Often I meet with potential new entrepreneurs, especially through my work with the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy . The hardest thing for them is to figure out a business idea. The last time I had this conversation was with a very bright new student who was struggling to come up with an idea. "I may have hit a roadblock," he emailed me recently. This was my response:

don't get too worried about your idea...good business ideas are sometimes just the simplest things but we are too close to them to see them easily. think about your life...think about what frustrates you...what could you do better and more easily every day...somewhere in there is a product that others would find useful... or think about the fastest growing segments of the country - what do they want... e.g., young people can't buy houses in California...they can't afford mortgages...what does that mean? is there a way to help? will they do something else and need other things to make up for lacking a house? just talk to people...what do they wish they could have that they don't... i am sure it will come to you...this is the hardest part!!

And just about every day, I see something in the newspaper about a new company and I think, "Yes, that's what I meant".

Here's one from today's paper. It plays off my husband's daily wish to be able to sit down and turn on (insert whatever piece of your listening/watching pleasure equipment) and it just works. No fancy hit this button, turn this knob, plug this into this and then unplug that. That's not for him and that means I have to try to figure it out and feel like a failure when I can't get it the first time! And we gave up, long ago, trying to connect up all our stuff when we move. We just call a professional company to come do it. It's cheaper than a divorce!

So, here's the new company. WiQuest Communications, Inc. plans to unveil a technology today that could get rid of the wires connecting TVs and other devices, such as cable boxes, game consoles and DVD players.

"Now that meets a real, honest to goodness need," I think when I read it. And great minds think alike - Menlo Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and other leading VCs have invested in the company. Which leads me to another subject on which I will blog soon, the quality of your VC money says a lot about your new venture.

So, keep checking your every day life for that new business idea. It's right there, you just have to 'see' it.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Check out this book, I didn't read it yet, but it got great reviews on Amazon: