How to find a startup idea?

Author

The Rahman Effect
September 09, 2025

The Hard Truth About Startup Ideas

Nobody can predict if your idea will succeed—not me, not seasoned entrepreneurs, not even you. The real test comes when you build your MVP and release it to the market. Success isn't just about having a brilliant idea; it's about how well you execute it.

But here's the thing: some ideas have better odds than others.

This week, I've analyzed insights from:

  • Top 100 Y Combinator companies and their origin stories

  • Paul Graham's classic essay "How to Get Startup Ideas"

  • YC companies that pivoted mid-execution

  • Ideas that got rejected by YC (and why)

🚫 The 4 Fatal Mistakes Founders Make

1. Not Solving a Real Problem You can build the most elegant product, but if users don't care about the problem you're solving, you're dead in the water.

2. Getting Stuck on "Moonshot" Ideas These are problems that have existed for years. When startups try to tackle them, they quickly realize why nobody has solved them yet—it's not that they're impossible, but they're far more complex than they appear.

Pro tip: Google your idea. See who else has tried and failed.

3. Never Evaluating Your Idea Most founders fall in love with their idea and skip the critical evaluation phase.

4. Waiting for the "Perfect" Idea Perfectionism kills more startups than bad ideas ever will.

✅ The 10-Question Litmus Test

Before you quit your day job, run your idea through these questions:

  1. Do you have founder-market fit?

  2. How big is the market? (Look for markets that are either big now or growing rapidly—think AI)

  3. How acute is the problem you're solving?

  4. Who's your competition?

  5. Do you personally want this solution?

  6. Did this recently become possible or necessary?

  7. Are there good proxies for your business? (Large companies similar to yours but not direct competitors)

  8. Is this something you'd want to work on for years?

  9. Is this scalable? (Software usually is; high-skill labor requirements usually aren't)

  10. Is this a growing idea space? (Higher chance of market explosion when you launch)

💎 3 "Bad" Ideas That Are Actually Gold

Smart founders gravitate toward ideas most people avoid:

1. Hard-to-Start Ideas High barriers to entry mean less competition once you're in.

2. Boring Ideas Unsexy problems still need solutions—and they often pay well.

3. Ideas with Existing Competitors Competition validates demand. Your job is execution, not invention.

🧠 How to Generate Startup Ideas

The Organic Approach (Best for Long-term)

Don't force it. Position yourself to notice ideas naturally:

  1. Become an expert in something valuable

  2. Work at a startup (see problems from the inside)

  3. If you're a programmer, build things you love (passion projects can become businesses)

The Active Approach (7 Proven Recipes)

  1. Start with your team's strengths - What unique expertise do you have?

  2. Start with problems you've encountered - Personal pain points often signal market opportunities

  3. Think of things you wish existed - But ask yourself: why doesn't this exist yet?

  4. Look for recent changes - New technologies, regulations, or behaviors create opportunities

  5. Find new variants of successful companies - What worked in one market might work in another

  6. Talk to people in your target industry - What keeps them up at night?

  7. Identify broken big industries - Sometimes the biggest opportunities hide in plain sight

🎯 Bonus Strategy: Find a Co-founder with an Idea

Sometimes the best approach is partnering with someone who already has domain expertise and a validated problem.

The Bottom Line

The only way to know if an idea is truly good is to build an MVP and see if people will pay for it. Stop overthinking and start building.

Remember: execution beats perfection every time.