First step in starting a startup: finding the right idea. How to generate organic ideas starting from problems. Results of La Busta project (You just receives your first 5€ seed investment. Now you have a week to invest it and make some money, what would you do? ) All contents are inspired by resources available on Y Combinator website. Slides presented during Entrepreneurship class at Università Cà Foscari from Venice.

1. IMPRENDITORIALITA’ E STRATEGIE
Laurea Magistrale in Sviluppo Economico e dell’Impresa

2. 2
LA BUSTA PROJECT - RESULTS

3. 3
INDIVIDUAL INVESTMENT
PORTFOLIO OVERVIEW
5€
# OF INVESTMENTS
TOTAL INVESTMENT
TOTAL REVENUES
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
14
70€
1106€
+370%
NET REVENUES 1036€
25% SHARES VALUE 259€

4. 4
3 Minutes each
🎤
PRESENTATION

5. 5
TEAM 2💰
TOP 3
TEAM 3
TEAM 1
217€ +1060%
💰💰
💰💰💰
172€ +835%
128€ +615%
42€
53€
31€

6. 6
🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕
LET’S INVEST MY 25%

7. 7
IDEA GENERATION

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1. Organic
2 TYPES OF IDEAS
2. Sitcom
The idea comes naturally to you as
you face a challenge/need/problem
It’s a good ideas but you ignore if
people really want/need it
☘ 📺
i.e. dropbox i.e. social for pet owners
HOW TO GROW ORGANIC IDEAS?
4 Steps Approach

9. 9
1. Remove filters from the status quo
4 STEPS APPROACH

10. Schlep Unsexy
When something is hard to
work on
When something is not cool
enough
NO FILTERS
i.e. payments i.e. customer care
🈵 &

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2. Don’t take anything for granted
4 STEPS APPROACH

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NOTHING IS GIVEN
Why is your inbox overflowing? Because you get a lot of email, or because it's hard to get email out
of your inbox? Why do you get so much email? What problems are people trying to solve by sending
you email? Are there better ways to solve them? And why is it hard to get emails out of your inbox?
Why do you keep emails around after you've read them? Is an inbox the optimal tool for that?
Start to question things
📥
E-MAIL

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3. Live in the future
4 STEPS APPROACH

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PREDICT TRENDS
Be at the leading edge of a field
Being at the leading edge of a field doesn't mean you have to be one of the people
pushing it forward. You can also be at the leading edge as a user (like M.Z.)
🔝

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4. You’ll see things that are obvious, and yet that you hadn't seen
4 STEPS APPROACH

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Remove filters from the status quo
Don’t take anything for granted
You’ll see things that are obvious, and yet that you hadn't seen
Live in the future

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The way to get startup ideas is not to try to think of startup ideas.
It's to look for problems, preferably problems you have yourself.
- P. Graham
💡

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Problems = Opportunities

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The place to start looking for ideas is things you need.
"Why doesn't someone make x? If someone made x we'd buy it in a second."
LOOK FOR PROBLEMS

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But the next best thing to an unmet need of your own
is an unmet need of someone else.
Try talking to everyone you can about the gaps they find in the world.
What's missing? What would they like to do that they can't? What's tedious
or annoying, particularly in their work? Let the conversation get general
LOOK FOR SHARED PROBLEMS

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Since startups often garbage-collect broken companies and industries, it can
be a good trick to look for those that are dying, or deserve to
EXPLORING WAVES
Look for what looks old, outdated, broken, almost dead or deserves to.

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DECONSTRUCT AN EXISTING PRODUCT
example: Journalism
Don't look for a replacement for x; look for something that people will
later say turned out to be a replacement for x. And be imaginative
about the axis along which the replacement occurs.
a way for readers to get
information and to kill time
a way for writers to make
money and to get attention
a vehicle for several different
types of advertising
📝 💵👓

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Most people think first of what they want to express or make, then find the audience
for their idea.
You must work the opposite angle, thinking first of the public. You need to keep your
focus on their changing needs, the trends that are washing through them. Beginning
with their demand, you create the appropriate supply.
LOOK AT THE DEMAND

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How big is my target? How much they need my solution?
LOOK AT THE USERS/CUSTOMERS
Trade-off on the initial phase, when you have to build an MVP

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Howmuchproducttheywant
How many people in target +-
-
+
INITIAL PHASE

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+-
-
+
DEVELOPMENT
Howmuchproducttheywant
How many people in target

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Who wants this right now?
Who wants this so much that they'll use it even when it's a crappy version
one made by a three-person startup they've never heard of?
ASK YOURSELF
If you can't answer that, the idea is probably bad.

28. 28
Is someone else already doing this?
LOOK FOR COMPETITION
Competition is good. Take advantage of it:
1. it proves a market exists
2. you can learn best practices
3. keeps you focused

29. PROBLEMS GAME

30. 30
Wednesday
PROBLEMS GAME
Open your mind, remove filters, don’t take anything for granted, live in the future.
1. Think about your daily routine
2. Look out for needs/problems, things you think can be improved
3. Write them down
4. Discuss with others to see if the problem is shared
5. Think about a solution and describe it in one line