Remember when everyone’s dream was to go to space or become president? Now it’s to start their own company, preferably one that’s worth a billion dollars within the span of five years. With success stories like Facebook, Airbnb, and Uber, it’s hard not to say, “Dammit, I should’ve thought of that.”
Well, that right there is the attitude to avoid. Coulda, woulda, shouldas about a company that already exists won’t get you very far. What will get you somewhere is thinking about the opportunities that are still out there. While we can’t gift you with a billion-dollar idea in the space of an article (trust me, we’d be taking that beauty to market right now if we had it), we can give you a few tips to start thinking like an entrepreneur and find the next big thing.
Always Be On The Lookout for Needs
Listening and reading is important for any aspiring entrepreneur. In order to make money, you’ve got to understand what people’s needs are, since they will only exchange money for things that bring value to their life. Listen to your friends, to people on the subway, watch the news, and take note of what people complain about.
If you notice a shared complaint across the board or a frequent complaint among people in a specific demographic (i.e. women between the ages of 35 and 45, young fathers, etc) you’ve found yourself a pain point. And based on these complaints, you have proof that this pain point either doesn’t have a solution in the market, or the existing solutions haven’t marketed themselves well enough. Both scenarios equal opportunity.
Example: Sara Blakely turned a desire for footless pantyhose into a billion dollar company. Spanx is 100 percent owned by Blakely and has made her a billionaire, simply because she noticed a need for shapewear that didn’t leave lines or bulges.
Appeal to the Human Desire for Connectivity and Belonging
You don’t have to come up with a tangible product in order to become an entrepreneur. Consider Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Once our physiological and safety needs have been met, we require a sense of love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Failing to find these things can feel devastating. Entrepreneurs can create tools that make meeting these needs simpler.
Example: Consider Facebook. Facebook is what it is because it helped people establish a sense of community (through inclusion as well as exclusion) with its friend requests and “likes”.
There are even more recent examples of startups that leveraged this need for love and self-esteem. An app like Tinder or Bumble helps people find love (or lust) with the added bonus of knowing anyone you talk to is interested in you too because they chose to swipe right.
Improve an Already Existing Product or Industry
You don’t have to re-invent the wheel to be an entrepreneur. It can be as simple as improving an industry with issues of its own. Or taking a process that people already execute and making it simpler.
Example: People have been offering short-term rentals for a long time, but Airbnb came along and centralized the experience. Not only that, it introduced a sense of community and accountability to the process by offering host protection insurance and encouraging reviews. And it grew by taking advantage of high volume events where hotels fill up quickly, like the Democratic National Convention. In short, they built on an existing industry.
Look For Industries That Lack Innovation
This is a challenging one, but if you have the skills or the energy it can pay off. Typically, industries that are slow to change are complicated or heavily regulated industries. Think banking or insurance. Additionally, these industries rely on trust, making it harder to win new customers. But if you can come up with a way to improve them, and you’re one of the first to do it, you’re in for a sweet payday.
Example: Square, co-founded by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, offers a payment processing platform for small business owners who need unique tools to grow their business. It’s not unusual for small business owners to only accept cash or debit because of the fees and machinery involved in accepting credit. Platforms like Square have made it accessible for small business owners to receive payments.
Stop Thinking You Need To Become a Giant
It would be really cool if you could create a company that rivals Facebook, Amazon, or Google, but making that your standard of success can be paralyzing. There are successful entrepreneurs who have built their fortunes from creating great companies that attract the attention of bigger companies who buy them out. And then this gives them the funds to go off and pursue their next big idea.
Example: A couple of Google’s big acquisitions include ITA software (for $700 million), which powers Google Flights, and Skybox Imaging ($500 million), which introduced more accurate imagery for Google Maps. Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion and Whatsapp for a whopping $19 billion.
If there’s one thing entrepreneurs have, it’s the ability to problem solve. Anything that makes a tremendous amount of money solves a problem whether it’s a tangible problem or an emotional problem. If you can keep these tips in mind, you’ll be that much closer to your multi-million (or multi-billion) dollar idea. And when you do hit it big, don’t forget your friends at Hatchbuck.