A common misconception Is that new startups and apps have to be 100% original ideas.

I’m not sure that I’ve really ever come across a truly original idea, so what hope do I have of generating one myself?

Reassuringly I’ve read a few times that startup ideas or new apps don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Your idea doesn’t need to be groundbreaking or revolutionary before you can launch it and make an impact.

Other useful pieces of advice like entering into a market with competition can actually be a good thing. You can slide into the existing industry and take shortcuts with the mistakes that the big wigs have already made, the demand they have already created and the customer education they’ve spent their marketing dollars on already.

However….I still haven’t had any good ideas.

Reading Kameron’s blog a while back he raised an idea that has been rattling around in my empty head for months.

While looking for ‘good ideas’ we could simply destructure/unbundle existing services like IFTTT, Zapier or even book methods like the GTD.

This got me thinking, what are the top-rated or most used applets that companies like Zapier promote? Is there a connection between two or three apps that people need, that doesn’t officially exist?

Maybe there’s a small add-on to a service like MailChimp that could be sliced off and turned into a stand-alone product.

I’m considering starting a series where I dissect these types of companies and look for smaller services that could hold their own.

Maybe during this research, I’ll finally find my own ‘truly original idea’.