How to find a good business idea

Focus on execution

It’s not the actual business idea that’s valuable, it’s how that idea is brought forward, says Campeau, who is also a lecturer in HEC Montréal’s Department of Innovation and Entrepreneurialism.

“If business ideas were worth something, we could buy them online.” he says. “It’s all in the execution, the team and the external validation.”

Be open to the unexpected market niche

Pogue tells an anecdote about a group of PhD students at his school who were wondering what industry would benefit the most from their innovation in the field of wireless power transfer (the ability to power up a device without any physical wires).

Their first inclination was to look at the makers of phones, bicycles and automobiles. However, the students would end up settling on a less obvious area: solar panels.

“They’re prone to failure,” says Pogue, about the solar devices. “When one goes down, you can lose up to 20% of the energy being generated on that solar panel. That’s more of a problem in that industry than what you see with phones, cars and bicycles.”

He said the students found out about this after talking with people in their networks. “It wasn’t something top of mind, but they got there by going out and just talking.”

He brings up another discovery of an unexpected niche, that being the messaging app, Slack.

“The company was building a video game and created Slack as an internal tool just to help them out. And then when the video game folded, they said, ‘Why don’t we try commercializing this?’”

Pogue says finding the niche for your business idea, whether its about solar panels’ unreliable energy transfer or the chaos of too many team chats, is about discovering who really lives with a problem that can be alleviated with your innovation and if they are ready to spend money on it.

Think about future problems

Many entrepreneurs with business ideas tend to look at current pain points, but there is also potential in future problems.
 
“It may feel hypothetical, but if you get it right, you’re going to be one of the first movers in that space,” says Pogue.

He says sometimes the problem may be current but can take many years before someone is ready for your solution. He brings up the problem of plastic waste. 

“You might have created a new enzyme that breaks down plastic waste, but will the city of Vancouver start using it tomorrow? Probably not,” he says, adding that your return on investment might also end up in that future realm. 

Use regulatory changes to your advantage

Regulatory changes can propel a business idea. Whether it’s the legalization of cannabis or the ban on plastic straws, says Pogue.

He suggests would-be entrepreneurs explore them, as well as what are referred to as “wicked problems,” those big, global challenges that seem to be unsolvable, such as childhood obesity in the West or access to water in some developing countries.

“Entrepreneurs can access funding for these,” he said referring to organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “You can look at these wicked problems as a source for your ideas, as well.”