Find & validate your idea

I have too many ideas. How do I pick which one to actually work on?

The short answer

Filter on three things: is it a problem you understand, is the pain real and frequent, and can you reach the people who have it. Then break the tie with the idea you're willing to be obsessed with for the next five years, because that's the real time horizon. Write each one down as a one-line problem statement and kill the ones you're only lukewarm about.

Go deeper, your way

19 hand-picked resources, 17 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.

▶️ Video
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it A YC partner turns 'how do I get an idea' into a concrete checklist you can run today, plus the traps (tarpit ideas) that sink beginners. It's the practical companion to Paul Graham's essay, with a repeatable framework for judging an idea's strength.

How to Get and Evaluate Startup Ideas

On YC Startup Library by Jared Friedman (Y Combinator) ~50 min

  • Evaluate ideas on the problem: how many people have it, how often, and how badly.
  • Watch out for 'tarpit ideas' that feel exciting but have quietly killed hundreds of startups.
  • The best sources are your own expertise, things you personally wish existed, and noticing recent changes.
Open ycombinator.com →
▶️ Video
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it Before you spend weeks validating, check whether the idea is even worth it. Kevin Hale's filter asks whether the problem is popular, growing, urgent, expensive, mandatory, and frequent. A fast way to drop weak ideas and focus on the ones worth testing.

How to Evaluate Startup Ideas

On YouTube by Kevin Hale, Y Combinator ~50 min

How to Evaluate Startup Ideas
  • Start from the problem, not the solution.
  • Good problems are frequent, urgent, and expensive.
  • Behaviour change needs motivation, ability, and a trigger.
Watch on YouTube youtube.com →
▶️ Video
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it Bridges the gap between 'I have an idea' and 'I have evidence.' Gives a concrete framework for cheap, fast tests so you stop debating your idea in your head and start putting it in front of reality.

How to Get and Test Startup Ideas

On YC Startup Library by YC ~30 min

  • An idea is a hypothesis, not a plan, design a test for it.
  • Cheaper, faster tests beat elaborate ones.
  • Look for signal in behaviour, not applause.
Open ycombinator.com →
▶️ Video
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it This is the canonical early-stage talk on where a founder's time actually pays off, and it keeps pulling you back to building something people want rather than studying the market from the sidelines. Altman is blunt that the work is making a product so good people tell their friends, which is a useful counterweight when you feel the urge to keep researching competitors. Treat it as a starting point for calibrating how little upfront analysis you really need before you ship.

How to Succeed with a Startup

On Y Combinator by Sam Altman (Y Combinator) About 26 minutes

How to Succeed with a Startup
  • The core job is building a product people want and will tell others about, not out-analyzing competitors before you start.
  • Momentum and launching to real users teaches you more than another week of desk research.
  • An early product in front of customers surfaces the market truths that competitive research only guesses at.
Watch on YouTube youtube.com →
🎧 Podcast
✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it From the creators of the Design Sprint, a structured two-day method to turn a fuzzy idea into a sharp, testable bet before you build anything. Useful when you have an idea but do not know what to validate first.

The Foundation Sprint: Test Any Idea in 2 Days

On Lenny's Podcast by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky ~90 min

  • A repeatable structure beats staring at a blank doc.
  • Sharpen the bet before you test it.
  • Two days of thinking can save months of building.
Open lennysnewsletter.com →
🎧 Podcast
✓ Link checked India Free Intermediate

Why we picked it An Indian founder podcast episode about the messy stage before you commit, which Aditya Agarwal calls minus one. It treats choosing what to build as real work worth doing deliberately, not a moment of inspiration. Useful if you feel guilty for not having locked an idea yet.

Where Founders Take Figuring Out as Seriously as Building (South Park Commons)

On The Neon Show by Siddhartha Ahluwalia ~60 min

  • The figuring out stage deserves as much rigour as building
  • Pick a direction through deliberate exploration, not a single flash
  • Talking to people early shapes which idea is worth committing to
Listen on Spotify open.spotify.com →
🎧 Podcast
✓ Link checked India Free Intermediate

Why we picked it Run by the managing partners of Prime Venture Partners (Sanjay Swamy, Amit Somani, Shripati Acharya and others), this is a genuine India early-stage VC podcast where investors talk openly about how they read founders and markets here. It is useful because Indian investors weigh founder-market fit against local realities (buyer behaviour, distribution, capital patterns) that a US essay will not cover. A good listen for hearing 'why you' framed by people writing early cheques in India, not just theorising about it.

