Why can’t I build this?
A collection of quickly generated product ideas & unsolicited concepts.
Sometimes, I can’t consume any kind of content. It’s midnight 12. Quick essay.
Content consumption gets supremely difficult after a tiring day. Although a good day at work gets you in this hula-loop of thinking about random ideas & shit that was never possible. At least, I’ll do some justice to my ever-old bio stating “I spend most of my time thinking of product ideas I wish existed.” I love this line because it speaks so much about what I truly truly love.
Going back to my good old badminton training days. The coach would tell us to keep the momentum going by constantly moving on the court. You should never, never stand still. The same happens to ideas - It's difficult to stop & you should not stop when you have attained the momentum of generating ideas.
Marinating good ideas
I would NEVER believe in this concept of generating quick ideas to keep the momentum. Never. Good ideas take some time to marinate. It's usually via observation & connecting dots.
This is abstract, I know. Breaking it down. Observation is a constant process. A 15-day cycle of observation & dot connection leads to 15 minutes of idea generation. At least for me. Always.
Try thinking about what it is for you.
I will break down my process of observation into 3 actionable steps. Personally, I have started this spree of conscious observation.
I download apps diligently. Download 2-3 apps on your phone every week and just explore. Look at something different & cool.
I try out different digital products & services. If you have always tried Swiggy, try Zomato this time. Why not?
I look for obvious signals of delight in everyday experiences. What makes me happy while using any product? What makes me smile?
Generating Ideas
Enough talking, let's start by trying to generate the 10 most RANDOM product ideas. It could be feasible or not, practical or not, technical or not, usable or not. No one cares. I start at 12:17 AM. In the next 20 minutes, I will challenge myself to get 10 random ideas. Here you go -
YouTube with built-in transcription, so you can easily highlight transcripts → take notes from the best videos.
Journalling of your day based on phone data. For example, you spend 3 hours at Resso cafe. At the end of the day, you get a prompt saying, “Hey write something about the time spent at Resso cafe.”
Book talk reels but for nonfiction books. Imagine a reel for Atomic Habits?
WhatsApp rewind 2023. What's your most frequently written word? Who did you say I love you the most to? Who's dp did you check out the most? Who's chat did you open to see if they were online? Talks a lot about what bothered you & who bothered you this year. Think about it.
Better categorized email inbox. I mean we have paid apps for that, but GMail, c'mon you can do this.
Auto friendship checks on WhatsApp, text your long-lost friends automatically after 1 month of inactivity. Something like - “Hey Rohan, how are you, it’s been a long time! Let’s catch up.”
In shorts, but for the articles you save. Let’s say you have 24-minute articles left in your bookmarks. Get bite-sized shorts of this article every day on the app.
Spotify playlist but for Swiggy. Who wouldn't like to curate their favorite restaurants and share them with friends and family? Eatlists by Zomato - Swiggy.
Screenshot manager, way to manage the screenshots of my favorite article versus the screenshots of payment I sent versus the screenshots of a recent fight with my close friend?
I could only get 9 ideas. Although I really loved how it made me sleepy. This proves none of the ideas were really good. Haha. Maybe? Someone wrote - “Good ideas never let you sleep so easily.”
Ideas = Cumulative sum of all recent problems
An interesting pattern to notice here is that all 9 ideas originated are - A cumulative sum of all the problems I faced in the last 15-20 days. In the end, the quality & the number of ideas largely depend on how you analyze your last 15-20 days & what observations you make.
Most of the 9 ideas I mentioned have a trend.
I am in need of bite-sized meaningful content. Instagram reels - It’s all over for you.
I love managing my content. Possibly as a response to content overload.
I like the idea of documentation & going back to certain things. ( I Never meant I love living in the past.)
My love for the dark future ruled by tech.
Going all in
I wish to keep observing and going wild with my explorations. I will make sure to document more of these 20-minute idea-marinating sessions. I mean, it is all about doing justice to my bio!
“I spend most of my time thinking of product ideas I wish existed”
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Twitter - https://twitter.com/PriyanshSingara
Portfolio - https://priyanshsingara.framer.website/
See you soon!