The Secret To Coming Up With Great Ideas QUICK
Let’s get one thing straight:
There is no “one big secret” of startup gurus…
No “silver bullet”…
Nothing that will magically give you an app idea that you turn into a billion dollar company over night.
(If there was, ESPN would be showing highlights from mega-yacht demolition derby’s 5x / day.)
The truth behind building out a billion dollar app is actually pretty simple:
It starts with an idea that can make money.
That’s why we’re starting here at step 1. By the end, you’ll have an idea (AT LEAST 1 idea…) for an app that can make you some money.
How you proceed from there is up to you.
Maybe you want to pull in some side income…
Maybe you want to go get some VC funding and build that idea out into the next Instagram and aim for billions.
Maybe you want to build it out without any funding and see just how much money you can earn from this idea before you decide to drop everything and build it out… or sell it and let someone else handle the “work” part. We call that “bootstrapping” and it is my favorite way to get things done.
To start the journey of building your money making app, you need an idea. You are probably thinking that you need “that one amazing idea” to make millions, but it is much easier than just waiting for an idea to just magically pop up.
When you wait for things to happen to you, you are hoping to get lucky one day but the truth is, you make your own luck.
Ideas don’t usually come to people out of the blue…
As crazy as it seems, you actually have to WORK to come up with an idea!
And with all things that take some work, working smarter is better than working harder.
So, how do you do that when talking about generating some great ideas?
The same way you work smart about EVERYTHING:
USE A PROVEN SYSTEM.
When you follow a proven system, things seem to “just happen” as if by magic.
That’s because a system is designed specifically to solve one problem by doing as little work as possible – and making it easily repeatable.
“So, what is the system for coming up with ideas?”
It is easier than you think.
We are going to do this by making a list and writing out 10 problems you have in your life on a regular basis.
This could be anything and should not be terribly specific (think high level here.)
Here is a sample list to show you how easy this is:
Problems I face regularly
- Going to bed too late
- Changing the baby
- Walking the dog
- Not enough energy in the morning
- Going to the gym earlier
- Don’t make enough time to read
- Too much screen time
- Shoveling snow (in the winter)
- Screwing with my thermostat too much
- Getting distracted when I write
Notice I didn’t say “going to bed 8 hours before I wake up” or “keeping the baby still and calm when I change his diaper” – I kept a high level view on it so I don’t limit myself for tomorrow’s lesson.
That took me a whole…. 3 minutes, tops.
And what did it get me?
10 potential ideas that I can focus on and test to see if there is anything real there.
If not? No big deal, I have 3 more minutes to spare.
If so? Well, then things get interesting : )
I want you to do this right now.
Take out a notebook and write out AT LEAST 10 problems that you face regularly – the more the merrier.
Done? Great!
You took your first step: You listed out some problems – ANY problems that you have on a regular day.
This next lesson should be a bit of an eye opener:
EVERYONE’S GOT PROBLEMS!
Maybe a few other people share the same problems as you… what do you think? Possible?
It is time to see if you’re a lone whacko with problems that no one else has (if so, maybe think about them differently so they aren’t problems anymore? I dunno, just saying it can’t be that big of a deal if no one else is griping on it.)
Or….
If your problems are shared by a bunch of people.
Chances are, your problems are universal. And that is a very good thing ($$$$)
Don’t believe me?
Good! You shouldn’t take anyones word for it when coming up with ideas. Go validate that others feel your pain.
Ask your friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, anyone and everyone that you can. Real people with a real conversation. Don’t go into any solutions or anything too detailed, just find out if people share your problem and, most importantly, find out just how big of a problem it is.
When you’re done, go all stalker on your problem.
Google it. Search Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, etc, etc.
The more you see and hear about your problem, the more likely that you can turn it into a money making app.
Seriously. This is how 99% of all the big apps that you’ve ever heard of were planned.
Take your notes from earlier and rank them based on how much people share your frustration.
Now it’s time to take things to the next level and start to actually plan out your app.
This is where things really start to go crazy…
No matter how you plan on making money from your app (we’ll talk about that tomorrow) – you need one thing and one thing only.
SALES!
Even if your app is going to be free, you are still selling people on the idea to download it and hopefully use it every day.
The only way to make sure your app will sell is to validate it.
But how do we test our app before we even built it? How do we validate?
First, lets take a step back.
Remember, so far we’ve identified A PROBLEM that you share with others. To validate, we have to find THE SOLUTION.
“But… what the heck is the solution?”
Simple, really. The solution is someway to make the problem less … bad.
Someway to make it easier to deal with. If you can make it go away completely, that’s awesome! But it doesn’t have to be gone completely, just easier to deal with.
Let’s look at some real world examples:
Problem: “I don’t like to hail cabs.”
Solution: Hail them from your phone.
App: Uber.
Problem: “I have nice clothes that I don’t wear anymore.”
Solution: Sell old clothes from your phone.
App: Vinted.
Problem: “I hate tracking all of my bank accounts.”
Solution: Show all financial accounts one one screen.
App: Mint.
Problem: “I cant read comic books on the go.”
Solution: Read comics like an eBook.
App: Comics by ComiXology.
Problem: “Sharing images on Facebook is a pain in the ass.”
Solution: News feed with nothing but images.
App: Instagram.
These are real life apps and each one is worth a ton of money. Uber is one of the most valuable companies in the world. ComiXology sold to Amazon for a bunch of money. Mint sold to Intuit for mega-millions. Vinted has a value in the millions. Facebook ended up buying Instagram for A BILLION DOLLARS.
(Seriously. WTF DO YOU DO WITH A BILLION DOLLARS!?!?)
All of these apps were built on a problem that ONE person had. All of them proven because multiple people shared that pain. All of them are apps that make the problem a little less crappy.
What is your solution?
For your chosen problem (or problems if you are an overachiever,) write down as many solutions that you can and talk to people about it.
If they like any of your solutions, you might be sitting on a gold mine.