🧠 How to come up with new ideas (Building 101 #1)

Welcome to Building 101 🎓 - a new series for aspiring tech builders to learn how to build their own software products.

Each week I'll be discussing a particular aspect of building a software product and sharing practical tips on how to get started.

This week, I’ll discuss how to create your own idea-generation process.

Let’s jump in… ⬇️

How to come up with new ideas

It’s a goal of many of us to build something of our own. Our motivation, however, can come from several different places. Some want to build something to help others, some want to create something that will ‘change the world’ and others just want to provide for themselves and escape their 9-5.

All are completely valid reasons for wanting to start something from nothing, but everyone who finds themselves in that position ultimately is going nowhere fast without one thing - an idea.

Often you hear people say things like “ideas can come from anywhere, at any time” which makes them sound like rare and elusive things. In reality, that statement kind of is true - but it has a BIG caveat in that your mind has to be ready to receive these impromptu sparks of inspiration for them to come rushing in.

It’s all about nurturing your mind and maintaining a headspace that leads to good ideas. In reality that can be different for everyone but the common goal should be to absorb information like a sponge.

We all do that differently, through books, podcasts, newsletters etc. The goal is to find a medium that your brain enjoys and exploit it for your own goals. So it’s good news because if you made it this far you’ve already started down that road!

Before I was capable of coming up with ideas of my own, I used to feel like there was this invisible veil beyond which those who come up with great ideas live and I simply wasn’t worthy (so much so that I considered calling this digest ‘The Veil’!).

But as I soaked up more and more information, I felt the playing field slowly start to level out. It became clear that everyone is capable of coming up with great ideas, but that it’s more of a state of mind than an exercise we can sit down and do one Saturday afternoon.

For me, reading is something I can gain value from quite easily. I read A LOT of news articles, white-papers and books about tech and software products - but importantly they are written by people who have had good ideas themselves.

That means founders and investors in the tech space but definitely NOT online gurus wanting to sell you an E-book. I also listen to podcasts that include founders as guests, to hear their stories and how they started their businesses.

While reading and hearing about new ideas is great, I think a good idea-generating mind also benefits from an appreciation of the past and the evolution that has taken place to get us, as a society, to where we are now.

To understand where we might be going, what problems we will have and therefore what solutions we will need, you have to first understand where we have come from.

For tech, that means learning about how companies like Yahoo and PayPal, then later Salesforce and Workday and then Coinbase and Spotify earned their spot. Once you understand the story of what came before it becomes much clearer to see in which direction things might be going.

So treat your mind like a prized tool that without, it would be impossible to operate. Clean it, polish it, and continually learn how it works for you and why.

Below I’ve included a list of resources that have helped me gain insight ‘beyond the veil’ and generate a lot of ideas of my own.

6 resources to enrich your mind

• TLDR (Newsletter)
  An awesome newsletter with short summarised snippets to help keep things front of mind. What I love about this one is it was started by 1 guy in 2018 and is already delivering content to over 1 million inboxes every day!

• IdeaHub (Newsletter)
  My newsletter that talks about a particular aspect of building a software products every week including idea validaiton, building MVPs and how to find customers.

• The Social Radars (Podcast)
  This is an awesome podcast hosted by some of the original founders of YCombinator - one of the most successful VCs of the last two decades. Guests include the architects of some of the original internet companies right through to the modern day.

• Future by a16z (Podcast)
  Great coverage of pretty much every sector in tech to keep up to speed on the latest developments and news. I tend to just dip in and out of this one as it covers A LOT.

• How I Built This (Book / Podcast)
  An excellent book by Guy Raz who hosts a podcast on NPR talking to founders of many of the biggest names in tech but also a lot of really successful traditional businesses - which is great for extra perspective.

• Zero To One (Book)
  Perhaps the most famous book about startups? Written by Peter Thiel who co-founded PayPal and Palantir and was the first outside money to back FaceBook. He writes about the mindset of founders and the mechanics of VC investing.

3 rules to evaluate any resource

Hopefully, that segment has given you a place to start when looking for ideas but remember the following rules before investing your precious time in anything:

• If it’s not available on the shelves, there’s probably a good reason…
  E-Books have flooded the information space with content. The barrier to entry is very low compared to publishing where authors are fighting for shelf space. If you can’t find it in the store, ask yourself why!

• Startups can live fast and die young…
  Startups come and go with the wind so don’t get hooked on the latest trends and follow them to the grave. Focus on solving real problems that people have rather than the latest tech or industry trends.

• Don’t overthink it!
  Building something from scratch is a big endeavour and it can at times be difficult to know where to start. Try to fight off ‘analysis paralysis’ as much as possible and try things out!

IdeaHub is a newsletter for tech peeps who want to learn about building their own tech products.

Weekly emails discuss the full product process including idea generation and validation, building MVPs, and strategies to get more customers.

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