Startups For the Rest of UsRob WallingAll episodes
Episode 854 | How to Find Startup Ideas (Sneak Peek Chapter from My New Book)
Where do the best SaaS ideas actually come from?
In this episode, Rob reads a chapter from his new book, Idea to Traction: Stop Building SaaS Nobody Wants in the Age of AI. He walks through the five places problems tend to show up, eight strategic approaches for finding and shaping a product idea (with real examples), and when it makes sense to replicate an existing idea.
Pre-order the hardback before November 10th to get bonus PDFs, a seat in a live Q&A to ask your early stage questions, and a free copy of the ebook or audiobook ideatotractionbook.com.
Topics we cover:
- (1:41) – Why Rob wrote Idea to Traction
- (3:29) – What the new book covers
- (6:03) – Pre-order bonuses and live Q&A
- (7:32) – Chapter three: how to find startup ideas
- (9:09) – Solve a problem, not a moonshot
- (10:34) – Five places problems come from
- (12:52) – Approach 1: Translate an idea to a new niche
- (13:50) – Approach 2: Find a hated competitor
- (14:57) – Approach 3: Build on your audience
- (16:04) – Approach 4: Build on your network
- (16:50) – Approach 5: Undercut a clunky enterprise competitor
- (17:49) – Approach 6: Enter a fast-growing ecosystem
- (19:15) – Approach 7: Build on an existing product
- (20:13) – Approach 8: Audit your day job spending
- (21:20) – Can you replicate an existing idea?
Links from the show:
- Idea to Traction: Stop Building SaaS Nobody Wants in the Age of AI
- Start Small, Stay Small
- The SaaS Playbook
- MicroConf
- State of Independent SaaS Report
- TinySeed
- The Stair Step Method of Bootstrapping
- Derek Sivers
- Jason Cohen
- Basecamp
- WP Engine
- Builder Prime
- Bidsketch
- SignWell
- SparkToro
- ScrapingBee
- ScatterSpoke
- Clarity.fm
- DealForma
- ScoutDNS
- Baremetrics
- StaticKit
- SavvyCal
- Seriously Simple Podcasting / Castos
- CartHook
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you'd like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We'd love to hear from you!
Episode page ↗
