> 1. Lots of Google searching for potential keywords to see if anyone's posted about a need
That's good. Make something people want.
#2, ideally, is get some money. Like, make your first $20 ASAP in the market. There's been lots of "cool ideas" that don't make money. A lot of smart people in tech gun for a Facebook-style massive victory. But for every Facebook/Linkedin/Myspace/Youtube, there's orders of magnitude more sites than never catch on.
Or worse! They do catch on, but then you can't get any money! I imagine nothing hurts as much as being wildly popular and bankrupt. There are many of these stories.
So try to get some money fast. Money does all sorts of wonderful things in terms of letting you expand or getting some security, but most importantly, it proves that people really, truly want you're selling. And if you are going to be looking for funding, there's not many things that are going to be as good for getting quality terms as being profitable. You can wait out the right deal and you're not desperate. And one of investors' biggest fears - no market - is alleviated. Get that first $20 ASAP. It'll teach you what you're doing wrong and show you what to do next.
Edit: Also, don't do excessive planning on your first business, competitive analysis, and all that such. Your assumptions are wrong, you don't have the instincts for what people pay for yet, and competition doesn't matter when you're small. Seriously, leave the SWOT analysis for big corporations fighting over 3% market share and distribution in supermarkets. I've learned this lesson the hard way. Damn near all of that planning is useless if not validated with getting some money. Your assumptions are almost certainly wildly incorrect when not validated with the getting of money from customers.
That's good. Make something people want.
#2, ideally, is get some money. Like, make your first $20 ASAP in the market. There's been lots of "cool ideas" that don't make money. A lot of smart people in tech gun for a Facebook-style massive victory. But for every Facebook/Linkedin/Myspace/Youtube, there's orders of magnitude more sites than never catch on.
Or worse! They do catch on, but then you can't get any money! I imagine nothing hurts as much as being wildly popular and bankrupt. There are many of these stories.
So try to get some money fast. Money does all sorts of wonderful things in terms of letting you expand or getting some security, but most importantly, it proves that people really, truly want you're selling. And if you are going to be looking for funding, there's not many things that are going to be as good for getting quality terms as being profitable. You can wait out the right deal and you're not desperate. And one of investors' biggest fears - no market - is alleviated. Get that first $20 ASAP. It'll teach you what you're doing wrong and show you what to do next.
Edit: Also, don't do excessive planning on your first business, competitive analysis, and all that such. Your assumptions are wrong, you don't have the instincts for what people pay for yet, and competition doesn't matter when you're small. Seriously, leave the SWOT analysis for big corporations fighting over 3% market share and distribution in supermarkets. I've learned this lesson the hard way. Damn near all of that planning is useless if not validated with getting some money. Your assumptions are almost certainly wildly incorrect when not validated with the getting of money from customers.