​A simple framework to find ideas that don’t suck

I see a lot of people come to this sub asking how to come up with good ideas. It’s not easy! many used to rely on Twitter’s free API for idea validation and quick customer research. It was a goldmine for early feedback and spotting market gaps. When they switched to paid-only, I was a sad dude.

What I realised: don’t get too attached to a single channel, especially when you don’t control the rules. Platforms will always change – and often not in your favour. But communities DON’T. Be platform analogous, and find ‘your people’. I doubled down on automating customer insights from forums like reddit and public review sites and a big component of IdeaFloat is centered around this.

So here’s some tips about how to come up with ideas that don’t suck.

Firstly: Knowledge is power, and niche is your advantage. When you really dig into a tiny corner of the internet – say homebrewers on a sub-1000-member Reddit, or spreadsheet macros for accountants – you start to spot stuff nobody else does. Your point of difference is either: a) doing something in a way no one else is doing (like building a Chrome extension that auto-formats vegan recipes into macros) or b) doing something that nobody else can do (because you’ve lived it, breathed it, broken your back on it). Think of a subject that you know more about than anyone else and DIG DEEP. If you don’t have one, start becoming an expert in something TODAY!

Secondly: Don’t worry about the method of building. Don’t worry if it’s a wrapper. Don’t even worry if your first MVP is going to ‘suck’. Good ideas don’t need perfection. What I learned very early on in my career is that tech stacks are ultimately a blocker to success in most cases and we focus way too much on them. What you need to be focusing on is finding your idea and validating it as soon as possible.

Finally: Be where your users are. hunt for conversations where your users actually hang out and get involved. Gummysearch for example is a great tool for this SPECIFICALLY for reddit, but you dont need AI or a platform to do this – you can do it yourself with a search bar and pen and paper. Ink quill. Whatever works. Here’s a few community-based hacks:

reddit – Jump into niche subs and search “how do you…?” or “what sucks about…?” threads. Bookmark the ones with the longest comment chains. Those are pain points waiting for fixes. E.G. Go to the capcut subreddit – it’s huge but all people do is complain about capcut there. THAT’S MONEY. G2 – Filter by “poorly rated” features and read the one-star reviews. You’ll find “why” people hate tools. Build something that fixes just that one thing and you’re 10x more compelling. etsy – Check the “best seller” tags in micro-niches (like pet memorials or handmade knitting charts). Read the reviews—buyers always mention what they wish was different. IdeaFloat – I built it to pull all that forum chatter, review feedback and Q&A into one dashboard + validate your ideas and tell you when you will make money. But again, you don’t need fancy AI to start. just copy-paste threads into a doc and highlight recurring words if you want. That’s your gold.

Don’t overthink fancy methods. Just listen, learn and lean into what you know. Go find your people, solve their actual problems, and you’ll end up with ideas that actually stick.

Ok, go make something awesome.

I have a lot more to say about this but just keeping it high level today!