feedback, Upvoty has established itself as a leading user feedback software in the B2B SaaS space.

Parting Notes

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