Practical guidance to help you turn your ideas into income.
How to Find a Business Idea Worth Investigating
Whether you have no idea, a few ideas or one you can't stop thinking about, here's how to find your starting point and decide what to do next.
10/25/20268 min read
You want to start a business.
Perhaps you've known that for a while.
Maybe you're tired of thinking about it and want to finally do something.
Or perhaps the thought is relatively new,
and you're still trying to work out what starting a business could look like for you.
But there's one question that keeps getting in the way.
What business should I actually start?
Maybe you have no idea at all.
Maybe you know what you're good at but can't see the business in it.
Maybe you have so many ideas but unsure which one to choose.
Or maybe you have one idea you can't stop thinking about,
These are four very different starting points, with one thing in common.
You're trying to find a business idea that makes sense for you
and is worth exploring further.
When people think about starting a business,
there's often an assumption that they need to come up with something brilliant.
Something new.
Something exciting.
Something nobody else has thought of.
But a useful business direction doesn't always begin that way.
Sometimes it starts with a skill you've used for years without thinking much about it.
Sometimes it's a difficulty you've experienced yourself.
Sometimes it's a group of people you understand particularly well.
And sometimes it's an idea you've been carrying around for months
but haven't yet explored properly.
The difficulty isn't always a lack of possibilities.
Sometimes it's knowing how to recognise them, make sense of them
and decide which one deserves your attention.
And that's what this Learning Path is designed to help you do.
Not to find the perfect idea.
Not to promise that your idea will succeed.
But to help you move from “I want to build something” towards “Here's one idea I can investigate.”
That's why we've approached Business Ideas as four different starting points
rather than one set of instructions everyone must follow.
Your Business Ideas Roadmap: Find Your Starting Point
Route 1: I Want to Start a Business, but I Have No Idea What
You might assume you need an unusual talent,
a brilliant invention or a completely new concept to start a business.
You don't have to wait for a flash of inspiration.
Sometimes, a useful business direction begins with what you already have:
your skills, knowledge, experience and interests, brought together in a way you haven't
considered before.
Your Next Move
Read: How to Come Up With a Business Idea From What You Already Have →
This article helps you generate a possible business idea from your existing
experiences, knowledge, interests and observations.
The shift: from waiting for the perfect idea to building one from what you already have.
Something to Sit With: Ask yourself, what have I experienced,
learned or noticed that might be useful to someone else?
Route 2: I know what I'm good at, but I don't know what business that could become.
Knowing what you're good at isn't the same as
knowing what business you could build around it.
The challenge is translating those skills into something useful,
understanding who they might help and what problems they could solve.
It isn't about deciding that every skill should become a business.
It's about recognising possibilities you may not have considered.
Your Next Move
Read: How to Turn Your Skills Into a Business Idea →
This article will help you look beyond your job title and consider what your skills actually enable you to do.
The shift: from "this is what I'm good at" to "this is what being good at it allows me to do".
Something to Sit With: Ask yourself, what do people regularly rely on me to do,
explain or help them understand?
Route 3: I Have Too Many Ideas and don't know which one to choose.
Sometimes the difficulty isn't finding ideas; it's choosing between them.
Having plenty of options is a good problem to have, but sometimes it can leave you stuck.
When you have several ideas, the goal isn't to find the perfect one.
It's to compare your options,
choose one worth investigating first and allow the others to wait
Your Next Move
Read: I Have Too Many Business Ideas: How Do I Choose One? →
This article helps you compare several possibilities and select one idea worth investigating first
based on a set of consistent features.
The shift: from collecting ideas to choosing one worth investigating.
Something to Sit With: Ask yourself, am I trying to choose an idea to investigate,
or am I expecting myself to know which business will succeed before I get started?
Route 4: I Have a Business Idea I Want to Explore. What Do I Do Next?
When you're excited about an idea, it's tempting to start building straight away.
Perhaps you can imagine the product, service or experience you want to create.
But a clear idea isn't the same as a proven one.
Before you start building, it's worth understanding what you're actually considering
and what you still need to investigate.
Your Next Move
Read: I Have a Business Idea. What Should I Do Next? →
This article helps you clarify an existing business idea and recognise the questions you still need to explore.
The shift: from building straight away to finding out what you still need to learn.
Something to Sit With: Ask, what do I believe about this business idea that I haven't yet investigated?
