For me personally, I have troubles generating ideas when the time comes to pitch them or to participate in an assignment or a project of some sort. So I was relieved when I read the article “How to Get Startup Ideas.” This article pointed out some pretty good points that I think are important for anyone looking to come up with, “the next big thing.”

One of the very first things mentioned in the article is that when trying to come up with a startup idea, you shouldn’t try to think of startup ideas but instead look for problems.

It’s also worth mentioning that the article states that it’s better to choose problems that you yourself have.

I would also add that you shouldn’t try to think too big. Try to start off small and then expand on that idea as time goes on and the idea is making progress. It’s okay to see the bigger picture for the end of your  idea process in the beginning, but trying to start off too big may make it harder for you to start any thought process and you’ll be left right back at square one. I think this is where I find myself messing up and losing focus when I try to come up with ideas.

The article also states that good startup ideas have the following three things in common: something the founder wants; something they can build; and something very few people feel is worth doing. I believe these are all really exemplary ideas.

A question in the article that was was brought up that I found interesting: “Why do so many founders build things that no one wants?”

The article then goes on to say that it’s because they begin to think of startup ideas and states that going on that way is dangerous because “it yields bad ideas that sound plausible enough to fool you into working on them.”

This kind of reminds me of what I was saying about starting off too big and ending up back at square one. The beginning stages are the most important part of the process so you want to take that step the most serious.

Another very important point that the article mentioned was that when thinking of a startup, think about “who wants this now?”

“Who wants this so much that they’ll use it even when it’s a crappy version one made by a two-person startup they’ve never heard of?”

The article proceeds to say that if those can’t be answered then the idea is probably bad. While I’ve never thought of it that way, I must say I agree 100% and think that this is the way of thinking i’ll be using when trying to come up with startup ideas from here on out!

One of the best quotes from this article was that, “The only way to have good startup ideas is to become the sort of person who has them.”

The next article I read was entitled, “Breaking News.” This article from 2012 touches base on post-2008 (four years after the financial crisis) newsrooms that continue to shrink and/ or close. The article I must say was very eye opening.

One of the quotes from this article really puts things into perspective, “The basic idea is that people don’t go around looking for products to buy. Instead they take life as it comes and when they encounter a problem, they look for a solution, and at that point, they’ll hire a product of service.”

I felt like this was a good point and kind of touches base on why people don’t support other peoples startup ideas, because they’re waiting for others to test it out first and the end result ends up being that no one tests out the idea.

The article also uses the furniture store Ikea’s strategies as a store as an example of good marketing. The article points out that most Ikea stores are built in distant locations so they can set up and build huge warehouses for their products and so that consumers can come in and purchase everything in one trip. Ikea has people of all ages shopping for furniture for college dorms, apartments, condos, houses, work settings and more, so it’s really important that Ikea makes it easy for every type of person to shop there and they do a remarkable job with this. They also have a restaurant in every Ikea which helps consumers who have been shopping for a long time so they don’t have to leave to eat and come back. Not to mention Ikea also has same day delivery for those items that customers couldn’t fit in their car.

What I really liked about this example was how Ikea had its consumers/ audience (the article also discusses always considering the audience first) in their thought process every step of the way during their startup idea knowing that their customers would be the ones to make or break the company at the end of the day.

Overall I felt like the article made some really good points and I even picked up some tips to help myself come up with startup ideas in the future. Great reads!