My biggest surprises from researching how 50 of today's biggest consumer companies came up with their startup idea:
1. Only 1 company came up with their idea by talking to customers (@DoorDash)
2. Only ~30% of ideas came from founders trying to solve their own problem
More ๐
1. Only 1 company came up with their idea by talking to customers (@DoorDash)
2. Only ~30% of ideas came from founders trying to solve their own problem
More ๐
3. Less than a third of founders were actively ideating startup ideas
4. Just 20% of the ideas came from pivots
5. Just over half of the ideas initially seemed trivial (ie a toy) at first. Definitely not all.
6. Founders were very youngโhalf were under 30 years old, 80% were <35
4. Just 20% of the ideas came from pivots
5. Just over half of the ideas initially seemed trivial (ie a toy) at first. Definitely not all.
6. Founders were very youngโhalf were under 30 years old, 80% were <35
7. Two thirds had an engineering co-founder
8. Only ~10% had a co-founder with an MBA
9. Less than a third of founders had a specific hard skill (e.g. bio, research, VR) that enabled them to build their product
10. Only about a third had previously started a company
8. Only ~10% had a co-founder with an MBA
9. Less than a third of founders had a specific hard skill (e.g. bio, research, VR) that enabled them to build their product
10. Only about a third had previously started a company
And finally, the 5 strategies for coming up with a B2C startup idea:
1. Pay attention to your own problems (~30%)
2. Pay attention to your curiosity (~20%)
3. Pay attention to whatโs already working
4. Pay attention to paradigm shifts(~15%)
5. Brainstorm with friends (~15%)
1. Pay attention to your own problems (~30%)
2. Pay attention to your curiosity (~20%)
3. Pay attention to whatโs already working
4. Pay attention to paradigm shifts(~15%)
5. Brainstorm with friends (~15%)
Example of strategy 1: Pay attention to your own problems, and solve them
@BookCameo
@BookCameo
Example of strategy 2: Pay attention to your curiosity, and tinker
@Coinbase
@Coinbase
Example of strategy 3: Pay attention to whatโs already working, and double down (aka pivot)
@YouTube
@YouTube
Example of strategy 4: Pay attention to paradigm shifts, and work backward
@Spotify
@Spotify
Example of strategy 5: Brainstorm with friends, and pay attention to the four points above
@Netflix
@Netflix
For much much much more, don't miss the full post lennysnewsletter.com
Thank you to @alyraz @cjgbest @hamishmckenzie @devonspinnler @evangoldin @fishmanaf @juliahartz @Max @sanderdaniels @stevechen for sharing your stories with me for this post ๐
Here's the raw data for this analysis. I'm sure I got some things wrong, but am confident it is directionally correct.
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