How I Find Startup Ideas (That People Actually Want)

Disclaimer: This article is based on my personal experiences as a solopreneur and does not replace professional business consulting. The methods described have worked for me, but cannot guarantee the same results for everyone.

TL;DR – Key Takeaways

• You don't need to reinvent the wheel – the best startup ideas solve existing problems better
• App Store 1-star reviews are a goldmine for problem discovery
• Your own daily frustrations are often the best startup ideas
• Reddit communities tell you directly what problems they have and what they'd pay for
• Validation BEFORE coding saves you months of wasted work
• The 48-hour validation test filters out bad ideas early
• "Cool" isn't enough – people need to be willing to pay
• Look for pattern recognition: if 50 people have the same problem, there's something there

The €5 Moment That Changed Everything

I spent 6 months working on City Blast Match 3.

Every free minute. Weekends. Nights. I was 19, fresh out of training, and had the big plan: This will be the next Candy Crush.

I had thought through the complete game design. Built levels. Perfected animations. Did balance testing. Everything.

Then came the launch.

One month later: €5 revenue. Probably from my mom.

I was so devastated that I impulsively deleted the entire project. No backup. Just gone. After that, I fell into an almost two-year depression.

What was the problem?

Not the code. That was solid. Not the design. That was okay. Not the features. Those worked.

The problem was: I had built an idea that I thought was cool.

Without ever asking if anyone was actually waiting for it.

The Mindset Shift That Changed Everything

After City Blast, it took me a long time to code again.

But when I came back, I had understood something:

You don't need to reinvent the wheel.

Look at the most successful startups:

Notion? Documentation tools have been around for decades. They just made it better.

Superhuman? Email clients have been around since the 90s. They just made it faster and cleaner.

Calendly? Meeting scheduling isn't a new problem. They just made it easier.

Having the most revolutionary idea isn't the goal.

The goal is: Find an existing problem and solve it better than everyone else.

Method #1: App Store 1-Star Reviews (My Goldmine)

Okay, here's my go-to method.

Go to the App Store (or Google Play Store). Pick a category that interests you. Fitness. Productivity. Finance. Whatever.

And then completely ignore the 5-star reviews.

Go straight to the 1-star reviews.

Why? Because that's where the truth is.

People who give 1 star usually have a legitimate problem. They wanted to use the product, but something annoyed them so much that they took the time to write a review.

Example from my latest research:

I looked at habit-tracking apps. Habitica had hundreds of 1-star reviews with patterns like:

• "Too complicated, I just want to track my habits"
• "Too much gamification, I need something simple"
• "Synchronization doesn't work"
• "App crashes constantly"

See what's happening there?

Every one of these reviews is a potential startup idea.

"Too complicated" → Build an ultra-simple alternative.

"Synch doesn't work" → Build one with a better tech stack.

"Too much gamification" → Build a minimalist version without all the fluff.

Here's how you do this concretely:

1. Pick 3-5 apps in your target category
2. Read 20-30 1-star reviews each
3. Note patterns (when multiple people have the SAME problem)
4. Prioritize by frequency

After one hour, you have 5-10 validated problem statements.

Method #2: Your Own Frustrations (Don't Underestimate This)

Here's something I understood way too late:

If YOU have a problem, probably 10,000 other people have it too.

Especially as a developer.

The problems we have in daily life – deployment, monitoring, code organization, project management – these are million-dollar markets.

GitHub, Vercel, Sentry – all solutions for developer problems.

My concrete system:

I keep a "Frustration List" in Notion.

Every day, when something annoys me – write it down. No matter how small:

• "Why do I have to do this manually?"
• "This app is crashing again"
• "There's really no tool for this?"
• "This takes way too long"

After one month, you have 20-30 potential ideas.

Example from my own list:

I had the problem that as a solopreneur, I couldn't properly showcase my projects anywhere. LinkedIn was too limited, portfolio sites too static.

That's how SolopreneurPage was born.

Not a revolutionary concept. Just the solution to my own problem. But it turned out: hundreds of other solopreneurs had exactly the same problem.

Method #3: Reddit Deep-Dive (Absolutely Underrated)

Reddit is a goldmine. And not just the obvious subreddits like r/Entrepreneur or r/startups.

The magic lies in the niche subreddits.

r/webdev, r/freelance, r/smallbusiness, r/digitalnomad – everywhere your target audience hangs out.

My concrete workflow:

Step 1: Choose a subreddit

Not by size, but by activity. A subreddit with 50k active members is better than one with 500k dead accounts.

Step 2: Strategic search

Search for phrases like:

• "wish there was"
• "looking for"
• "is there a tool for"
• "why is there no"
• "frustrated with"

Step 3: Read comments (this is more important than the posts!)

