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It baffles me why someone would want to start a business when they don't have an idea. That's backwards. You should only desire to start a business once you have had an idea that is burning in you so badly that you can't do anything else.

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You're right...but often times...you dismiss the idea creation piece (you have a lot or most Companies pivot anyway)..and you start a Company out of optimism, because you love starting Companies and/or because you don't want to have the constraint of working for somebody else.

You're baffled because you, me, and the blog post we are discussing, are guilty of using the wrong terminology. EVERYONE that goes into business has an idea, however not all ideas are a product. In some cases the idea is simply that you don't want to work for someone else anymore (or ever). Or the idea is that you want to get very rich. Either of those are very valid ideas, which them should lead to brainstorming on a product or service to get you closer to realizing that idea.

Just as lots of developers have a great product, with business model and no idea how to market it (the product) - Lots if small businesspersons have a business model and the will to market a great product - but no great product to market

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