Behind every successful startup is a great idea and an entrepreneur that came up with it. Whether it is to solve a common problem or increase the accessibility of a product or service, every startup idea has a story. These 10 startup founders shared how they came up with their startup idea to inspire and motivate you to come up with one of your own.
How 10 Founders Came Up With Their Startup Idea
1. AAZZUR, Philipp Buschmann
Industry: Fintech
“Back in 2017, the market was crowded with challenger banks serving to those who wanted better banking experiences, but no one was thinking about how to help those who are building and growing challenger banks — so, we decided that we will service to Challenger banks who are serving to [the] end customer (B2B2C model).”
Recommended: Visit AAZZUR’s company profile!
2. Pepper, Jake Aronshead
Industry: Apps
“We picked this idea because we wanted to use a social cooking platform, but it didn’t exist. We loved sharing meals with each other, but we had no place to efficiently do it outside of texting each other and posting on our socials. We loved similar vertical platforms for other niche activities in our lives (ex: Strava, Goodreads), so we created one for cooking.
We knew people needed a social cooking platform because millions of people post pictures of their food across many different platforms. We realized people loved sharing their food, but the disaggregated nature of the community told us that they didn’t know where to do it.”
Recommended: Check out Pepper’s company profile!
3. Flippa, Blake Hutchinson (CEO)
Industry: Real Estate Tech
“The founders started Sitepoint. It’s for web professionals, by web professionals: developers, designers, programmers, product creators, and entrepreneurs alike. This engaged community set the pathway for other ideas including businesses like 99Designs and Flippa.”
Recommended: Visit Flippa’s company profile!
4. GO, Michael Beauchamp
Industry: Automotive
“The process for getting a car is not pleasurable. Most would agree the experience has not changed in decades. I set out to change that. It turns out that millions of other people share my frustration and want a better way to get a car.”
Recommended: Check out GO’s company profile!
5. Savage Vines, Kyle Packett
Industry: Online Wine Retailer
“The retail wine industry in the UK is inefficient, and the wines which are typically sold are overpriced for the quality. There was a lack of focus on the environment, and being able to buy decent quality organic wine as a consumer in the UK was impossible. We see more and more people searching for organic wine and eco-friendly products, so we know we are in the right niche.”
Recommended: Visit Savage Vines’ company profile!
6. Field Complete, Tim Tesluck
Industry: Proptech
“It was a long path; ultimately, this software [was] built out of a need for personal use and solved … real problems. Only after a true product-market fit did we open it up for a wider market.”
Recommended: Check out Field Complete’s company profile!
7. Bloom Diagnostics, Angelica Kohlmann
Industry: Healthcare
“As an MD who loves new technologies, I saw that healthcare is far behind others in terms of accessibility (if you compare it with banking, traveling, shopping) … This needs to change. People are skilled enough and ready for it. So, we started from the beginning — which is with diagnosing. Also, with the increasing importance of personalized medicine, diagnosis and therapy will have even stronger links than today. Ehealth is here to stay; there is no other way to serve the increasing demand for healthcare.”
Recommended: Visit Bloom Diagnostics’ company profile!
8. Leaf Trade, James Yi
Industry: Cannabis
“When I was learning the ins and outs of this highly regulated industry, I saw how inefficient a lot of supply-chain tasks were at the time. I was intensely curious about how I could help solve some of those tasks with the technological know-how I had used with my other projects in restaurants and health care. And, I leveraged my technology teams to create something to especially target the way orders were happening between retail dispensaries and cultivators and processors.
The first month we launched in Illinois in 2017, 30% of the entire state signed up to use our service, and that told me that we were on to something really important in affecting the industry, and that’s been the case ever since, as well.”
Recommended: Check out Leaf Trade’s company profile!
9. Cozymeal, Sam Nasserian
Industry: Ecommerce, Food & Beverage
“One problem I found while immersing myself into the different local restaurant scenes was that the atmospheres in these environments were often impersonal and loud. Guests did not have the opportunity to interact with or get a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes of how their food was made. Cozymeal was created to solve this problem.
We first started with in-person cooking classes in San Francisco in 2014, and we saw a lot of interest from both consumers and companies who were booking these experiences for all kinds of occasions, from corporate team building activities to date nights to bachelorette parties to holiday parties. This gave us the confidence that we had the right product, and we continued our expansion from there into other cities and product categories (private chef services, food tours, mixology, cookware, etc.).”
Recommended: Check out Cozymeal’s company profile!
10. QOR360, Turner Osler and Lex Osler
Industry: Ecommerce, Office Furniture
“I developed back pain and, after taking a deep dive into the causes of back pain (I’m an M.D., former academic surgeon, and lifelong researcher), I concluded that the solution was to keep people moving while sitting — because no such chair existed, I invented it.”
Recommended: Check out QOR360’s company profile!
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