We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. It starts with eChai Startup Demo Day on 26 September, all in person. 13 cities confirmed, 688 founders registered. Any city that reaches 20 interested founders is on too. See your city

Find & validate your idea

Finding & shaping ideas

Find a problem worth years of your life.

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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 → I have too many ideas. How do I pick which one to actually work on? 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... Intermediate 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 → Should I validate an idea before I can code, or learn to build first? You almost never need to code to validate. A landing page, a WhatsApp group, a spreadsheet you run by hand, or doing the service manually for five ... Beginner 19 resources → How do I turn a vague hunch that something is broken into a sharp, testable idea? A hunch becomes an idea when you can name the person, the moment the pain hits, and what they do today to cope. Follow the workaround: every ugly s... Beginner 20 resources → How do I generate a steady flow of idea candidates instead of waiting for one big flash? Good ideas come from a system, not a lightning bolt. Keep a running list of every annoyance, workaround, and "why is this still so bad" moment you ... Beginner 20 resources →

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