Overwhelmed with which problem to pick!

Agree with uxland on a lot of things - especially the major pain point = revolutionary product advice.

There are millions of problems out there and millions of products. Chances of finding a problem that nobody else is thinking about is very slim. But, what is special is how you think the problem should be solved and how the impact your product has on the people you're building it for. And, at the end of the day, you have to be passionate and interested in the idea. Because I think that's what indie hacking is all about!

I would suggest doing a mini brainstorming session on whatever idea catches your attention. I wouldn't even think past the 'is it viable? is it profitable' questions - just what's the idea. I would sketch out some ideas of what it would look like, how it would behave, and who it would be for. At the end of your little brainstorming phase, that's when I would start thinking about "okay. I have the base of my idea. Now should I keep going?"

If after all that, you still think the idea is cool, then go for it! If not, on to the next.

In design school, we learned about the double diamond approach. It's works off 2 main questions: doing the right things and doing the thing right. In order to find what's the right problem for you, you have to converge and explore all the ideas you're thinking about. After building it out just a little bit, you'll be able to eliminate the ideas you actually aren't into and find the ones that you are.

Hope that makes sense!

Hey! I feel you, there's no point in "just starting" if it's aimless. So, if you're going through your questions and don't feel anything is worth starting - that's fine - don't start it.

I actually don't love how religiously a lot of people follow the "solve a problem" advice. It implies you need to identify a major pain point and come up with a revolutionary product, when in reality, what any business needs to do to make money is: add value.

I wouldn't say an inability to blend fruit, for example, is a problem worth writing home about, but I do appreciate a smoothie every once in a while - introducing...(drumroll, please)...the blender!!!

If I were you, (purely because this is something that works for me), I'd watch a few interviews/listen to podcasts in which founders describe the early days of their business and talk about how they came up with their product. Look out for common themes: e.g. think of Tinder; Tinder didn't solve a problem - online dating had existed for decades, but Tinder made it mainstream (THEME: making something a few people do into something mainstream by improving the user experience).

One last thing I'd add is: don't dwell on the opportunity cost. Sometimes I find it difficult to commit to one particular thing because I'm constantly thinking about "all the other things I could be doing" had I not chosen to do this particular thing. So whatever you do, once you commit to something, give it a real shot before you decide to move on to the next thing (which is a perfectly legitimate decision too).

Write down all of your ideas. Oftentimes the simple act of writing already helps a lot in getting some clarity.

Next, come up with a list of criteria. For example:

• Is there a convincing value prob story?
• Do I have some kind of unfair advantage that would help me pull this off?
• Is there a realistic way how you can educate potential customers about your offer? (This requires that you have some understanding who your customers could be and where they hang out online.)
• Is there a proven playbook you could use for this idea? (If someone has done something similar in a different niche before you, success chances are 10x higher, especially for indie makers.)
• Would you proud/excited to tell others about your offer? (This makes marketing so much easier and also increases the odds that people start talking about the project organically.)

Then use them to rank your ideas.

If multiple ideas rank equally well, start with the one that you can launch the fastest.