Coming Up with Startup Ideas, Part One

My interpretation of startup tropes

A question I always is get: “How did you come up with this idea?”

My goal in 2026 is to share more of my process for identifying AND executing on ideas through research, validation, and user metrics.

Build Something People Want - YC

Everyone around the startup community has heard this (we are talking startup tropes), but it cannot be overstated.

Who builds something no one wants? The answer: too many people.

Validation without a product is harder than you think. The last thing you want is to waste your time on something that no one will use.

For me, I always start with a personal problem. It always starts with me searching for existing solutions. If there isn’t one, that’s when I consider it an opportunity.

Once people hear that I worked on a tech startup, they immediately suggest ideas with multiple well-funded competitors. Google and AI Chat Bots are your friends. They help you discover solutions that make your life easier.

I don’t proactively look for startup ideas. I prefer searching for a solution, not finding one, and backing into an opportunity. The goal is never to come up with a startup idea. The goal is to find a solution that makes my life easier.

The more you become an early adopter of new products, the easier this process becomes.

My opinion: it is very hard to launch your own product if you are not an early adopter of other products.

BONUS… you get great user IDs when you’re an early adopter.

Strong Opinion, Loosely Held

SOLH is a controversial platitude, with some folks hating it, others believing it is the definition of humility. I like strong conviction around the problem, but that is where I draw the line.

Be malleable in the solution, not the problem. If you haven’t developed conviction around the problem, you haven’t done enough research. Google and AI are your friends. Seek out and try solutions to your daily nuisances.

A common pitfall for conviction: you aren’t passionate about solving this specific problem… and that is fine. But if you dedicate your time and energy on building a product you don’t care about, burnout and/or loss of interest is inevitable.

Talk to Users

So, you’ve researched your own pain point and searched for existing products. You haven’t found a solution, and now you want to build a product to solve your problem.

You’ve developed conviction around the problem, and you’re ready to spend ten years working on it. Now, it is time to talk to potential users. This is where (especially technical) founders go wrong.

Do not feature vomit. Do not talk about what you’re going to build.

This is not a sales pitch. You haven’t written any code. You don’t even know what you’re going to build. All you’ve done is identify your problem without an existing solution.

In my experience, potential users are not good at describing desired features. They are not Product Managers. The best way to spend time with people is to observe them in their current flow. Ask questions about the tools used, how they discovered them, and how long they’ve been using products. Keep them talking.

Then, try all the products they use. Do this ten times in week. You should notice a trend. Continue to pull on that thread.

What Not to Think About

Notice I didn’t talk about market size, fundraising, vibe coding, or a founding team. The only time you should start a business is if you’re losing sleep because you’re so obsessed with the problem. It must eat away at you that a solution does not exist.

These problems are hard to come by. Until you identify a problem, keep exploring new products. For every 50 problems you encounter, a Google search will yield a solution 49 times. Use the products. Make your life better. Support a startup, and be an early adopter.

The more you try new products, the more you’ll absorb how early stage tech companies go-to-market and scale.

Next, we’ll talk about if you should be the one building this.

Until then, stay curious.

Thanks,

Drew Knight