3 Steps To New Business Ideas
It’s always a sticking point, for most entrepreneurs I meet: how to come up with new business ideas that will actually work? And by ‘work’ I mean turn a profit.
This is something I’ve thought a lot about over the past 20 years of tech entrepreneurship, and after all that time I’ve come up with the following 3 basic steps. This is not the ONLY way to come up with an idea of course, it’s just one way. (I’m sure I’ll write about other ways eventually!)
Translation — Not Just For Languages Any More
The concept I am talking about is something I like to call — and perhaps is actually called, by people in the know — translation.
By translation I don’t mean taking text from one language and turning it into another language. I mean taking an idea from over here (sorry, I talk with my hands. Works well on video, not so much in text!) and putting it over here.
Let’s look at the details of that process and how you can use it to find new successful business ideas. (no guarantees, let’s just get that clear from the start!)
Step One: Find a Platform
For me, the first thing is to find a platform that is new and upcoming. Now, most platforms might be ‘new to you’ but they are not really ‘new ideas’. There are no new ideas, so don’t get hung up on that. We want something that is a new mixture.
If you look at Shopify, for example, you can say that Shopify was kind of a new mixture of eBay and Amazon. Or that TicTok was a kind of new mixture of Instagram and Snapchat.
These are the kinds of platforms we are wanting to find…but here is the most important thing. We want to find them when they are new!
Shopify and TicTok are not new now. These are examples from the recent past.
How do we find these new platforms or trends?
Google Trends (https://trends.google.com/trends) is good to show you what people are searching for, but wow that’s a lot of data!
Personally, I have had good luck using Exploding Topics (https://explodingtopics.com/). Exploding Topics gives you a more manageable and filterable look at Google Trend data.
Summary: Find emerging platforms and look at what older platforms they are a mixture of or are trying to disrupt.
Step Two: Look at the Tools
Now that we have found our new mixture or new flavor website (eg Shopify for this example), let’s take a look at what it is a mixture of — eBay and Amazon.
What tools are available to users (either buyers or sellers!) on eBay and Amazon? What tools are out there that make their buying or selling experience better? What tools are out there that make sellers get more profit or sales?
How to find the tools for these old sites? (Remember: we’re looking at tools available on the older, established platforms that are potentially being disrupted)
Ideally (see another article of mine about Building a Successful SaaS Business) you should know the marketplace or sector that you are looking at. But if you don’t you can look at some of these online resources:
ProductHunt (https://www.producthunt.com/) curates new technology tools, products, and more. You can search for the sites that are being disrupted and see what hot tools are available for the old sites.
G2 (https://www.g2.com/), which compares the best business software and services based on user ratings and social data is another good choice.
There is also the Hubspot Marketplace (https://ecosystem.hubspot.com/marketplace/apps) which will show you apps that connect the old websites into Hubspot.
Summary: Find the hottest tools available on the legacy platforms.
Step Three: Translate And Build
The next step is the ‘hard work’ — adapting the idea, building it and marketing it.
The goal of this is not to steal an idea. The goal is to take an idea that works on the old platform and move it to the new one. In the process of doing this translation things will have to change (just like in all translations!). The new platform won’t have all the same features as the old. They will have new or different ones that you will have to adapt to and support. Just like this new platform is a mixture of old ideas, your translation of the tools will also have to be a mixture of ideas.
You are also a human being (unless you’re an AI reading this, in which case All Hail The AI), so you will infuse your own personality and vision into these new tools as well.
This goal is to start something new and exciting, not just cut and paste the concept.
Summary
These 3 steps
- Find the Platform
- Find the Tools
- Translate
Don’t just work for software. In the past 2 years, we have seen dramatic changes in how we live, but a lot of those changes had indicators in the past. Look at the upsurge in Personal Protective Equipment — like masks! People who spotted early on the benefit and need for masks not only as protection but as fashion have done very well.
There are loads of examples on and offline of this type of process working. Just look around with a fresh set of eyes!
I hope you’ve found this article useful! This is a transcription/adaptation of my original YouTube video. If you go over to that you can follow links to see more videos about writing software and being a tech entrepreneur!
