How to come up with an idea for your startup

Midhun Areeckal
3 min readJan 4, 2021

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People usually say that it’s easy to get an idea, but the difficult part is its execution. Yes, it’s true. Having a random idea for your startup can’t always result in a better outcome. Bringing up an actionable and reliable idea can help you approach your startup in a more effortless manner. If you would love to know how you can come up with amazing ideas for your startup, get ready; let’s discuss it right now.

Solve a problem

It might not be the first time you hear this and never be the last; Solving a problem is one of the great methods you could use to build the next billion-dollar business. Look into the people around you, everyone has problems, and people are eager to get a solution. If you can unify all those problems and find an answer. Hurray! You’ve got the jackpot.

But the question is, how do you identify problems? One easy method is to follow the note-making method, which is so simple. Keep a small notebook or even have a note-keeping application in your smartphone for this task whenever you encounter a problem in your life or someone you meet. Note that down, and at the end of the day, try to find an answer to those problems. It will not be an easy task to get an answer, but if you find an ideal solution. Think about its broad applicability. For example, The problem is due to the overweight of a person, find a solution for reducing weight. But, if you find an answer, now check whether it could be applied to all people who have the same problem. And if it is possible, well, now you have a problem and an ideal solution for it. And congratulations, you have a business idea!

Follow the trend

People always follow trends; it’s not a secret. The trend has a significant impact on businesses’ reach towards certain markets. It’s not just about the fashion trend or new product trends that I’m talking about. Imagine what happened when this global pandemic hit our society; even at that distress, the market began to showcase a new trend for consumer consumption. Now people start to wear masks, use sanitizers, and concentrate more on their health, and much more. Suppose you’re someone who took this advantage and created a business in this niche. That’s a huge market for you to get into.

Keep an open mindset when you encounter new trends and don’t forget to take quick action.

Identify what’s missing.

Some of the most incredible startups come from finding what’s missing in society and finding unknown problems. Many entrepreneurs fail because they don’t realize something missing or can’t identify a problem. Here, spending time on a niche you’re interested in can make you understand what the soon to be problems there are. Understand it and fill out the missing gaps. You’ll definitely get something big to work with.

Roam across the globe

Ideas can come from any corner of the world; it’s an entrepreneur’s mission to find them and execute it in society. Imagine you’re living in Australia and happen to visit Japan for your vacation. There you encounter a fantastic business idea that you’re sure will make a significant impact on the Australian market. What you’ll do as an entrepreneur? Just Copy Paste. It might feel like a strange thing but, I can give you several examples of million-dollar businesses that did the same thing. Take the case of Flipkart, an Indian business venture which offers an online shopping platform. Well, the interesting fact is that the owners of that company were earlier employees of Amazon. What they have done is brought that billion-dollar idea into a new market and took the profit.

Here, I’m not asking you to travel all across the world or work in a unicorn business company. Make use of the internet, Yeah! Reach out to different countries’ marketplace and understand what’s happening over there. If something hooks you in, take it to your country and build the business. It will not be easy, but if you dedicate yourself to have a successful idea to work with, then start exploring.

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Midhun Areeckal

Founder & CEO at Startup Writer | Social Entrepreneur | Creative Director at Life Planner Guide