Often the post itself isn't that relevant. But in the comments, people write:

"Yeah, I have the same problem!" "OMG I thought I was the only one" "I've been looking for this for months"

That's validation in real-time.

Step 4: Pattern recognition

When the same problem appears in 5+ different threads → there's something there.

Pro-tip from my experience:

Don't just look at new posts. Also check posts from 6 months ago.

Why? Because if a problem was discussed 6 months ago and still isn't solved – there's a real opportunity.

Bonus Methods (Quick Wins)

Twitter/X Pain Point Listening

Go on Twitter and search for:

• "Why is there no..."
• "I hate that..."
• "This is so annoying..."

Especially in Tech Twitter, there are constantly people complaining about tools.

ProductHunt Comments

Don't just go to the product pages. Go to the comments.

There, people often write:

• "Cool, but it's missing feature X"
• "Would use it if it could do Y"
• "Almost perfect, but..."

These are feature gaps. Build exactly these missing features.

"Jobs to be Done" Framework

This is somewhat more theoretical, but important:

People don't buy products. They "hire" products to get a job done.

Nobody wants to buy a drill. They want a hole in the wall.

Nobody wants to buy a CRM. They want organized customer relationships.

Don't ask yourself: "What product can I build?"

Ask yourself: "What job do people want to get done?"

The Most Critical Step: Validation (BEFORE You Write Code)

Here's the hardest lesson I've learned:

Having an idea is only step 1.

Step 2 is validating whether people would pay for it.

With City Blast, I started building right away. 6 months without validation.

Big mistake. Never again.

My 48-Hour Validation Test:

Day 1:

• Write down idea in 1-2 sentences
• Find 10 potential customers on Reddit/Twitter/LinkedIn
• Direct message: "Hey, do you have problem X? I'm building a solution, would love to get your feedback."

Day 2:

• Wait for responses
• With people who respond: do a 15-minute call
• Specifically ask: "Would you pay for this?"

The hard truth:

If after 48 hours fewer than 5 people even respond – the idea is probably not good enough.

Sounds brutal. But it's better than wasting 6 months.

Example from my practice:

With SolopreneurPage, I posted the idea in a LinkedIn group.

Within 24 hours, 15 people responded: "Yes, I would use that."

That was my validation. Then – and only then – did I start building.

The 4 Most Common Mistakes (I Made Them All)

Mistake #1: "Wouldn't it be cool if..." ideas

If your pitch starts with "Wouldn't it be cool if..." – red flag.

"Cool" isn't enough. It needs to solve a real problem that people are willing to pay for.

Mistake #2: Thinking too broadly

"An app for all solopreneurs" – too broad.

"An app for freelance designers in the fashion industry who want to showcase their projects" – better.

The more specific, the easier to validate and market.

Mistake #3: Looking for the perfect idea

There is no perfect idea.

Airbnb was "renting out air mattresses" – doesn't sound sexy. But the execution was perfect.

The idea is only 10%. Execution is 90%.

Mistake #4: Connecting the idea to your ego

This was my biggest mistake with City Blast.

I WAS the project. If it failed, I was a failure.

This is the surest way to depression. Trust me, I've been there.

Your idea is an experiment. If it fails, you've learned. You haven't failed.

Some ideas need 10 attempts until they work. That's okay.

Your Action Plan for This Week

Here's what you can do NOW:

Monday:

• Go to the App Store
• Pick a category
• Read 30 1-star reviews
• Note 5 problem patterns

Tuesday:

• Start your frustration list
• Write down everything that annoys you today
• No matter how small

Wednesday:

• Go on Reddit
• Search in 3 subreddits for "wish there was"
• Note the top 5 problems

Thursday:

• Pick your best idea
• Find 10 people with the problem
• Message them (template: "Hey, do you have problem X?")

Friday:

• Evaluate: Did anyone respond?
• If yes: continue, make calls
• If no: next idea

This isn't a sprint. This is a marathon.

Sometimes it takes me weeks to find an idea that can be validated.

And sometimes even after validation, nothing works. That's okay.

Better you find that out after 2 weeks of validation than after 6 months of development.

Conclusion: Stop Trying to Be Revolutionary

After 20+ apps and 3 years as a solopreneur, I've understood:

You don't need to invent the next Facebook.

You just need to find an existing problem and solve it better.

Not revolutionary. Not disruptive. Just better.

The ideas are out there. In App Store reviews. In Reddit comments. In your own daily life.

You just need to look.

And most importantly: You need to validate BEFORE you build.

I learned it the hard way. 6 months of work. €5 revenue. Depression.

You don't have to make the same mistake.

Start small. Validate quickly. Only build when people are willing to pay.

The rest is execution.

What's your method for finding startup ideas? Write me on LinkedIn or Instagram – I reply to every message.

And if you want to read more about building in public, solopreneurship, and honest developer stories – check out my other blog posts.