Ideas for startups - How to get the next big one

This is an essay about how to get an idea for a startup.

Read through the entire thing and its really worth your time if you are looking for some startup idea guidelines.

The essay is comprehensive in the sense it is logical and encompasses all the bits and pieces of startup advice that you've been hearing everywhere.

Some excerpts:

"To generate such questions you need two things: to be familiar with promising new technologies, and to have the right kind of friends. New technologies are the ingredients startup ideas are made of, and conversations with friends are the kitchen they're cooked in. "

"What these groups of co-founders do together is more complicated than just sitting down and trying to think of ideas. I suspect the most productive setup is a kind of together-alone-together sandwich. Together you talk about some hard problem, probably getting nowhere. Then, the next morning, one of you has an idea in the shower about how to solve it. He runs eagerly to to tell the others, and together they work out the kinks."

"Another classic way to make something people want is to take a luxury and make it into a commmodity. People must want something if they pay a lot for it. And it is a very rare product that can't be made dramatically cheaper if you try.
This was Henry Ford's plan. He made cars, which had been a luxury item, into a commodity. But the idea is much older than Henry Ford. "

If these tidbits interest you, go ahead and read the article here.