| I understand the feeling. But your question is also lacking some specifics as to what skills you have, what domains you know etc. My suggestions: (note that I myself have not created any startup or successful product!) 1. Forget the “creative” framing of startups. “Idea” and “Inspiration” are not the appropriate words when thinking about a new product. A customer problem that you are equipped to solve, which will hopefully make money - this is a humbler but more effective way of framing your situation. 2. Once you decide you’ll only look at problems, you’ll quickly realize there are only certain problems you’re capable of solving - based on your market reach, skills, capital, domain knowledge, geography etc. Use these to drastically narrow down the problems you can realistically solve. Acknowledging these constraints is liberating as you are now free to explore a smaller space with more depth and focus. 3. Start the actual execution - even a “little bets”/Lean approach where you are willing to throw away your solution (note: avoid using words like Idea) if it’s not useful enough. There’s a lot of advice and literature that bridges the gaps between Steps 2 and 3 above. I’ve linked to some below that I found to be good. Further reading: - Paul Graham’s How to get startup ideas, The power of the marginal. - Rob Walling’s phenomenal material (his website, books and podcasts like Startups for the Rest of Us), and IndieHackers. Arguably Walling’s advice is more applicable to a majority of new companies as its only a few that raise VC. - The Jobs To Be Done framework by Bob Moesta and Clayton Christensen. This will keep your focus on the customer side of things - Basic product positioning questions. Use April Dunford’s writing to pin this down. |