How to Search for Startup Company Ideas
While some entrepreneurs start off with a clear idea of the business they want to set up, others are on the lookout for an idea that they can turn into reality. In either case, there are some important points to consider at this stage of the startup process when just searching for startup company ideas.
What Type of Business Inspires You?
It isn’t absolutely essential to be inspired about your business and to be passionate about it, but feeling like this definitely helps. Let’s face it; you are going to be living and breathing this startup for a long time, so you don’t want to choose an idea that could soon leave you feeling bored or indifferent.
Perhaps you will feel inspired by offering a product that helps people live a better life, or a service that solves a common problem. Will you put a smile on your customer’s faces or help them to spend less on essential items?
If you are looking for an inspiring type of business then it is a good idea to consider what you would like to see someone offer the world or what other people have mentioned to you in passing.
This can be a long and fairly difficult process so it is important to not get frustrated and just jump on the first half-decent idea you stumble across. Keep looking until you find a business idea that genuinely excites you and that you would like to find out more about.
Kanbanchi team approach to the ideas side of things was defined by a practical approach to finding a product that would solve common project management issues and make life simpler for many people. As with many other startups, we went through a few different prototypes before finding one that was ideal for our needs.
Once we had developed the first prototype it was clear that we had a great idea that we could go on to develop further.
Be Honest About Your Skills
Finding a potential business idea is one of the most thrilling moments you will ever experience. It is incredibly easy to let your imagination run away with you and picture how it could turn into a hugely successful and profitable business.
Yet, before you get caught up too much with dreams and plans, this is the perfect moment to be honest about your ability to turn the ideas into reality. Have you already got the skills that you need or could you reasonably be expected to learn them?
Of course, you won’t expect to do everything that is needed on your own. Along the way you could work with developers, artists, writers, salespeople and anyone else who could provide their specialist services at the crucial moment.
However, by taking a step back and considering the overall project you need to decide whether or not you are capable of taking it on. Hopefully you will feel full of energy and capable of doing this to the highest possible standard.
Having said that, there is no shame in admitting that a business idea looks too big or complex for you. It is certainly far better to admit this at the very beginning rather than later on.
How Could It Make You Money?
Once you have a fantastic idea you should then start to think about how this type of business could go on to make you money. Great ideas are all well and good but who is going to hand over cold, hard cash for what you do?
You certainly shouldn’t feel embarrassed about focussing on the financial side of the business very early on in the process. After all, you are looking for a money-making business rather than a hobby, aren’t you?
Many business ideas that looked incredible have fallen by the wayside over the years due to there not being enough people willing to pay for what they offer. On the other hand, some simple and fairly modest ideas have been gigantic successes in a financial sense.
Take some time to think about whether what you are planning is something that is strong enough for people to part with money for. If it isn’t then it is time to look for a new startup idea.
Doing Market Research
Market research is an area of business planning that it is easy to fear. However, this is something that you should try to approach with a great deal of enthusiasm and an open mind.
If we leave aside all of the technical stuff and fancy words, market research is really just about finding out what demand there is for what you want to do. We have already looked in the last point about whether it is something people would pay for.
Now we need to consider issues such as your potential rivals, market conditions and how you would reach your target market. This is a vital phase in the startup process and it is when you should start to feel that your ideas are beginning to reach the stage of getting to the real world.
There are different ways of doing market research, from the online approach to cold calling, giving out samples and doing surveys. By this point you should be clearer on who your target clients are and this should help you to define your approach.
Don’t get downhearted if the initial results aren’t as positive as you had hoped for. If people don’t seem particularly interested in what you do then it could be because you are asking the wrong people or doing it in the wrong way.
Having said that, it is also important to not try to fool yourself in believing that a demand that doesn’t exist is out there.
Visualise Your Search Process
All these questions might help you even better if you could visualize them. Kanbanchi online dashboard is a great tool for that. We have made an example of how it may look like. You are free to install the app and use this template. All you need to register is your Google account.
Also, you might want to create your business model template to have a better understanding of processes. Check out another Kanbanchi blog article to find 5 Startup Business Model Templates to Start Using Right Now.