Stop searching for billion-dollar startup ideas

I have a friend called Sam.

Sam works at a high-growth startup in Silicon Valley. He is smart, hard-working, and ambitious. His dream is to become a unicorn founder. Given how driven he is, I had no doubt he would achieve it.

Whenever I talked to him, he would tell me his latest startup idea and ask for feedback. Almost all of his ideas are great, so I'm always excited to jam with him about them. Every time he shares a new idea with me, I become super excited and encourage him to go for it. This kind of conversation went on for 2 years.

Last week, I finally asked him "What happened to the idea you mentioned last time? Did it fail?"

"Oh no, I abandoned it because the market is not large enough", Sam said.

"Okay…what about that XYZ idea?" I asked

"Well, a VC told me the TAM is too small and not fundable," He said.

After a few more questions, I realized Sam had given up all his ideas for the same reason - "Not a unicorn idea". Because he works at a growth-stage startup, all he sees is double-digit MoM growth and how "easy" it is to unlock growth at scale. He assumes it's the idea itself that causes the massive scale and growth.

But here is the problem - big ideas are difficult to execute, especially for first-time founders. Ideas like social networks, marketplaces, messaging apps, etc may sound like a unicorn idea, but they are hard to get started.

In fact, the best ideas seem small at first.

Only in hindsight, it becomes obvious to people that those ideas can grow into billion-dollar businesses.

Facebook started as a simple directory for Harvard students. Apple began by hand-building personal computers for hobbyists. Airbnb initially required hosts to have air mattresses and cook breakfast for guests. If you’d calculated the TAM for these ideas at their outset, how big would it really have seemed? I’m sure their founders held bigger visions from the start, but suggesting they knew these would be unicorn ideas right away feels far-fetched.

So instead of building a social network, how about making a social app for some niche groups first?

I’m not suggesting you pursue every small idea, but rejecting an idea purely based on its initially projected scale isn’t wise. If your concept genuinely sparks interest among potential users, it’s worth exploring. You never know how large it could eventually grow.

So, the next time you discover an idea that solves a real need, pursue it first and see what happens, you might end up with a unicorn.