Brainstorming business ideas

The last few years I’ve been so heads down with Secfi that I haven’t had much of a chance to do my usual brainstorming for business ideas. That’s not to say I haven’t learned much about business - I’m fortunate to spend most of my day looking at or working with innovative companies.

I’ve had the chance to see how successful companies operate and what can kill startups. It’s a great first hand look into seeing how the best companies are built.

On the other hand, almost all my day is spent working with venture backed companies. Not every successful company needs to be venture backed. In fact, the majority are not and nearly all business ideas are better off without taking VC money.

The last few months I’ve been doing a lot of outside the VC world brainstorming in terms of business ideas. I’ve always loved learning about unsexy businesses like car dealerships, gas stations, soil, etc. A lot of these companies exist because they simply print money.

While I may spend the rest of my career at venture backed companies, that’s not to say that my learning should stay within this bubble. There’s a lot of great opportunities out there and I want to stay educated on all kinds of companies. There could be potential side business or a future endevour that I get interested in. It’s a big world out there and it would be a shame if I only stayed in my tech bubble.