How to Start a Business

Step 8 The Popcorn Machine of Ideas

Never satisfied with anything, I usually feel flooded with new ideas for products, services, or other great things to build. I want to change everything around me, and everything that I use. This trait is common among the Squids and seems to also be prevalent in others running interesting, successful companies. You can tell if someone genuinely has this trait because they’ll always be happy to find one of their ideas already in existence as it gives them the ability to focus on some others. Spend time around other creative people, and allow yourselves to just bounce ideas around; the cross-pollination of fun intellectual discussion brings out ideas you didn’t know you had.

I call this a trait, but I think it’s learnable. I’m often asked where Squid Labs got its initial set of ideas, and that’s actually a tough question – they seemed to be just floating around us. If you don’t already feel flooded with ideas yourself, here’s an analogy that might help you get going:

As a silly art project, joke, and something to tell a story about all wrapped together, my wife, Christy, our housemate Mitch, and I decided to Live an Aesthetic Life for a week by establishing a single color for each day of the week, and dressing in that color, only eating foods of that color, listening to music of that color, and so on. On orange day, Christy rode her orange bike to work, but Mitch and I were out of luck. So, we half-heartedly looked around our neighborhood for someone with an orange car, thinking we might be able to convince them that our project sounded like fun. It was a tall order, and we weren’t exactly successful, but I now recognize every orange car in the neighborhood. The orange cars had always been there, but I didn’t consciously take note of them until I specifically went looking, and now I’ll never miss them (especially that orange X-Terra with the vanity plate: 3DOGXT).

I think the search for ideas is the same. Try to be particularly attentive to things you’d like to change or improve. Once you’re in the right mindset, more and more will start popping out.

Here’s my chance to rail against MBA students: I know of many companies that were formed because some MBA students heard a particular niche market was “under-monetized.” They then convince themselves of their passion for their solution, as if the problem was something really painful to them personally. Surely there’s money to be made in these types of scenarios, but if this is your tactic for an idea, be honest about your intentions.

Comments

[nfarrow]

Updated of your "Schematic for a balloon/kite based observation system designed for forest-firefighters." FYI The water hose would be massive so therefor remove it LOL Shooting stuff is just way cooler in the long run. LOL