Really happy to see my ISMP mentees, Parvik, Sahasra and Abhishek wanting to startup on their own. There’s a part of me that wishes I could trade places with them, to rewind time and embark on this journey much earlier. However, reflecting on my own path, I’ve come to appreciate the experiences gained at Samsung and Babblebots. These weren’t just jobs; they were crucial chapters in my life, in terms of learning, maturity, and financial stability.
A few months back, we found ourselves in the same boat – wanting to start our own venture but without a clear idea in hand. It was embarassing to google “how to generate ideas for a startup” as if we were missing the essential spark of this decision. The one thing you were supposed to have figured out. THE IDEA. But my perspective has since shifted. The drive to start up is a legitimate starting point. Ideation, I’ve learned, is more craft than art.
It’s a misconception that every successful company is built on revolutionary ideas. In reality, many great companies tackle well-known problems but with a fresh approach, whether through different positioning, pricing, or geographical focus. Generating ideas is more like competitive programming in my opinion. Having a few mental models and then pattern matching it across industries/use cases.
We refered to this article by Antler mostly focusing on strategy 1 and 3. There are some low-hanging strategies that are worth seriously thinking about. Listing them below