“Can I share something with you?”
“Yeah, go on mate!”
“This is *whispering* Top Secret stuff okay?”
“I’m listening..”
“I have a big idea!”
“Oh, here we go, again”
“What? What’s the matter?”
“You see, this is not the first time that you have come up to me for an opinion with yet another big idea right?
This is why you don’t look for ideas, you look for problems worth solving.
There is a right time to launch your startup but never a wrong time to get an idea for one. You will get an idea while driving, showering, walking, at work in a meeting, or while pooping”
“Gross”
“Hey, you wanted examples! Do you know the net worth of Jaquar, Roca and other bathroom part suppliers in India, or their market share for supplying your bidet hose, the butt shower that you use every morning?”
“Got your point, no need to rub it on my arse. I’d rather have you continue your idea monologue”
“Okay, when you came here for the chai, were you awake?”
“Umm… I drove here. I think that comes with a prerequisite of not sleeping”
“Right. Let me rephrase that though, were you aware, on your way here?”
“Hmm. I would like to say yes, but I know I’m wrong. Get to your point.”
“To look for problems, you don’t have to find problems to be in. If you become more aware of your surroundings, open your senses for every time situations are throwing ideas at you, you would have a lot of them by now. We put some things on auto-pilot as soon as we start doing them repeatedly. Our subconscious takes hold of these tasks and you will not have to do any deliberate and conscious thinking for them. Perfect examples would be driving to work, waking up and brushing, typing, and so on. Now if you are busy thinking about why you don’t have any idea, look around, maybe you can solve the traffic issue by notifying people of a crash or a slowdown.
Before you think of it, it is already implemented by Google Maps. So, no.”
“Dammit, you know me too well.”
“I’m not proud of it”
“Would you ever speak any good of me?”
“It is as surprising for me as it is going to be for you but there are some things that you are doing right.”
“I’m all ears”
“Few of the right things you are doing is that you are talking to people. I’m aware that you were asking for opinions from Anushri for your dating app for cats' idea. Talking to more and more industry professionals, experts and fellow entrepreneurs could be more helpful than consultancies. I can assure you would get more insight from the chaiwallah here, who has more business acumen than any MBA graduate.
I know you have been reading a lot of Eric Ries books and keeping yourself updated on the startup world by having all the knowledge of which startup failed and which one succeeded and why. Although… OH MY GOD, WOULD YOU NOT LOOK AT YOUR PHONE WHEN I’M TALKING WITH YOU! I swear all men are like this.”
“Hey, I am taking notes, you are making a lot of sense”
“Oh.. Well… Good, that’s what I was expecting. Sorry for the unnecessary misandry there”
“I understand. You were saying, I read books but…”
“Yes. you do read all this startup literature but I suggest you should read more of something that interests you, which is not about your work. This will widen your horizon and let you look at the world through different perspectives and you could get a problem to solve- creatively.
Before your chai goes cold, I’ll stop talking. But since you are taking notes on your phone which I hope you are, I would suggest you invest in a small diary so that you never lose the record of any idea you might have. Later on, digitize it at home on Google Sheets and that is exactly when you introspect your day and you might even want to list down the list of problems that you had throughout the day. This practice will help you marinate your thoughts which will mature to transform into ideas sooner or later. Honestly, that is what I do, and it works.”
“Hey, today’s chai is on me. Thanks for such good insight and…”
“Hey no worries, I have already paid for the chai through this app. I’ll see you next time with a better idea?”
“Haha, sure! I’m developing a liking for this constant burn you keep on giving me”
“Bye!”
903, Signature-1,
S.G.Highway,
Makarba,
Ahmedabad-380051,
India.
S.G.Highway,
Makarba,
Ahmedabad-380051,
India.
http://www.slangbusters.com
hello@slangbusters.com
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