Video · ~25 min

How to Get and Evaluate Startup Ideas

Jared Friedman · Y Combinator Startup School Free Beginner

How to Get and Evaluate Startup Ideas

Founders often keep validating because they secretly doubt the idea itself, so a structured way to judge the idea is half the readiness question. YC partner Jared Friedman gives an idea quality score across four criteria (how big, founder/market fit, how sure you are the problem is real, and whether you have a genuine insight) plus the bad filters that make founders quietly reject their best ideas. It is the honest bar to check your idea against before you commit to building. A starting framework, not a scorecard to obsess over.

  • Rate an idea on four criteria and average them, rather than trusting a gut yes or no.
  • Great companies usually started from a good enough idea plus strong execution, not a brilliant one, so waiting for the perfect idea is itself a mistake.
  • Watch for filters (seems hard, boring space, too ambitious, competitors exist) that make you reject strong ideas without realising it.
Watch on YouTube ↗

It answers 18 questions

  1. I want to start a startup but I don't have an idea. Where do I even begin?
  2. How do I come up with startup ideas that aren't just 'Uber for X'?
  3. Do I need to be an expert in an industry to start a company in it?
  4. How do I tell the difference between a real trend and a passing fad?
  5. Why does 'why now?' matter so much for a startup idea?
  6. Everyone says the next big thing looks like a toy. What does that actually mean?
  7. My market is small right now but growing fast. Is that a problem?
  8. How much does 'why you?' actually matter to investors and to success?
  9. Where do I look to find emerging opportunities before they're obvious?
  10. Should I chase whatever is hot (AI, crypto) or build in a boring niche?
  11. How do I turn a trend I've noticed into an actual product idea I can build?
  12. What's the difference between defining a niche and just being too small to matter?

And 6 more across the hub.

Read with it

  1. The definitive essay on where good ideas come from: notice problems you personally have, don't force it. Use it as the lens for... paulgraham.com Essay · ~20 min read How to Get Startup Ideas Paul Graham
  2. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  3. Entering an unfamiliar industry means you cannot see the walls and dead ends that veterans already know. Dixon explains that a... cdixon.org Essay · short read The Idea Maze Chris Dixon
  4. The essay that put 'product-market fit' into the startup vocabulary. Read it for the gut-level description of what PMF feels... pmarchive.com Essay · ~15 min read The Only Thing That Matters Marc Andreessen
  5. Thiel pushes you to look for ideas hidden in plain sight by asking what important truth very few people agree with you on. It... Peter Thiel and Blake Masters Book · About 220 pages Zero to One Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
  6. 200+ candid conversations with Indian founders and investors on how they actually found their idea, spotted a trend, and... Apple Podcasts Podcast · podcast series (45-90 min episodes) The Neon Show (formerly 100x Entrepreneur) Siddhartha Ahluwalia
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