Is a great idea the most important part of building a startup?

You may look at many successful startups and think they all started with unique, groundbreaking ideas. But that’s not always the case.

If you’ve ever thought of building a startup, chances are the first thing you think about is having a “great idea.” A question I have often been asked is:

I am obsessed with the thought of starting up a company or becoming an entrepreneur. How do you go about finding an idea to pursue? Do you look for a problem to solve or does the problem find you?

According to Jared Friedman, an investor at Y Combinator:

“The first most common mistake is believing that you need an amazing idea to get started with this usually looks like is someone who believes that the key to having a successful startup is starting with a brilliant idea. They’re waiting to have a brilliant idea before they start anything it’s really easy.”

-Jared Friedman

He goes on to mention how Google and Facebook are not incredibly successful companies because they had unique, brilliant ideas. In fact, when Google started, it was like the 20th search engine. When Facebook started, it was certainly not the first social network.