15 Idea Generation Techniques for Coming Up With New Business Ideas

Every startup begins with an idea. However, when it comes to thinking about startup business ideas, it is not an easy task for everyone.

We’ve built a random startup business idea generator as I know that every business starts with a great idea and many people get stuck when it comes to brainstorming startup ideas.

Check out our startup business idea generator and generate over 5,000 startup business ideas.

The generator, based on the lean startup canvas, is less about random startup ideas and more about taking an idea and exploring further.

Now, let’s move on and discuss 15 idea-generation frameworks for generating startup business ideas. You can use these frameworks to come up with innovative ideas for your new venture.

1. Change one element

Novelty is a risk. Too much of it, and you’re almost certain to fail. But too little of it and you’re just a copy of someone else, also a recipe for failure.

What’s needed is a balance of both. One way to maintain that balance is to apply a framework of changing only one element to the offering, keeping everything else the same. 

This tactic is often used in video games and movies where the creators just change the characters or the theme, keeping the story the same.

If you are planning to start a business and ideating, think of how you can change one element to existing businesses. For example, bringing offline to online or building a mobile version of a popular website.

2. Inversion

Inversion means turning a common practice upside-down. So for example, doctors treat patients. But what if patients could become their own doctors and treat themselves.

Another example is the recent trend in many educational apps. Traditionally, teachers teach students. But what if students could learn on their own without the need for teachers?

3. Integration

Integration means to group products or services in a single place. Examples include supermarkets or online marketplaces and aggregators like Amazon.

4. Extension

Extension is to extend the product or service. For example, what if you could provide customer service beyond office hours? Or, if you have a product for desktop users, can you extend it for mobile users?

5. Differentiation

Offer the same or similar product/service to a different market segment. 

When the iPhone launched, it targeted a different market segment compared to Blackberry which was much more expensive and targeted the high-end mobile market.

Another example is social networks like Snapchat target young users. Snapchat saw an opportunity in building a social platform for teenagers.

6. Solving a problem vs creating an opportunity

When evaluating ideas, you should certainly think about how much they are solving a clear problem. But also think about what new opportunities they might be creating.

For example, if you are creating a new product, like a game, it’s more about creating a new opportunity. Any new and popular products are examples of creating opportunities. 

Where problems result in solutions, trends create opportunities.

If you cannot identify a specific problem, identify trends to set the context for your solution.  You can pitch disruptive products by using social, technological, and economic trends.   Social trends reflect the behavior of consumers. Technology trends reflect the direction in which technology is moving.  Economic trends show paths to price/cost reductions.

7. Market risk vs execution risk

Figure out if there is a market demand for something and whether you can build it.

Good ideas lie in the intersection of both market demand and the ability to build a good product.

For example, for a company like Twitter, it was initially market risk as founders didn’t know whether users would use the product. Whereas for a company like SpaceX, there is more execution risk as there are many variables involved in sending a rocket to space.