Finding a startup idea worth working on

Three sources, in this order:

1. Acute personal pain — you tried to do a thing, couldn't, would have paid to. The friction was real, not theoretical. Bonus: you can describe the customer in one sentence (it's you).
2. Watching one customer for an hour — sit next to a friendly stranger doing their job. The thing they swear at five times is the idea. Most founders skip this; it's the highest-density idea source on Earth.
3. A specific narrow wedge in a giant market — not "fix healthcare", but "the form that physical therapists fax to insurance every Tuesday."

Sources that produce mostly bad ideas:

• "What's the next big thing in AI / crypto / VR" — thematic hunting without a customer.
• "I read this trend report" — by the time it's a report, the wedge is gone.
• "ChatGPT gave me five ideas" — none of them have a customer.

Run any idea through these. An idea that fails one filter is not necessarily dead, but you need a real answer for it.

1. Who specifically pays? Name the role + company size + situation. "SMB owners" is not specific.
2. What do they pay today (in money or hours)? Real budget proves the problem exists.
3. Why now? What's changed in the last 12-24 months that makes this possible? If nothing has, ask why no one's solved it already.
4. Why you? Unfair advantage = experience, network, distribution, or sheer willingness to suffer. Founders without one usually quit at month 9.
5. What's the first 100 customers playbook? If you can't name a channel that gets you 10 customers in 30 days, the idea may be valid but the wedge isn't.

If you have too many: This is a discipline problem, not an idea problem. Pick the one with the strongest filter score and commit for 90 days. Track new ideas in a parking lot doc; don't let them derail the current bet.

If you have none: You haven't watched enough customers do their job. Block five conversations this week with people doing work you find interesting. Don't pitch — listen. Take notes on the exact moment they swear or sigh. That's the idea source.

The trap in the middle: "I have a vague intuition but no specific wedge." Vague intuitions don't survive contact with customers. Sharpen by talking to 5-10 candidate customers; the wedge appears in their language, not your slides.