I've shipped 32 different projects in the last 8 years.
Most have failed. 2 still active, 1 made over $300K. After so many years, I now know how to find the perfect B2B startup idea to work on. The thing is, there is no such thing as a perfect idea.
Good founders don't get handed good ideas. They make terrible ideas good. As Farza from Buildspace rightly says - "Ideas are forged, not found".
Think of your starting idea as the Level 1 player in a brand new RPG. By going on adventure after adventure, your character starts levels up, gets new gear, becomes stronger. Now you can just headbutt an enemy that you would have spent hours trying to kill at the very start.
As a founder, you are that Level 1 player every time you come across an idea. As you explore it more by talking to people, by building a small weekend project, or by browsing the depths of Reddit, you level up. You learn that:
- This surface level problem is actually caused by this other issue that not a lot of people outside of the industry know or care about
- This problem is painful but it only happens once a year so nobody really cares
- There isn't a way to solve that problem today
You might come to the conclusion that that idea is not worth pursuing. No sweat, move onto the next. Very soon you'll be able to look at an idea, break it down in your head, and create 5 different pathways you can build it, ways you can market it, reasons it will be successful or not. That is when you have achieved Level 100.
This is what most new founders fail to do: Start. Instead, they feel practically paralyzed. Paralyzed by the fears of:
- Is this a big enough market?
- Can I get funded for this?
- There's 3 other people building this
They judge a Level 1 player based on Level 100 criteria. Very apples to oranges. Give yourself time to adapt, iterate, find new insight vs. trying to hit every checkbox in your "perfect" idea list.
I promise that if you keep at it your 33rd idea might just be a world-changer.
