Est Read Time: 2 minutes and 33 seconds     

Here’s the real deal.

You’re probably sitting on a billion-dollar startup idea right now.

But guess what? It's hiding in plain sight.

It’s not yet an idea. Not really.

It's camouflaged as that annoying problem in your life, or a hurdle stopping you from grabbing what you want.

🤯 Genius or Just Annoyed? 🤯

I used to believe that the founders of mega-successful startups were sheer geniuses.

The ones who dream up game-changing, earth-shattering innovations.

But, nope. I was off the mark.

After diving deep into their origin stories, a pattern emerged.

I cracked the code with Founders at Work.

Turns out, they were just tackling their own problems in life.

Those nagging issues.

Let's take a look:

🛏️ Airbnb: Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia couldn't afford rent, so they rented out air mattresses in their apartment, leading to the creation of Airbnb.

🗣️ Slack: Stewart Butterfield developed a messaging tool for internal use while working on a failed game, which later evolved into the popular communication platform Slack.

🚗 Uber: Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp struggled to find a taxi in Paris, inspiring them to develop Uber, an app for requesting rides.

💾 Dropbox: Drew Houston created Dropbox to access files anywhere without a USB drive, stemming from his frustration with forgetting his drive.

💬 WhatsApp: Jan Koum and Brian Acton launched WhatsApp to enable affordable global messaging, motivated by the high cost of SMS fees.

📸 Instagram: Kevin Systrom was a photographer who wanted to share his photos in real-time with friends and family, leading to the creation of Instagram.

Not exactly rocket science, right?

🚀 From Frustration to Formation 🚀

My pandemic startup, VoiceBlasts, was born out of the frustration of not being able to chat with my podcast listeners.

I wanted to know who was listening and to have a two-way voice chat with them about topics we were all interested in.

✨Here's your magic process ✨

What's bugging you?

Write it down. Work woes, life's little hiccups, relationship riddles, or communication chaos.

Which one annoys you the most that other people like you will also find annoying and would love a solution for?

Which one's a universal pain? There's your gold mine.

No troubles, you say? Then, my friend, pen a book on that miracle!

For the rest of us:

• Engineers tired of sluggish code reviews? There’s a fix out there.
• Marketers dreading media asset compilation? Opportunity knocking.
• Painters loathe those stains? Runners battling ankle woes? You've got the idea.

💡 The Bottom Line 💡

It's not about a stroke of genius.

It’s about spotting those annoyances and hustling to find a fix.

Worried no one else will use your solution?

You will. And hey, that's one less headache in your life.

Stay annoyed , that's where innovation hides,

Adrian Cole 🚀 ✌🏾

What's been annoying you lately?

Hit reply and let me know. I'm curious.

__________________________

If you're new around here.

I'm Adrian Cole 🚀 , I'm the founder of a product studio Spiral Candy Product Studio 🍭 where i help founders and startups ship innovative products. From idea formation and design, to development and product launch, we've got you covered.

If you need help with brainstorming your ideas and organizing your thoughts. Let's chat.

Book a power hour brainstorming session.

Can't wait to hear from you!