People often ask me the question, “I want to be an entrepreneur. I like the idea of being in control of my own destiny. I know I will work very hard and with a lot of passion for making my startup a success.
But then, I do not know what is the product or service I should be working towards building. How do I find the right idea for my startup?”
This reminds me of another question that I have often been asked. “How do you get your ideas for your columns? How do you decide what is it that you want to write on?”
At this point, let me quote two of my favourite writers. First there is Terry Pratchett, author of the wonderful Discworld series of books, who said, “Read with the mindset of a carpenter looking at trees.” Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, addresses the question in a more direct manner. Here he is from one of his interviews — “When I’m reading, I’m looking for something to steal. Readers ask me all the time the traditional question ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ I reply: ‘We are all having ideas all the time. But I’m on the lookout for them. You’re not.’”
That last line by Pullman is crucial, as much for entrepreneurs as it is for writers. A good entrepreneur is always on the lookout for ideas. They are constantly analysing their entire lived experiences, as well as observing the lives of others, constantly trying to see if there is some way it can be made better. Which is why a lot of origin stories of startups tend to involve interesting personal anecdotes.
One of the more interesting ones I came across recently is that of Robert Reffkin, the founder and CEO of Compass, a startup that has been quite successful in the real estate space in USA. Reffkin’s mother was a real estate agent, and all through his growing-up years, Reffkin noticed things that were making his mom’s life difficult at her job. Compass was conceived as a way of fixing those things and making his mom’s life better. Appropriately enough, Reffkin’s mom now works with Compass. As do thousands of other real estate agents, who see it as a better way of doing their job.
Reffkin was being a good entrepreneur here, plucking his idea from an unlikely source in his real life. Someone without the tendency to always be on the lookout for ideas to start up with may not have done that. So there you go — if you want an idea for a startup, take a good look at what you are doing, and what your close friends and family are doing, and see if there is something that may make your and their lives better. That there is your startup idea.
As for writing, just read a lot more.
The author heads product at a mid-sized startup in the real estate space
