From Getting Ideas to Creating a Startup
Everyone has ideas, I have dozens that come up from time to time when I see something that reminds me of something else, or when I encounter a (new) problem. I have a Sparkfile where I note down all ideas that come to mind.
Some are stupid, some are huge, but they are all ideas that, eventually, could be useful some time. In my view, ideas are born out of your experiences, your problems, your victories, stuff you see, do, read, watch, listen to, and the companies, startups, people you follow.
How do you get the mindset to decide if an idea is truly interesting and worth chasing? And what do you do next? I came across the reading list below in an Evernote file that I thought was long gone, so I decided to share it! Itâs for anyone who wants to find and choose an idea thatâs worthy enough to pursue.
A lot of classic (Paul Graham) startup blogposts in here, but theyâre still very valuable and true today. Checkâm out!
The Spark File â by Steven Johnson
âWriting down your own ideas (how stupid/simple they may be) en re-reading them a few months later letâs you see new connections and create new ideas on top of the ones youâve already written down. In the end there could be the ultimate concept you want to pursue.â
You are not late â by Kevin Kelly
âRight now, today, is the best time to start something on the internet. There has never been a better time in the whole history of the world to invent something.â
How to move past the âEverythingâs been doneâ trap and find your next great idea â by Kevin Purdy
âEvery social feed flows with evidence of just how clever the world has become, leaving you paralyzed with indecision. In reality, you know you have not actually tried everythingâyet you feel it deep in your soul. Hereâs how to fix that feeling and move forward with another breakthrough.â
Got an idea for a startup? Ask these questions first â by Ryan Hoover
âBefore swinging the bat, be pragmatic, evaluate the field, and recognize your strengths and weaknesses.â
Ideas for startups â by Paul Graham
âMost startups end up nothing like the initial idea. It would be closer to the truth to say the main value of your initial idea is that, in the process of discovering itâs broken, youâll come up with your real idea.â
Developing new startup ideas â by Chris Dixon
âBe the opposite of secretive. Create a Google spreadsheet where you list every idea you can think, even really half-baked ones. Include ideas you hear about and make sure you keep track of who had which idea so you can credit them/include them later. Then take the spreadsheet and show it to every smart person you can get a meeting with and walk through each idea.â
How to Get Startup Ideas â by Paul Graham
âThe way to get startup ideas is not to try to think of startup ideas. Itâs to look for problems, preferably problems you have yourself.â
The Product / Market Fit Cycle â by Carlos E. Espinal
âHaving spent time with several companies that have gone through the process of finding product market fit, I have observed that many get hung up on iterating only the âproductâ part of product / market fit, rather than thinking of âproductâ in a larger context.â
5 Steps to Validate Your Business Idea in the Real World â by @theomarzenhom
âIf you have a business or are thinking about starting one, itâs going to be in the real world. Not in your mind. Your audience and customers are going to be real people. So why are you validating ideas in your head? You need real, hands-on feedback. This feedback helps you make better business decisions.â
Donât register your idea as a company â by Joel Gascoigne
âFrom my own experiences and perspectives, I believe that by far the best option in almost all cases is to delay registering a company for as long as possible.â
Startups in 13 Sentences â by Paul Graham
âOne of the 13 things I always tell startups is a principle I learned from Paul Buchheit: itâs better to make a few people really happy than to make a lot of people semi-happy.â
How to Start a Startup? â by Paul Graham
âYou need three things to create a successful startup: to start with good people, to make something customers actually want, and to spend as little money as possible. Most startups that fail do it because they fail at one of these. A startup that does all three will probably succeed.â
Writing a Business Plan â by @sequoia
âWhen Brian, Joe and Nate founded Airbnb, they had an air mattress, entrepreneurial passion, and a vision for reinventing travel and hospitality, but no clear idea how to approach VCs or how to craft a pitch deck. They came across Sequoiaâs guide for how to write a business plan and the rest is history.â
What are the most common mistakes first-time entrepreneurs make? â on Quora
âStop drinking your own kool-aid. â If you are not brutally honest with yourself, you canât make informed decisions that will truly improve your company.â
As first time entrepreneurs, what part of the process are people often completely blind to?â on Quora
âCopying and improving on existing ideas is far easier and sometimes more fun than trying something unique and novel.â
The very first startup founder you need to invest in is you â by Mark Suster
âInvesting in yourself is what differentiates founders and early employees of startups.â
Before the startup â by Paul Graham
âStartups are very counterintuitive. Iâm not sure why. Maybe itâs just because knowledge about them hasnât permeated our culture yet. But whatever the reason, starting a startup is a task where you canât always trust your instincts.â
10 ways youâll probably f**k up your startup â by Laurence McCahill
âCommon early-stage mistakes and how you can avoid them.â
I was excited about an idea, and now itâs deadâ by Patric Schmid
âThere are lots of stories about entrepreneurs validating their ideas and going on to launch successful companies. But what about the ideas that donât pan out?â
Ideas are just a multiplier of execution â by Derek Sivers
âIdeas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.â
Iâm a curator at heart, sharing knowledge, resources & tools for startups on Twitter.