How To Come Up With Business Ideas

If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, it can be an overwhelming prospect to come up with business ideas that make you stand out from the rest. 

However, considering that ‘753,168 new companies were incorporated in the UK in the tax year ending March 2022’, it’s rare to come up with something completely unique, and that’s okay.

That said, coming up with business ideas that work still requires careful thought and consideration, emphasised by how much competition there is.  

If you’re wondering how to come up with business ideas, you’re in the right place.

Tips for coming up with business ideas include, but are not limited to:

1. Determining your interests and passions 
2. Researching the market 
3. Joining a coworking space 
4. Expanding your knowledge 
5. Attending networking events

1. Determining Your Interests & Passions 

Before you begin drafting ideas for your business, you will first want to determine your interests and passions.

Establishing your interests early on and seeing where they fit into different niches will help you narrow down the market you want to target. 

Being passionate about your startup idea is essential to its overall success, as passion is what helps entrepreneurs to remain ‘motivated and inspired throughout their journey’.

Passion is the thing that drives you through difficult periods when the going gets tough and promotes entrepreneurial resilience. When you consider how many challenges you’re likely to encounter as a startup, the importance of having a passion for what you’re doing becomes all the more important.  

As such, regardless of how many different business ideas you draft, make sure that you’re passionate about the one you land on and decide to pursue. 

2. Researching The Market 

An essential aspect of coming up with business ideas is to research the market. 

It’s no secret that ‘90% of startups fail’, so research is critical to ensure you don’t spend time and money pursuing an idea that was destined to fail from the start.

Researching the market will help you to establish the demand for the product or service, while also helping you to determine who your competitors are.

Research is also important to try to find holes in what your competitors do. This might include finding something that they don’t offer that your business could offer in order to set yourself apart from your competitors and meet a demand that they currently don’t meet themselves. 

By finding something that your competitors aren’t doing, then, you have a better chance of being able to compete. 

3. Joining A Coworking Space 

Another tip for coming up with business ideas is to join a coworking space. 

Coworking spaces place an emphasis on community and always have a buzz about them, providing you with networking opportunities and exposing you to other entrepreneurs.

Working within a community such as a coworking space, then, whilst being surrounded by like-minded individuals is a great way to generate business ideas.  

We at Tramshed Tech offer multiple coworking spaces across South Wales, including Cardiff and Newport. With our coworking memberships, you have the choice of day passes, part-time, and full-time passes that unlock a range of benefits depending on your needs. 

If you’re interested in working in one of our coworking spaces, be sure to check out our coworking memberships today to find the right fit for you.

4. Expanding Your Knowledge 

The next tip for coming up with business ideas is to expand your knowledge as an entrepreneur. 

Doing one thing really well and becoming an expert in your niche is the key to developing a sustainable business, especially in the first few years as a startup. 

Ensuring that you’re always looking to expand your knowledge and hone your skillset will help you to establish yourself as an industry expert. 

Reading resources, signing up for training courses and industry events, and continuously looking for opportunities to expand your skillset will keep you up to date and help you to adapt your way of working when necessary to promote efficiency. 

5. Attending Networking Events

There’s arguably no better way to get entrepreneurial and business ideas flowing than to attend networking events. 

At networking events, you’ll not only be able to communicate with a range of industry experts that have had success in the past, but you’ll also be able to bounce ideas off other people that are looking to start a business.

This can be great for generating ideas, while also highlighting any issues that you might not have uncovered yet by hearing feedback and getting advice from other entrepreneurs.

At Tramshed Tech, we offer a range of different events to support entrepreneurs, as well as host a Startup Academy for early-stage tech founders to get their exciting idea off the ground. 

If you’re interested in our Startup Academy or coming along to our next event, visit our website or get in touch with a member of our team today.

We hope that this article has provided you with some inspiration on how to come up with business ideas. And for more entrepreneurial tips, including '9 things to consider when starting a new business', check out our tech startup blog.  

We are Tramshed Tech: a startup ecosystem home to 50+ companies ranging from pre-revenue start-ups to scaling businesses with 600+ registered members from the digital, creative and tech communities. 

We’re currently based in Grangetown, Cardiff Central & Newport, and are soon expanding to other sites across South Wales, Barry, and Swansea. 

If you’re interested in joining us at any of our locations, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.  

Written by Jemima Thomas for Tramshed Tech.