Four Starting Points, One Destination
Wherever you begin, you end up in the same place:
One idea, described in a sentence, with an honest list of what you don't yet know.
The goal of this stage isn't to find the perfect business idea.
It was to find one worth investigating.
If Fear Is Holding You Back
Finding a possible business direction doesn't automatically make the uncertainty disappear.
No matter where you are, fear can still show up.
What if it doesn't work?
What if nobody buys?
What if it works, but not as well as I'd hoped?
You might worry about losing money.
You might be concerned about what friends,
family or colleagues will think if things don't work out.
Or perhaps you're afraid of spending months building something
that never becomes as successful as you hoped.
Those concerns don't necessarily mean you should abandon your idea.
But they shouldn't automatically be dismissed either.
Starting a business can involve real financial, practical and emotional costs.
Your Next Move
Read: I'm Scared to Start a Business: What If It Fails? →
This article helps you understand your fears,
recognise the risks that matter and consider a sensible next step.
The shift: from being paralysed by fear to understanding
what you're actually afraid of so the next step is easier to take.
Something to Sit With
Ask yourself, what am I most afraid might happen,
and what would I need to protect before taking the next step?
What You Should Have at the End of this Series?
By this point, you may have approached your business idea
from a completely different starting place than someone else.
That's fine.
You weren't supposed to follow the same journey.
The purpose of this series is to help you move towards
one business direction you feel is worth investigating.
You don't need a business plan at this stage.
You need four things:
1. One direction worth investigating.
You can describe your idea in a sentence or two,
even if you're not yet sure exactly who it's for or how it will work.
2. An understanding of why this idea appeals to you
Perhaps it connects with your experience, interests, strengths,
circumstances or something you've noticed.
3. An awareness of what you don't yet know
You can identify some of the assumptions you're making
and the questions you need to investigate.
4. An awareness of your practical circumstances
You have a general understanding of the time,
money and resources you could realistically make available,
without needing to calculate exactly what the business will require.
If you have these four things, you have a starting point for the next stage.
You don't need all the answers yet.
Finding a Business Idea Is Not the Same as Knowing It Will Work
This is where an important distinction comes in.
You might have an idea that fits your skills, interests and circumstances.
You might understand why it appeals to you.
You might even be able to describe who you think could benefit from it.
But none of those things automatically tells you
whether people need what you're proposing,
whether they'd choose your solution or
whether it could become a workable business.
And that's okay.
Business Ideas helps you decide what to investigate.
It doesn't prove whether the idea is worth pursuing.
That comes next.
What Comes After Business Ideas?
Once you've identified one direction,
the next stage of DISCOVERY is about looking beyond the idea itself.
We'll begin exploring three connected questions.
Who might need this, and why?
This is where Customer Clarity begins.
Some business ideas begin because you've noticed a problem.
Others begin because you understand a particular group of people.
Neither approach is automatically better.
What matters is understanding the connection between the people,
their needs and what your idea might offer.
What evidence supports what I believe?
This is where Initial Validation begins.
We'll look at the difference between assumptions and evidence,
and how to begin investigating whether the need you've identified is meaningful.
You won't be expected to prove everything immediately.
The aim is to learn enough to decide whether to continue,
adjust your direction, investigate further or stop.
How could this idea work as a business?
If there's enough reason to keep exploring, we'll consider the Business Model.
How might you deliver what you're offering?
How could the business generate income?
What costs, resources or practical constraints might matter?
We'll approach these questions without asking you
to build a detailed business model before you've established a reason to do so.
And later in the DISCOVERY Learning Path, we'll explore how to start small,
put a simple version in front of real people and learn from what actually happens.
You don't need to complete all that work now.
Your next step is simply to begin understanding the idea you've chosen.
Need a Little Help Finding Your ONE Business Idea?
We're also developing a free Founders Quill Business Ideas Tool.
It's designed to help you work through your starting point, whether you have no idea,
several possibilities or one direction you'd like to explore.
The aim is to help you make sense of what you already have
and identify a practical next step.
It won't promise to find the perfect business for you or
tell you whether an idea is guaranteed to succeed.
But it may help you see your options more clearly.
The Business Ideas Tool is coming soon.
Join the Business Ideas Tool waiting list → HERE
Final Thoughts
You don't need to know whether your business idea will succeed today.
You only need one direction you're willing to investigate,
an understanding of why it interests you and
the willingness to question what you think you know.
That's where the next stage of DISCOVERY begins.
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