A well-thought-out business idea for a company can help you avoid pitfalls in the challenging journey of entrepreneurship and give you clarity, direction, and a solid foundation. More importantly, it can set the right motivations for you as an entrepreneur.
Melanie Perkins, the founder and CEO of Canva, pursued only one business idea in her entire career and made billions of dollars from it. She identified a gap in the graphic design tools based on templates and drag-and-drop workflow.
From that one idea, she launched her first startup, Fusion Books, which became a successful company in Australia. Later, she expanded on the same idea and founded Canva, now a $26 billion company.
Success and business compound over time. Your journey as an entrepreneur and business person is as strong as the foundation on which it is built. And that foundation is a solid business idea.
This article will discuss how you can brainstorm business ideas for a company that are fresh and that align with your values, skillset, and persona.
Brainstorming New Business Ideas
Self Assessment
You can begin by assessing your skills, experiences, and interests to discover an idea. Take inventory of your professional background, technical skills, and personal passions. This can include:
- Technical skills: Programming languages, software development, data analysis, etc.
- Soft skills: Leadership, communication, problem-solving.
- Industry experience: Knowledge of specific healthcare, finance, or technology sectors.
- Personal interests: Hobbies or activities you’re passionate about.
Creating a mind map can help visualize your capabilities and interests. For instance, if you’re skilled in web development, branches might include e-commerce, educational platforms, or health tech.
Alternatively, let’s say you’re passionate about music and are a lawyer by profession, so you could start a practice that addresses the pain points of artists in the entertainment industry.
SCAMPER Technique
Apply the SCAMPER method by asking the following questions about existing products or services:
- Substitute: What can you replace in a current solution?
- Combine: Can you merge two services to create a new offering?
- Adapt: How can a concept from another industry be applied?
- Modify: What changes could enhance a current service?
- Put to Another Use: Can your skills be used in a different industry?
- Eliminate: What features can be removed to streamline the offering?
- Reverse: How can you flip the current model to offer something new?
Brainstorm with AI or your peers
Creativity is best explored in teams. Bouncing your ideas around with a friend/acquaintance or AI (Artificial Intelligence) chatbots like Chat GPT may help you devise a business plan.
Brainstorming ChatGPT Business Ideas With A Billionaire | ft. Dharmesh Shah (#438)
Value Proposition: What Problem Are You Solving?
A great business idea identifies a problem faced by its potential customer and then provides a viable solution for it. So, it’s important to ask yourself: what problem is my business solving?
Dmitry Kudrenko, recognized email marketers found dealing with code to create a functional email frustrating. These marketers didn’t have the technical knowledge required! David built Stripo to solve the problem of his potential customer, an email delivery platform now generating $15M in annual recurring revenue. Become an Ownerpreneur member today to read about Stripo’s success strategies—it’s free insights!
To create a profitable business, you must provide solid value for which people are willing to pay.
Consider defining your ideal customer or client in terms of demographic factors such as age, location, habits, behaviors, income level, gender, and other relevant characteristics of your ideal customer or client.
The 3-step method by Natsumi Nishizumi, which includes Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning, may help you with that. You can use the parameters in the image below to define your TG: Target Group.
Source: Natsumi Nishizumi
Market Research
Once you understand your skills, it’s time to explore market needs. Research trends by reviewing:
- Industry reports: Analyze reports from research firms to identify growing sectors.
- Customer reviews: Examine feedback on existing products/services to uncover pain points.
- Competitor analysis: Study successful businesses in your area of expertise and identify gaps.
Tools like Google Trends, social media platforms, and forums can provide insights into what customers seek. The best business ideas are built on not just intuition but also on quantifiable insights.
Develop a Prototype: Don’t wait for perfection
Before fully committing to an idea, create a minimum viable product (MVP) or service prototype. This allows you to test your concept with real users and gather feedback. This lets you use an iterative approach to refine your offering based on user insights and real customer feedback.
Pieter Levels, an entrepreneur known for his Digital Nomad philosophy, developed 12 MVPs in 12 months and worked on these business ideas from home. Two out of those 12 ideas worked, and now, he makes $3 million per year with zero employees while working remotely from any part of the world.
Gain Experience
Often, good ideas come to you rather than you going after them. And that happens when you go out there, exploring your interests and living a life.
Engaging in various activities, hobbies, and networking opportunities exposes you to new perspectives and experiences that can spark creativity. By immersing yourself in different environments, you can identify unmet needs and problems that may inspire your next great business idea.
Essential Components of a Good Business Idea
Strong Demand for a Product or Service
The principles of supply and demand form the core foundation of every enterprise. A solid business concept must be backed by solid proof of demand within your target market.
Here’s what you can do to ensure there’s sufficient demand for your idea:
- Surveys using blogs, emails, social posts, networking events, etc.
- Validate your idea with friends and family
- Launch a simple MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to assess demand
For example, InShorts, a $550 million bite-sized-news Indian startup with over 10 million daily users, started with just a Facebook page. They shared 50-word news posts, which gained popularity after the founders developed an app and decided to scale up.
According to research by Onesmartsheep, 14% of small businesses fail because they ignore customer needs in the early stages.
Taps into Underserved Market
Identifying an underserved market can provide a rich opportunity for your online business ideas. Look for niches where customer needs aren’t fully met, and think about how your business can fill that gap.
For example, Linktree, a $1.3 billion company, started when its founders identified the need for a single webpage with multiple links, as Instagram allows only one link in a user’s bio.
The Key To Finding a Profitable Market
Scalability: Opportunities for Expansion
In most cases, you’d want to grow your business. However, be aware of whether you want to create a niche boutique business or something that scales up and turns into a corporation.
There’s no harm in opening a satisfying bakery that serves a limited number of people if that’s your passion. A small business idea can also yield satisfactory results and give you the life of your dreams.
Scalability must be a part of your business plan if you have bigger ambitions for financial returns, status, or social impact.
Sufficient Motivation
Business is filled with challenges and ups and downs. What keeps them afloat during difficult days is your grit and the motivation behind it.
While it’s beneficial if your idea stems from a personal passion, what matters most is your commitment to pursuing it. Whether you’re dedicated to serving a community cause or want to hone a specific skill, it’s a good idea to identify the reasons behind your being in entrepreneurship.
Final Thoughts
Let’s do a quick roundup of everything we discussed!
To brainstorm a business idea for a company, you must start by assessing yourself and gaining as much experience as possible in different areas of business and life.
Next, it’s essential to identify your unique value proposition and understand how it enhances the lives of your potential customers or clients.
Conducting thorough market research, gathering insights through surveys, and developing a minimum viable product (MVP) or prototype should be your subsequent steps.
Additional items you can consider as important are:
- Developing a business plan: Outline your goals, strategies, and financial projections.
- Building your team: Assemble a talented and motivated team.
- Secure funding: Explore funding options like loans, grants, or investments.
- Launching and iterating: Get your business up and running and continuously improve based on feedback.
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