How Do You Come Up with a Startup Idea?
How do you come up with a startup idea?
Most people try to come up with a solution first.
That’s usually the wrong place to start.
In my experience, solutions are easy to find. Problems are not.
When I was starting out, I used to think good ideas come from thinking harder or being more creative. Over time, I realised that’s not really how it works.
Good startup ideas come from paying attention.
Problems worth solving are everywhere, but most of them are either too small, too optional, or not painful enough for someone to actually care.
That’s the hard part.
If I had to break it down simply, I would start by picking a space I’m genuinely interested in.
Not because it sounds good, but because I’m willing to spend time understanding it.
Once you pick a space, talk to as many people as you can who are already in it. Ask them what they struggle with on a day to day basis. Not in a structured way. Just real conversations.
You’ll start noticing patterns.
Most of what you hear won’t matter. Some of it will sound interesting, but still not important enough. Very rarely, you’ll come across something that actually feels like a real problem.
That’s what you’re looking for.
One thing I’ve learnt is that people often confuse interesting problems with important ones.
Interesting problems are easy to talk about.
Important problems are the ones people are already trying to solve, or willing to pay to solve.
If no one really cares, it doesn’t matter how elegant your solution is.
Personally, I’ve always found solutions easier than problems.
The real challenge is finding something that is worth solving in the first place.
You can use frameworks, models, all of that. Sometimes they help. But more often than not, clarity comes from being close to the problem, not from analysing it from a distance.
A simple way I think about it now:
- Does someone actually need this solved?
- Will they pay for it?
- Will they keep using it?
If the answer isn’t clearly yes, it’s probably not strong enough.
I saw this very clearly while building YellowCollar.
Before that, I had worked with influencers for a different startup and struggled to get meaningful sales. On the surface, everything looked right. The influencers were big, the content was good, the audience seemed relevant.
But the results didn’t match.
When I looked deeper, the issue wasn’t visibility. It was fit. The audience was too broad, and not aligned with the actual customer the brand was trying to reach.
That’s where the real problem was.
YellowCollar was built around trying to solve that. Matching brands with influencers whose audience actually overlaps with their customers, not just based on surface-level metrics.
The solution itself wasn’t complicated. The problem was just clearer.
That’s usually how it works.
Once the problem is clear, the solution becomes obvious.
But if the problem is weak, no amount of effort on the solution will fix it.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of ideas exist in the “nice to have” category.
They make sense. They’re interesting. They might even get attention.
But they’re not necessary.
And if something is not necessary, it becomes very hard to build a business around it.