Discover how ego can hinder innovation, and how to ideate grounded in customer needs is key to startup success. Real-world tips for design-led thinking and business growth.
When I started my first business, I had no grand plan — just a background in B2B sales and a need to support my family. What I did have, though, turned out to be a hidden superpower: I had no ego about the product. I only cared about what customers wanted.
That mindset — putting the customer first and continually testing ideas against their real-world needs — is the essence of ideation done right.
Ideating Isn’t Brainstorming. It’s Problem-Solving with Purpose.
Too many entrepreneurs decide to ideate as a solo activity, a moment of inspiration under the shower or during a late-night scribble. They fall in love with an idea and then look for reasons to justify it.
But great businesses don’t start with genius. They start with problems.
The correct way to ideate is about surfacing those problems — the real, high-impact ones that matter to your potential customers — and then slowly shaping solutions around them. It’s not glamorous, but it works.
From Furniture to Feedback Loops: My First Test Case
I started selling furniture, but that wasn’t really what made it work. What made it successful was this: I treated furniture like a service. My pitch wasn’t “buy this beautiful chair.” It was: “Tell me what you need, and I’ll solve the problem for you.”
Customers didn’t want to trawl through endless catalogues. They wanted less work, more results, and someone who made them look good.
Because I started from their problems, not my product, orders poured in.
What Happens When Ego Leads How You Ideate? Nothing.
Years later, I ran a workshop on selling skills. One attendee stood out. She believed she had a world-changing product. She also believed that all salespeople were manipulative, her customers were stupid, and the only reason she hadn’t sold anything in a year was because the world didn’t “get it.”
Her ego had hijacked her ideating process — or more accurately, erased it.
Despite corporate meetings and presentations, she had made exactly zero sales. But still, she clung to the idea.
That’s the danger of ego-led entrepreneurship: you build something no one wants, and then blame the world.
Customer-Centric Ideating: Where Real Success Begins
The better path is customer-first way to ideate, rooted in empathy, not ego.
Here’s how to approach it:
- Don’t start with your idea.
Start with people. What are their biggest frustrations? What would actually improve their lives? - Ask the right questions.
Dig deeper than surface-level annoyances. Trivial complaints are easy to find. Game-changing problems take time to uncover. - Forget assumptions.
You’re not your customer. What you think is a great solution might solve a problem they don’t even care about. - Test everything.
Even when you think you’ve found the problem and the answer, test again. Talk to real people. Watch what they do, not just what they say.
Design Thinking: The Smart Way to Ideate
The design thinking process starts where it should: with empathy. It doesn’t matter whether you’re launching a tech product or a physical service — the principle is the same. Begin with understanding. Build with feedback.
My first furniture business started with fifth-rate stock and a made-to-order model. But I was listening constantly to what frustrated customers, to what made their jobs hard. Bit by bit, I refined the business. Slowly. Expensively. But effectively.
That’s design-led ideation in action.
Ideate to Evolve, Not Just Launch
Once you embrace the process, ideating becomes a continuous tool, not just a startup phase. Use it to explore:
- New products to add to your range
- Ways to streamline operations
- Better ways to reach new markets
- Whether that flash of inspiration is really worth building
It’s not just brainstorming — it’s insight with intent.
Bin the Ego. Keep the Curiosity.
The best ideas don’t come from your head. They come from your customers’ lives.
That means letting go of emotional attachments to your “brilliant” idea. That means asking more questions, listening more deeply, and validating relentlessly.
Success doesn’t come from assumptions. It comes from aligning what you offer with what people genuinely need, not what you think they should want.
If you want to build something meaningful, don’t start with the business. Start with the people.
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