Better An Existing Problem
Many startups were not the first in their domains. Take Google for instance. Many popular search engines existed – Altavista, Yahoo, etc – and we never thought we would move away from all of them at once.
Adapt Existing Solutions To Problems In Your Country
Many ventures exist which essentially do the same thing, but with localization. For example, SnapDeal is a Groupon clone in India with localized content and features. Google’s clone Baidu is hugely successful in China. And Singapore has its very own Pinterest clone called Singterest.
Apply Existing Solutions To Your Industry
Think Linkedin. Social networking concept adapted to the business industry. Think Airbnb. A popular Hotel search and booking concept adapted to the Bed and Breakfast industry.
Seek And Address Existing Pain Points
Every business vertical has issues that will range from areas in marketing, customer acquisition, customer service, sales, operations and others. Chalk out the industries that you identify best with and would be passionate about working within. Then, speak to a wide range of professionals from that industry to understand what problems they are facing in their jobs. Write all the information down in an excel sheet and then begin to narrow down into the most common problems faced by people and choose the area that excites you enough (marketing, sales, operations, etc). There you go. You now have a list of problems that require a solution.
