What Are The Best Ways To Think Of Ideas For A Startup?

This question comes up a lot in the 1Mby1M community, and I usually advise people to follow these specific steps:

1) Read lots of Entrepreneur Journeys case studies and get into the mindset of other successful entrepreneurs, what they have done, how they have done it.

2) Listen to lots of pitches and discussions around those pitches at the 1M1MRoundtables. This will give you a basis for understanding how ideas are evaluated.

In both exercises, jot down which ideas appeal to you and why. The point of this exercise is to find what you are passionate about.

3) Let the ideas simmer, and see what bubbles up as something you would like to work on. May be, 2-3 different ideas bubble up to the top.

4) Run the ideas through the 1M/1M Self-Assessment. See which one performs the best in this scrutiny.

This is probably your starting point to get going with something.

5) If you like, comes discuss with me at a Free 1M/1M Public Roundtable.

None of the above steps cost any money. All the resources are 100% free.

I wish you all the best.

Looking For Some Hands-On Advice?

I receive many emails from entrepreneurs who want to discuss their specific businesses. I’m very happy to discuss your situation during my free online 1M/1M Roundtables, held almost every Thursday. During each roundtable, up to five entrepreneurs can pitch their businesses and receive my immediate and straightforward feedback.

To give entrepreneurs all over the world access to Silicon Valley’s knowledge, methodology, and network, I founded the One Million by One Million (1M/1M) global virtual incubator. 1M/1M aims to nurture a million entrepreneurs to reach a million dollars each in annual revenue and beyond, thereby creating a trillion dollars in global GDP and ten million jobs.

For those still testing the waters of entrepreneurship, I’ve written my Entrepreneur Journeys book series to inform and inspire. My newest book, Billion Dollar Unicorns, is now available from Amazon.

If you are interested in entrepreneurship topics and my writings, you can follow me here. I hope to publish articles on LinkedIn every week.

Photo credit: Creative Ignition/Flickr.com.