I am glad that my previous blog post Sorry, your “cool” webapp is probably not going to make money received good response and generated a lot of debate. What I discussed in that blog post was that most of the so called startups or webapps which are based on “game-changing” or “cool” ideas never end up making any money. So, if your aim is to make money, pursuing such ideas can be risky. While idea-driven startups rarely make money, I professed market-driven approach for someone looking to find startup ideas that actually make money.
Market-driven approach to finding startup ideas that make money
The market-driven approach is quite simple. It essentially means:
Find a startup idea that: a) is already making money for someone else in a growing industry; b) interests you; c) aligns with your skill sets. Once you find such an idea, simply carve out a niche within the industry by a) addressing pains of an under-served segment within that industry; b) or, making it much easier to use than existing solutions; c) or, disrupting the market by making your product accessible to masses at a much affordable price. And once you dominate a particular niche, expand from your niche with your eyes set on the largest player in the market.
There is a lot going on here, so let’s break it up.
Finding a startup idea
For most entrepreneurs, this is perhaps the most difficult phase of initiation. I have known people who would wait for years for that golden startup idea to strike. Truth is: even if you wait for years, startup ideas that are born out of vacuum almost never work. As Steve Blank says, no business survives first contact with the customer. So, why not skip the whole idea-game altogether and simply go ahead with ideas that other people have tried-and-tested? This is what market-driven approach is all about. Pick a growing market and simply make a better product.
Here are some essential ingredients of a market-driven startup idea:
Growing industry: this is important because a rising tide lifts all boats. Also, a growing industry means that most probably a strong leader is yet to be established and the field is open for many new players, one of whom could be you. How to find industries that are growing? One good resource is Inc’s 5000 fastest growing companies list. In that list you can find companies that are growing at >1000% every year for last 3 years and have revenues in millions of dollars. If they can do it, why can’t you?
Industry that interests you: aim is to not just make money but have fun on the way, right? Hence, it is important to pick a startup idea in an industry that appeals you. Even though eCommerce industry for ladies bags and purses might be growing, if you don’t see yourself passionate about it, don’t pick it!
Industry where you have a chance: it is bit obvious, but there are a lot of things in life that appeal us but we’ve got no chance (for geeks: most obvious example is dating a hot lady!). For example, it goes without saying that even if machine vision industry is growing and people are making money licensing such technology, if it requires a PhD and you don’t have it, probably it is not worthwhile to pursue an idea in that industry.
The key idea here is to find an industry (like SEO, document management, enterprise productivity, eCommerce for travel, etc.) where you know people are making money. Inc 5000, Mixergy interviews and Flippa.com are just some of the sources where companies reveal how much money they are making. Make a list of industries that make money for other people, appeal to you and are relevant to your skill set. Finally select any one of them (though in most cases you will end up with only 1 or 2 i which satisfy all three criteria). Don’t be ashamed of this activity as we are not “copying” business ideas, we are simply using information to select which industry should your startup should belong to.
But there are competitors in an established market!
Read more: Paras Chopra’s Blog