Stop brainstorming. Read 50 negative reviews of products in an industry you understand. The complaints are pre-extracted problems. Pick the most common one and build that.
The best startup ideas come from systematic exposure to real customer pain, not creative inspiration. Twelve methods: (1) Mine industry-specific subreddits with operators like "I wish there was". (2) Read Upwork job posts reposted 50+ times. (3) Read 1-star App Store reviews of competitor apps. (4) Identify low-rated G2/Capterra categories. (5) Solve your own most-painful weekly workflow. (6) Look for industries running on Google Sheets — that is a SaaS opportunity. (7) Watch competitor sales demos on YouTube. (8) Read Product Hunt comments for "what is missing" complaints. (9) Attend industry conferences as a listener. (10) Ask "what is the worst job in industry X?" (11) Reverse-engineer failed startups. (12) Search "why does X suck" on Twitter/Threads.
Slack came from Stewart Butterfield mining gaming community pain points
Linear came from reading hundreds of Jira-hate threads
Beehiiv came from Substack monetization complaints
Read 50 negative reviews of products in an industry you understand. The complaints are pre-extracted problems.
Reddit industry subs, Upwork repeated jobs, G2 1-star reviews, App Store reviews, and your own most-painful workflow.
What makes a good startup idea?
A good startup idea has three traits: real, repeated customer pain; a niche where you can reach 100 ...
How do I validate a startup idea?
In one weekend: post the idea on Reddit and ask for harsh feedback, set up a $50 landing page with a...
Where can I find startup ideas?
From real customer pain — Reddit industry subs, Upwork repeated jobs, G2 1-star reviews, App Store r...
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