I’ve thought about hundreds of different business ideas. My guess is that very few, if any at all, were not already thought of by someone else.
Over the years I’ve come to realize that the chances of inventing something completely new is very unlikely. You’re more likely to innovate off of something that already exists or in my cases, just introduce a lesser known item and market it better than it currently is.
There are many products that existed before and someone just figured out how to market it better. Think of all the infomercial (direct response) products – shammy towels, pots and pans, knives, cleaning products and kitchen gadgets. We’ve even bought some of them. One example of this is the “air fryer”. All it is is a redesigned toaster oven. It works just like a small convection oven. It’s marketed as a healthy way to fry food, despite the fact it doesn’t fry anything, it just bakes it. It’s just a remix of the toaster oven. This remix happens with just about everything – technology, products, music, movies, tv shows, clothes and ideas.
The things that I’ve learned are not all my ideas. Even this idea that everything is a remix is stolen from Kirby Ferguson’s TED talk. I’ve formed my ideas through reading articles and books, listening to podcasts, watching YouTube and learning from others in person. The world is full of smarter and more experienced people than me(and you) and it’s important to acknowledge that and be open to their ideas.
Gradual Ascent 