‫Another way to spot ideas is to observe industries which have a lot of middlemen.
‫Don't get me wrong, it's not about making others lose their jobs, but sometimes industries just become
‫overwhelmed with middlemen and get more inefficient in the process.
‫The customer ends up paying the bill very often.
‫Technology can solve the problem by creating a unique go to place for specific types of products or
‫services.
‫The travel industry, for example, got disrupted quite a lot with technology.
‫Over the past years, online providers have taken many physical travel agencies out of business.
‫Instead of going to a travel agent, people can book hotels, flights, cars, cruises, restaurant
‫tables and so many other travel services online.
‫Today, the online travel agency Expedia, which was born out of a division of Microsoft, has actually
‫become the largest online travel company in the world.
‫And it's growing fast, thanks to many acquisitions, including the most recent one of Orbitz, which
‫makes Expedia the market leader in the U.S., another industry prone to a lot of middlemen activities
‫banking, although it's a complex business to get into.
‫There are a lot of opportunities.
‫Banks are getting disrupted by companies like Transfer Wise, which is successfully taking on international
‫money transfer fees.
‫Originally, founders of Skype, they managed to create a system where they offer much cheaper commissions
‫on money transfers than banks, that their provocative campaigns in London nothing to hide, and recipes
‫hidden fees which portrayed banks as evil institutions stealing our money went viral worldwide.
‫There are still a lot of areas where many middlemen exist in real estate, for instance, just as there
‫are a lot of products and services which are using and thinking it's so bad and yet it could be improved
‫so easily, they are set to disappear with technology just to keep your eyes open.
‫Now, what about copycats?
‫In business, copying and improving successful business models is the norm.
‫Nothing to be ashamed of.
‫Disruptive ideas are rare, and it's very likely to get inspired by an idea and to execute it better.
‫There is an art to that to rocket internet is based on this practice and proofs that successfully copying
‫business models is a business model of its own.
‫Rocket has copied many famous startups, including eBay, Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb, Groupon or Birchbox.
‫When Groupon was launched in the U.S., rocket created its own Clone City deal in Germany.
‫It started growing tremendously in Europe, and Groupon had to buy it out to keep its pole position.
‫One of the three founders all of our somewhere is a firm believer of what Thomas Edison once said.
‫Success is just one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.
‫It's not about who had the innovative idea first, but who executed on it better and became market leader
‫faster.
‫Similarly to this, you can copy the characteristics of a successful startup.
‫Remember every time a great startup is born.
‫So copycats.
‫For example, when Tinder became big, there was suddenly a tinder for this and a tinder for that,
‫tinder for pets, tinder for shopping, tinder for recipes.
‫All based on the secret formula, the glorious right or left swipe.
‫The same happened with Uber.
‫There's today an Uber for helicopters in Uber for groceries and even an Uber for Dry-Cleaning, all
‫based on the famous one button philosophy where you can order literally anything at the push of a button.
‫Once the concept was proven in one industry, it's worth trying it out in others.
‫And this is OK.
‫Most of the ideas are oftentimes remakes and transforms of other ideas.
‫By going through this course, you will learn how to combine the best elements of various business ideas
‫to create new differentiated companies.
‫You can often take an existing business and make a successful startup out of it by modifying just a
‫few parameters.
‫Last but not least, there is one final way to find ideas.
‫Even if you are not an astronaut, there are surely things that you're passionate about leaving after
‫the motto Love what you do and do what you love is not just random words on the entrepreneurial roller
‫coaster.
‫You will have many setbacks, moments when you have to get back up and you will need a lot of motivation
‫for that.
‫A great example is Pinterest.
‫Its founder, Ben Silverman, was a passionate collector in his childhood.
‫He collected everything and anything, stamps, insects, books.
‫For him, collecting said a lot about who you are.
‫So he decided to mix his passion of collecting with the possibilities of technology.
‫He joined forces with his childhood friend Evan Sharp, who was also an avid collector.
‫Together, they created Pinterest to bring the collecting experience online and help connect people
‫who have common interests.
‫Another good example is the honest company.
‫Its founder is Jessica Alba, and you might know her as an actress, but now she's more of an extremely
‫successful entrepreneur.
‫When she was a kid, she spent a lot of time in hospitals because of various sicknesses, and she wished
‫that she could just live her life as everyone else.
‫And when she became a mother, she got an allergic reaction to certain products that she was using for
‫her baby.
‫That scared her for the.
‫Health of her baby, and she wondered, how can we make sure that all the products that we use for our
‫babies are safe?
‫So after doing some lobbying and trying to raise awareness, she quickly understood that this couldn't
‫be done through legal ways in the United States that led her to start an honest company which only sells
‫products that are safe for babies.
‫So let's recap.
‫Spotting problems leads to uncovering great opportunities and opportunities, lead to coming up with
‫innovative ideas how to solve these problems.
‫So you have to stop avoiding problems and start embracing them.
‫We went through seven different ways to spot problems in this course, practice some or all of them
‫in your everyday life and write down all the ideas you come up with to build upon them over time.
‫We're reminded you many times throughout this course and we do it one last time.
‫Always walk through life with your entrepreneurial glasses.
‫They will help you to get in that mindset where you're always looking for opportunities.
‫You're not a complainer, you're a problem solver.
‫Project yourself into the future and imagine how different the world would be.
‫What will transportation look like?
‫Maybe nobody will drive their own car anymore.
‫But use services like Uber or these cars on demand will be driving themselves.
‫Or even better, maybe there will be this cell flying drones.
‫What you will imagine in the future might help you find problems to solve today, as Paul Graham puts
‫it, live in the future, then build what's missing.
‫Here are some last thoughts on how to find ideas first.
‫Although it's easier to have ideas in a field in which you are an expert, we encourage you to look
‫beyond what you know.
‫Sometimes having a fresh look at an industry as an outsider can result in better ideas.
‫After all, nobody from the music industry and there are some very big names out there came up with
‫a disruptive service like Spotify, and there are plenty of examples like this.
‫Second, remember that nobody's 100 percent qualified to judge an innovative idea and only testing will
‫tell if it can grow into real business or not.
‫Most of the investors turned down Airbnb and look at what it is today, a company with a multibillion
‫dollar valuation.
‫Third, keep in mind that an idea usually never pops out in its perfect shape right away.
‫It matures through a process where your knowledge and curiosity are combined with trends and experiences.
‫It's very likely that by starting to work on an idea, you will change direction several times.
‫That's called pivoting, and it's a common practice in all startups.
‫Finally, here's our last piece of advice.
‫If you didn't do it yet, engage as soon as you can with your local startup community.
‫Go to startup weekends and intrapreneurship events to meet like minded people.
‫By doing this, you will get to know many people, perhaps even your future co-founders, and share
‫ideas with them.
‫This is surely one of the best ways to brainstorm and find new opportunities.
‫So now it's your turn.
‫Take a look at these seven questions and think about them every day.
‫They will guide you in your quest for finding a great startup idea.
‫Don't hesitate to share with us other techniques you find along the way in the comments section below.