Prime Venture Partners Podcast

On Prime Venture Partners by Prime Venture Partners

  • Prime looks for a strong founding team plus early proof of the core value proposition, so 'why you' has to connect to real traction, not just intent.
  • Indian investors read founder-market fit through local context (is this an Aspirin or a Vitamin, can this founder navigate this specific market), which shifts what counts as a strong answer.
  • Recurring theme: sustainable, scalable growth and honest execution matter more than a polished pedigree.
Listen on Apple Podcasts podcasts.apple.com →
✍️ Essay
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it The definitive essay on where good ideas come from: notice problems you personally have, don't force it. Use it as the lens for judging whether your idea is a real problem or a solution in search of one.

How to Get Startup Ideas

From paulgraham.com by Paul Graham ~20 min read

  • Live in the future and build what's missing.
  • The best ideas look like bad ideas at first (schleps and hard-to-explain).
  • Start with problems you have, in a domain you actually know.
Open paulgraham.com →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it A short, pointed essay on why the best ideas grow organically out of the founder's own life and knowledge, the essence of founder-market fit. It's the case for building where you already have an unfair edge instead of chasing a market you'd have to learn from scratch.

Organic Startup Ideas

From paulgraham.com by Paul Graham ~5 min read

  • The most fertile ideas are ones you have firsthand because of who you are and what you do.
  • Organic ideas come with built-in founder-market fit, you're already the customer.
  • Forced, non-organic ideas feel plausible but lack the edge to win.
Open paulgraham.com →
📖 Book
✓ Link checked Paid Beginner

Why we picked it The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past behaviour, not your idea, so you can't be lied to. If a founder reads one thing before talking to a single customer, it's this.

The Mom Test

From momtestbook.com by Rob Fitzpatrick ~130 pages

  • Talk about their life, not your idea.
  • Ask about specifics in the past, not opinions about the future.
  • 'That's so cool, I'd totally buy it' is a compliment, not data, dig for commitment and evidence.
Open momtestbook.com →
✍️ Essay
✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it Your first filter is whether this is a problem you understand, and this short essay is the clearest statement of why that matters. Dixon also warns that founder market fit is easy to overestimate, so it doubles as an honesty check. Read it to judge which idea you have an unfair, earned edge in.

Founder/Market Fit

From cdixon.org by Chris Dixon ~5 min read

  • Deep understanding of a market predicts who reaches product market fit
  • You can build founder market fit through work and research, it is not innate
  • Be brutally honest about where you actually have an edge
Open cdixon.org →
✍️ Essay
✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it A useful counterweight if you are frozen trying to find the single perfect idea. Gil argues the market you pick matters more than the exact idea, because a strong market gives you many shots on goal. It reframes the choice as which arena to commit to, which can break a deadlock between similar ideas.

You Don't Need A Good Idea To Start A Great Company

From blog.eladgil.com by Elad Gil ~6 min read

  • A strong market forgives a weak first idea, a weak market kills a strong one
  • Similar ideas surface at once, so execution decides the winner
  • Pick a promising space and iterate rather than waiting for perfection
Open blog.eladgil.com →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked Freemium Beginner

Why we picked it Todd Jackson studied how dozens of now-large companies validated their very first idea. The pattern that repeats: deliver the outcome by hand, talk to real users, and watch for genuine emotion. A polite 'that's cool' is a no. Strong reactions are the signal you want.

How to Validate Your Startup Idea

From Lenny's Newsletter by Todd Jackson ~15 min read

  • Manual delivery beats a survey for early signal.
  • Look for strong emotion, not politeness.
  • Great ideas usually start from a problem you have lived.
Open lennysnewsletter.com →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it A well organized menu of twelve concrete approaches drawn from real founders, useful when you want structured prompts without the myth of the sudden eureka moment. It pushes back directly on waiting for inspiration and shows idea finding as deliberate practice. Handy as a checklist to test your own direction against several angles.

12 Frameworks for Finding Startup Ideas

From First Round Review (review.firstround.com) by First Round Review ~20 min read

  • The eureka story is usually months of interviews and pivots in disguise
  • You can systematically probe a space instead of waiting for a flash
  • Different frameworks suit different founders, so try several
Open review.firstround.com →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked Freemium Intermediate

Why we picked it Lenny interviewed founders of Gong, Notion, Figma, Amplitude, Retool and more to trace where their idea actually came from. The surprising finding is that most founders had no special background in the space and spoke to around thirty potential customers before committing. Read it to see that ideas come from paying attention, not from a rare gift.

