Find the opportunity
Could the process you already teach become software?
You may have the starting point for a product without thinking of it as a software idea. Look at the work people already trust you to help them do.
By Chase Poirier · TheShop.ai
Start with the question that keeps coming back
What do customers repeatedly ask you to explain, check, or organize? Repeated requests can point to a task people struggle to finish on their own.
Choose one recent example. Who needed help? What were they trying to get done? How did they handle it? What they actually did tells you more than a general wish for a better app.
Look at what you already give people
Your starting point might be a spreadsheet, a checklist, a workshop, or a method you have developed through years of work. Ask where people get stuck when they try to use it without you.
Software can help when the work has repeatable steps, information that changes, or decisions that benefit from guidance. If a document or a conversation solves the problem, an app may add work your customers don’t need.
Name one customer and one useful result
A broad platform for an entire industry is difficult to judge. A tool that helps one customer complete a task gives you something specific to test.
For example, a consultant’s assessment could become a guided review that helps a client identify what to work on next. Before building one, ask clients how they handle that task today and whether they would pay for a tool.
Your experience is part of the product
You can recognize what a generic tool misses. You know the language customers use and the exceptions that matter. That judgment helps decide what the product should do.
Matthew Mowser’s hiking method shaped PeakBound’s planning tools. Alexander Jones’s fundraising method shaped Magnet’s donor workflows. The case studies explain what each product does and its current stage.
You do not need a specification to start
Start with a recurring problem and an example of how you handle it. You can explore whether software would help before knowing what the first version should look like.
If your application is a fit, a free first-look prototype gives you something to review before your call. You can see the idea and question the assumptions before agreeing to a build. You’ll still need feedback from potential customers.
See the work behind the guide
How a hiking method shaped PeakBound