My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Systematic interviews with 50+ industry participants to understand pain points and validate opportunities
Why It Works
Provides comprehensive understanding of industry dynamics and builds network for future customer/partner recruitment
Prerequisites
How to Execute
Map value chain to identify interview targets
Develop consistent interview framework
Track insights in centralized database
Validate findings across multiple interview subjects
When It Fails
When interviews are biased toward one stakeholder group or when insights aren't systematically captured
Real Example
“Interviewing 50+ maritime industry participants to understand procurement challenges and validate marketplace opportunity”
Related Knowledge
Maritime Procurement Marketplace
When ships break down in remote ports, operators have no efficient way to source parts and repairs.
Robotic Massage Services
17,000 open positions for massage therapists in the US.
The Ryan Studio Model
A systematic approach to creating multiple companies by combining deep industry research, patient capital, and specialist CEO recruitment rather than trying to be CEO of everything yourself.
The Dollar-Into-Two-Dollar Machine Framework
A mental model for evaluating whether to raise capital and invest in growth by determining if you can reliably convert investment into higher returns.
The 10-Year Trend Betting Framework
A strategic approach to business building that focuses exclusively on trends and opportunities that will play out over 10+ years rather than immediate market gaps.
Systematically understand a new industry well enough to identify billion-dollar opportunities
A 50-page document identifying 3-5 major pain points, key players, industry structure, and specific product opportunitie