How the Most Successful B2B Startups Came Up With Their Original Idea

From Lenny's Newsletter by Lenny Rachitsky About 15 min read

  • Most founders lacked deep prior expertise in their problem space
  • Ideas came from noticing something, then validating with many conversations
  • A median of about thirty customer chats preceded real commitment
Open lennysnewsletter.com →
✍️ Essay
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it The definitive founder essay on why raw ideas are worth very little and why secrecy is the wrong instinct. Graham's argument reframes protection: your real asset isn't the concept but the compounding work of building it, which no NDA can substitute for.

Ideas for Startups

From paulgraham.com by Paul Graham ~15 min read

  • There's essentially no market for startup ideas, which tells you what they're worth on their own.
  • Most startups end up nothing like the initial idea; the value emerges through execution and iteration.
  • Treat ideas as questions to explore, not blueprints to guard.
  • Develop ideas openly with co-founders and friends rather than locking them away.
Open paulgraham.com →
📄 Article
Free Intermediate

Why we picked it A tight, investor's checklist for the exact decision you are making. Bent leads with choosing a burning idea you cannot stop thinking about, which is your obsession tie breaker in one line. She then adds practical filters like market and business model so the choice is not purely emotional.

How to Choose a Startup Idea

From Mercedes Bent, Lightspeed (Medium) by Mercedes Bent ~12 min read

  • Choose a burning problem you cannot stop thinking about
  • Many strong founders picked a market before they had an idea
  • Ideas do not win on their own, execution still decides
Open medium.com →
📄 Article
Free Beginner

Why we picked it This speaks straight to the kill the lukewarm ones part of the answer. Hedging across several ideas feels safe but actually lowers the odds any of them work, because you starve each of focus. Read it when you are tempted to keep three ideas alive instead of committing to one.

The Problem With Working on Multiple Ideas at Once

From Startups.com by Wil Schroter ~8 min read

  • Spreading effort across ideas lowers the odds any of them succeed
  • Focus is the one input you fully control, do not split it
  • Commit to one and give it the energy it needs to work
Open startups.com →
📋 Template
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it A ready made place to write each idea as a one line problem and score it on the criteria that matter to you. Putting all your ideas in one table forces the comparison the short answer asks for and makes the lukewarm ones obvious. Use it as scaffolding, then swap in your own three filters as the columns.

Idea Rating Scorecard (Notion template)

From Notion Marketplace Template

  • Get every idea out of your head and into one comparable list
  • Scoring side by side exposes the ones you are only lukewarm about
  • Adapt the columns to your own filters: understanding, pain, reach
Open notion.com →

People also ask

I want to start a startup but I don't have an idea. Where do I even begin? Stop hunting for a billion-dollar idea and start collecting problems. The best ideas come from noticing things that annoy you or people around you ... Beginner 19 resources → How do I come up with startup ideas that aren't just 'Uber for X'? Don't sit in a room brainstorming ideas on purpose; that's how you get derivative junk. Ideas that matter show up organically as a byproduct of liv... Beginner 19 resources → Should I solve a problem I personally have, or chase a bigger market? Start with a problem you personally have or deeply understand. Founders who live the problem move faster, ask better questions, and can smell a fak... Beginner 19 resources → How do I know if my idea is a real problem or just a 'nice to have'? A real problem is frequent, painful, and expensive enough that people are already hacking together ugly workarounds for it. If nobody has spent tim... Beginner 19 resources → What makes an Indian startup idea work when the market is so price-sensitive? In India, a great idea usually means being dramatically better, not marginally better; the switch has to be so obvious that people change behaviour... Intermediate 20 resources → How do I know when to stop researching an idea and just start building? You are usually researching to avoid the discomfort of shipping something imperfect. A good rule: once you have talked to 10 to 15 people in the pr... Beginner 19 resources →

Also in D2C

The same ground, over in Find your idea & build the brand, our D2C track.

Should my brand name be a made-up word, or should it actually describe what I sell? Made-up or arbitrary names (Kodak, Apple-for-computers) are the strongest legally and scale best across categories later, but they need real market... 3 resources → Who counts as my competitor - only brands selling the exact same product, or more than that? Track three tiers: direct competitors (same product, same customer), indirect competitors (different product solving the same customer need - a mea... 3 resources →
eChai Partner Brands