Column | “I don’t dare to approach people romantically because I don’t know in advance if they are interested in me.” When someone opens up about an everyday problem, it can be a ready-made business idea.

Thus summer vacation is time to think. Also, what if you don’t return to your current job in August, but start your own company. (For the information of Wolt’s HR department: I am not planning to change jobs myself.)

Actually, it would be nice to found a startup that, if successful, would change the world.

Where did the idea for such a thing come from?

All companies solve some human problem. The streaming service Netflix eliminates boredom, Inklushiiv, which offers consulting services, inequality.

That’s why a business idea can be found when you don’t try to come up with an idea but notice problems.

For example, you can listen when friends complain. Every time you hear someone open up about an everyday problem, in theory there might be an idea for a business.

“I don’t dare to approach people romantically because I don’t know in advance if they are interested in me.” Tinder.

“It’s stressful to pay a ton for a new iPhone, when a well-used last year’s model would be fine for me.” Swappy.

“How can it take two banking days to transfer money to a friend?” Mobilepay.

And so on.

Another way is to start building something that you would need badly yourself. Then you both know the problem and are a good test audience. And even if the carbon footprint tracking app developed for your own needs doesn’t take off, at least you’ll get something useful for yourself.

When has got an idea, it is important to talk about it to others. Sharing an idea can be scary because it’s unnerving that someone steals the idea or it gets overwhelming feedback.

In real life, it is very rare that someone steals a mere idea, the success of which is not guaranteed, and the realization of which even the thief would have to devote his life to.

Critical feedback, on the other hand, is exactly what your idea needs. It’s like free product development assistance.

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What is the need if supermarkets start accepting cryptocurrencies?

What to think if your idea already has a lot of competition?

In short: It can be a good thing. At least there are proven customers for the idea. What matters is whether you can solve the problem better than your competitors. Slack was definitely not the first company to try to help Teams with their internal communication.

But are you still late? Ask potential customers again. If you can find a large group of people who are desperate for what you could build in, say, half a year, you’re probably not too late.

Another sign of possibly perfect timing is that you are building something that was not possible to create until recently. If no one yet “lives” in the metaverse called the next stage of development of the Internet, but you believe that many will soon, now may be the right time to start planning a service for the metaverse’s inhabitants.

It’s also worth considering what, for example, renewed regulation or big changes in the world mean in practice. What is the need if supermarkets start accepting cryptocurrencies or the war in Ukraine continues for years?

Worth to also the fear of delving deeper into problems that seem important but almost impossible to solve. The problem can be unsolved only because others who have considered it have given up immediately when faced with the difficulty of the challenge.

With the fear-toward-the-impossible recipe have been born, for example Elon Musk’s The SpaceX project (“let’s take people to Mars”) or Annu Nieminen pioneering company Upright (“let’s map the net effects of all the companies in the world”).

In addition, you should pay attention to your own special skills. If you are the one who has exceptional know-how to implement an idea – for example, an understanding of rocket technology or the visualization of complex network effects – you can also trust a notch more safely that you are the one who can build success from your idea.

Finally it’s good to keep in mind that ideas change along the way. You can think of the idea as a starting impulse that inspires you and hopefully one or two others to start working.

The idea develops when you outline the problem more deeply. It is important to assemble a team with several different areas of expertise: for example, a hard generalist coder, a down-to-earth business person and a versatile designer. Out of the three of you, you are able to adapt when the original idea requires refinement.

And one last tip: If the idea takes off, you’ll probably be working on it for at least five to ten years. So set out to solve a problem that you want to work on for the next phase of your life.