Is it the internet or simply a general change in the mindset of people? There are more people looking seriously into starting their own startup ventures today compared to any time in the recent past. One of the reasons is probably because it is also easier to get funded by angel funders and venture capitalists today compared to the past. Also, it is easier to network and find support for your startup thanks to the growth in social media and crowdsourcing platforms like KickStarter.
The downfall in this case is with the fact that if things are easier for you, then it probably is easier for everybody as well. This means for a person who is keen on launching a new venture, most of the ideas that give them the rush of blood about starting up seems to have already occured to somebody else - all the ideas seem taken and executed. If there is someone else who is already living your dream idea, what motivation have you got to take it up again?
Firstly, this is a wrong way to approach things. That's because it is not the idea that makes a startup successful. It's the execution. You may pick the most boring business in town and still be sucessful at it, provided you executed it right. On the converse, you could take the most mind-boggling new idea and still be unsuccessful at it.
Secondly, what matters in a venture is if you are doing it better than competition. For example, you could launch an airport transfer service in Perth or anywhere else you are based out of. This is a pretty crowded market. But if you can do something different - like instead of having a traditional car rental, if you can let the customers pick a driver and car for them, then you are helping people to warm up to the car and the driver which could potentially help increase your conversions compared to a regular plain vanilla car rental service.
Finally, if you are still feeling disappointed about not arriving at the right idea, it is time to forcefully generate one. You can do this by picking the industry/segment you want to startup in - so let us say you are looking to launch a service targeted at entrepreneurs - now, go through the daily drill of an entrepreneur's life. One line of work in the drill would be in finding new people interested in the product and getting them to invest. Split this entire process in the day of an entrepreneur point-by-point.
Once you do this, read and re-read into each of these points to identify the pain-point for the customer (in this case, the entrepreneur). For example, one line you have written could be
* Call investor and talk to him for an appointment.
So what's the pain point here? One that I see here is that it is difficult to repeatedly call new potential investors and finding an appointment. How could you solve it? Probably, if there was a service where I could list my startup idea and interested people could invest, then the job could be easier. This is likely the way KickStarter came about.
This is just one example. But you can extrapolate this process to any line of business you want to be in and identify the pain point and subsequently solve the issue with your startup idea.
The downfall in this case is with the fact that if things are easier for you, then it probably is easier for everybody as well. This means for a person who is keen on launching a new venture, most of the ideas that give them the rush of blood about starting up seems to have already occured to somebody else - all the ideas seem taken and executed. If there is someone else who is already living your dream idea, what motivation have you got to take it up again?
Firstly, this is a wrong way to approach things. That's because it is not the idea that makes a startup successful. It's the execution. You may pick the most boring business in town and still be sucessful at it, provided you executed it right. On the converse, you could take the most mind-boggling new idea and still be unsuccessful at it.
Secondly, what matters in a venture is if you are doing it better than competition. For example, you could launch an airport transfer service in Perth or anywhere else you are based out of. This is a pretty crowded market. But if you can do something different - like instead of having a traditional car rental, if you can let the customers pick a driver and car for them, then you are helping people to warm up to the car and the driver which could potentially help increase your conversions compared to a regular plain vanilla car rental service.
Finally, if you are still feeling disappointed about not arriving at the right idea, it is time to forcefully generate one. You can do this by picking the industry/segment you want to startup in - so let us say you are looking to launch a service targeted at entrepreneurs - now, go through the daily drill of an entrepreneur's life. One line of work in the drill would be in finding new people interested in the product and getting them to invest. Split this entire process in the day of an entrepreneur point-by-point.
Once you do this, read and re-read into each of these points to identify the pain-point for the customer (in this case, the entrepreneur). For example, one line you have written could be
* Call investor and talk to him for an appointment.
So what's the pain point here? One that I see here is that it is difficult to repeatedly call new potential investors and finding an appointment. How could you solve it? Probably, if there was a service where I could list my startup idea and interested people could invest, then the job could be easier. This is likely the way KickStarter came about.
This is just one example. But you can extrapolate this process to any line of business you want to be in and identify the pain point and subsequently solve the issue with your startup idea.