The start: how to get startup ideas?
Why I'm writing a newsletter? How to find the best business ideas? Which startup events to attend in 2023? Let’s cover these questions. 😎
Hey! 👋
It’s hard to believe that you just got my first newsletter post. 🤯
I have had this idea in my mind since 2022 summer. But never dug deeper into it, and even though I created some drafts, I felt unprepared to launch. I’m still not. But there isn’t such a thing as “perfect time,” right?
“Stop thinking and talking about your ideas. Instead, start building." – Andrew Gazdecki
Here I am. Starting to build my ideas.
🏄♂️ Exponential Founder’s vision is to become the go-to newsletter for aspiring, early-stage founders, entrepreneurs, and people interested in the startup world.
In the very first article, you can find:
How to find startup ideas. Where to look.
Turing College co-founder shares his recommendations.
A new fund launched in Europe.
Where to look for a job in a startup.
Other news & opportunities for entrepreneurs.
And more!
I hope you’ll enjoy reading it. ✌️
How to find a startup idea?
#1 rule – no one can tell you if your idea will succeed or not. Not your parents, not your friends, and sometimes not even other founders or the best funds in the world. You have to go and try it yourself. Just keep in mind that some ideas are much more likely to succeed than others.
“Nobody knows anything. Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out, it's a guess.” – William Goldman
So you decided that you would like to try the entrepreneur life and build some side hustle or a startup. But where to find great business ideas?
Every business idea has a problem to solve.
Start with a high-quality problem. Problem > Solution. What do I mean?
Global warming is a huge problem. But how to solve it? It’s too abstract.
You need a more specific one. For example, Generation Z is starting to care more about their wellness and mindfulness. They want to do yoga, journaling, etc. But it is hard to start and continue doing it. So here I would think of creating a Duolingo but for mindfulness.
Let’s break down this idea:
We have our specific target audience – Gen Z.
They have a real problem – hard to start and be consistent with journaling.
Solution – an application that would send notifications and would have some gamification effects, the same as Duolingo. The app would be the best solution because Gen Z is spending around 6 hours per day on their phone.
So start with a good problem, and make sure that your idea solves a real problem for your users. The solution can and probably will pivot many times.
🖇 Paul Graham in “How to Get Startup Ideas” article shares how he started doing business and failed as he focused on a problem that does not exist. Highly recommend reading it till the end.
How to spot problems?
Here are a few ways you can go about searching for problems:
Look for pain points: identify areas in your personal or professional life where you experience inconvenience, discomfort, or dissatisfaction. These could be potential problems to solve.
Ask around: talk to people in your work, industry, or field of interest and ask them about their biggest challenges or frustrations. They may have insights into problems that need to be solved.
Check news & trends: keep an eye on current events, especially those related to your field of interest, as they may highlight problems that need to be addressed. Just don’t forget that sometimes if all world is talking about it, you can be late.
Use online resources: search for forums, blogs, and social media groups. People often share their problems and frustrations in these spaces, which can be a valuable source of ideas.
Personally, I do not think that there is a perfect formula. Try it yourself and use whatever works for you!
🖇 7 recipes for generating startup ideas by YCombinator.
Resources and other good ideas where you can look for startup ideas
Product Hunt – a great place where you can find interesting early-stage projects and get some inspiration for yourself.
Indie Hackers – an entrepreneur-oriented forum where people talk about their ideas, successful and unsuccessful projects and share the stories of profitable businesses and the lessons they've learned while building them.
Hacker News – a news website focusing on computer science and entrepreneurship, run by Y Combinator.
Kickstarter – a crowdfunding platform. You can find some cool ideas and get inspired.
Quora – a question-and-answer platform where entrepreneurs can find answers to their questions related to startup ideas.
Reddit – a platform with various discussion boards on specific topics, including entrepreneurship and business ideas.
Trends.vc – a newsletter with a weekly dose of interesting startup ideas, opportunities, and much more.
A tweet with businesses you can start now – Luke is sharing 16 ways you can start your entrepreneurship journey.
AnswerThePublic – a keyword research tool that helps users understand how people search for specific topics on the internet. It can be used to generate ideas and identify potential gaps in the market.
Acquire.com – the world’s #1 startup acquisition platform. I sometimes love to check what kind of startups are in the marketplace and what is being sold.
Also, you can always search for ideas on social platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, or TikTok.
But returning to the first quote, do not think and talk about your idea for a long time, try to do it. Execution is the hardest and the most crucial part.
🚀 I hope you just got inspired and ready to start your entrepreneurship journey. If you just said “si”, I recommend to start with the Startup School and go through all the resources.
👇
Founder story – Tomas Moska
Turing College – #1 online tech school to make your next career step with unlimited mentorship & world-class curriculum.
I asked Tomas a few questions:
How did you come up with the idea for Turing College?
It really came naturally to us. Together with my co-founders, we've been working together in the education field for quite a while. The more time we spend there, the more problems we've noticed with the current state of education. At some point, we couldn't ignore them anymore, and Turing College was born.
How would you recommend generating new startup ideas?
The first step is to realize that everything in this world is created by other people no smarter than you. Every product, every service. Get comfortable with challenging them. Then, focus on the problems that you feel for yourself. Combine these two things, and you will eventually hit on something that you feel passionate about solving.
Where would you start if you needed to create a startup from zero?
I have technical skills, so I would build the MVP myself to validate other people feel this problem and are willing to pay money for the solution. If you're not technical, there's a big chance your MVP can be done with no-code tools or duck-taped together in some other way. I'd aim to get the product out as soon as possible and would talk to my customers as much as I possibly can. Once the idea is validated, I'd get someone to help me with user acquisition and aim for some solid weekly growth, all while improving the product based on customer feedback.
Any other tips that you could recommend for aspiring founders?
If you're serious about founding something, start today. Aim to launch by the end of the week. Talk to your customers. Avoid "analysis paralysis" at any cost. Fail a thousand times. Work your ass off:) It might sound oversimplified, but if you can sustain that mentality for at least 10 years, you will eventually hit something that excites you.
📍 You can connect with Tomas on LinkedIn.
And that’s a wrap about today’s topic “How to get startup ideas.” Below you’ll see some other opportunities, resources, and startup news that could be interesting.
Opportunities
🎫 EU startup events you should attend in 2023.
🫡 Pitch at the EU-Startups Summit on April 20-21 in Barcelona.
👨💻 Check out some hackathons, pre-accelerators, and accelerators that will start soon.
🔧 Notion. Apply to get $1000 in credit to use the all-in-one tool. I’m using Notion for basically everything.
💬 Can ChatGPT become your Personal Assistant? Joe is sharing 8 tasks you can outsource to this AI robot.
✌️ Looking for a new job or internship? Check EU-Startups, Startup Lithuania, Startup Jobs.
👌🏻 Get $2000 of Airtable credits to get started growing your startup.
Interesting resources
😎 Lex Fridman sat at one table with MrBeast and talked about business, social media, content creation, happiness, and much more. (One of the greatest pods I’ve ever listened to).
🇳🇴 Norway-based startups to keep an eye on in 2023.
🤯 A story of how Tibo sold his startup just in 18 months for 8 figures to his classmate.
News
🔥 “The Dairy of a CEO” host Steven Bartlett is launching a fund to invest in the next generation of European unicorns building a better tomorrow. Flight Story Fund will invest in blockchain, Biotech, Health & Well-being, Commerce, Technology, and Space verticals.
💰🇱🇹 Lithuanian AI-based startup OxipitAI raises €3.5 million from Taiwania Capital.
💰🇸🇪 Swedish Fintech startup Anyfin raises €30 million in Series C led by Northzone.