If entrepreneurship feels like your calling, one question will likely follow you early on: how to come up with an app idea?
Waiting for inspiration to strike isn't a strategy. At Overcode, we’ve pulled together practical tools to help you move forward – brainstorming frameworks, smart ways to pressure-test your idea, and tips for exploring it with a co-founder or investor. Whether you use one or a few, they’ll help you pinpoint a real problem worth solving and kick off your app idea development.
And yes, the world still needs new app ideas. It might feel like “there’s already an app for this and that,” but what we really need are better, smarter solutions to broader problems. Startups are building real economic value – creating jobs, driving innovation, and challenging traditional industries.
Most groundbreaking ventures started with a single idea. Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises make up over 90% of businesses and more than half of global employment. Your idea could be next.
So, if you're serious about idea generation in new product development, now’s the time to shape it, contributing to the digital economy while building your own financial future.
What makes an app idea valuable?
The notion of a “brilliant idea” tends to overshadow the less glamorous part – shaping a new product development idea into something useful. What really matters early on is not whether your concept sounds impressive but whether it can stand up to real use.
You don’t need a grandiose breakthrough to build something valuable. Most successful apps share a few basic traits:
They address a real, specific need.
They’re simple enough to start using without explanation.
They can grow with demand.
They have a clear path to earning revenue.
They offer an experience people enjoy returning to.
You’ve seen it work:
Canva removed the barriers to good design for people without a design background.
Calm didn’t invent meditation; it made it less intimidating and easier to stick with.
Shazam answered a single question – “What’s this song?”– better than anyone else a way before Apple finally acquired it.
Duolingo reimagined language learning by making it feel like a mobile game.
Venmo leaned into casual, social payments like splitting a pizza, paying rent, or chipping in for tickets.
Notion’s new product development idea began with flexible note-taking and grew into an all-in-one workspace.
Grammarly started with writing corrections and became a full writing assistant.
Trello took visual task tracking and made it effortless for individuals and teams.
None of these apps tried to change the world from day one. While thinking about how to invent an app, they picked a problem worth solving and did it well. That’s what made them valuable.
Learning to spot opportunities: Becoming an app ideator
It is not quite obvious, but true: app ideas to make money come from noticing things others ignore. It can be small annoyances, workarounds, or untapped patterns. Founders who do this well thrive at building a habit of paying attention. Here's how you can do it, too.
Start with friction
Keep track of your problems and those of the other people. What’s clunky? What takes too long? Where are people cutting corners with tools that don’t really fit? Jot those down. Airbnb began this way. So did Notion. If you choose a problem that matters, even if your work is only average, you will usually get a better app idea development than if you choose a terrible problem, even if your work is excellent.
Spot the workarounds
When someone’s using Google Docs as a task manager or Slack as a CRM, you’re looking at a band-aid solution. That’s a signal. Ideas for an app like Calendly and Zapier started by replacing workarounds with something clean and focused.
Build from what you know
The easiest problems to spot are the ones you’ve lived with. App idea development of Canva came out of years of design frustration. Stripe was built by developers tired of clunky payment systems. Your edge is knowing what feels broken in a space you understand better than most.
Watch for where others stop digging
Even when a problem is obvious and demand exists, many entrepreneurs hesitate to dive deeper because solving it fully means tackling complex parts or making everything work together smoothly. That hesitation creates a gap – if you’re willing to put in the effort to go further, you might find ideas for an app others missed. Regulated fields like healthcare or finance often have these hidden opportunities because few want to handle all the complications involved.
Look where people talk
Communities like Indie Hackers, Product Hunt, Reddit, and niche Discords are full of honest feedback. Founders often say they found their idea in a comment thread or support post. No need to pitch something so far, just listen and take notes.
Borrow from other corners
Check what’s trending in other industries, countries, or subcultures. A founder sees Duolingo and comes up with mobile app ideas for financial literacy solutions or an app built for food delivery in one country that could inspire a similar idea where that model hasn’t landed. Good ideas often cross borders before they go mainstream.
Track where the money's going
Idea generation in new product development can be fueled by watching where investors put their cash. Venture capital firms share lists of startups they back and report on what industries are heating. Check out sites like Crunchbase or CB Insights to see who’s raising money and what problems they’re trying to solve. Following VCs like First Round Capital or Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) gives you a peek at what’s trending. This can help you find crowded spaces, hidden gaps, or tough industries where there’s still plenty to fix.
Track your inputs
Use a swipe file to save screenshots of clever UI, pricing models, or onboarding flows. Keep an idea log in Notion, Trello, Apple Notes, Google Keep, or even a classic notebook or sketchpad. You’re not committing to every idea, but it’s very advisable to sharpen your eye for what works, recognize trends, and build a personal reference library you can return to anytime.
Identifying market gaps and user pain points
Spotting market gaps and user pain points means noticing where people are annoyed, wasting time, or struggling to get something done. The trick is to ask:
– Is this problem common enough to matter?
– Is it specific enough that I can solve it well?
When you find friction that others ignore, you may uncover an opportunity for app ideas to make money.
Techniques to find unmet needs
We’ve gathered practical steps to help you listen closely, observe behavior, and stay curious about what's broken or missing.
Start with bad reviews
Open the App Store or Google Play. Choose an app category you’re curious about and filter for 1- or 2-star ratings. These aren’t just complaints — they’re hints. Look for repeated frustrations:
“Takes forever to do [X]”
“Crashes every time I [Y]”
“Doesn’t sync with [Z]”
“I just wanted something simple.”
Collect screenshots and quotes. If something keeps coming up, it’s probably worth exploring. Could this issue be solved in a cleaner, more focused way? Are there any ideas for an app just for one specific group that’s being overlooked?
If you want to speed things up, tools like Appbot or AppFollow let you sift through app reviews in bulk and spot patterns across competitors.
Use SEO tools to sniff out gaps
You're not hunting for keywords to rank – you're looking for signals of unmet demand.
Try this:
Open Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, or AnswerThePublic.
Search phrases like “app for managing [X]” or “how to [Y] without [Z]”
Note what’s being asked often but served poorly (or not at all).
Then, check the search results. Are they blog posts from 2017? Quora threads? A clunky tool with bad UX? That’s your sign: people are asking, but nobody’s coming up with a new product development idea.
Say people keep searching for an “app to split chores,” – and all they get is old listicles or half-baked tools. That’s not noise – that’s opportunity.
Lessons from failed startups
Browse sites like Autopsy.io or scroll through real founder stories on Indie Hackers or Twitter. Focus on the specifics of their problems. What did they build? Who was it meant for? What went wrong? You’ll notice patterns. Maybe they couldn’t find users, missed the market need, or spent too long building without feedback. Keep track of ideas or problems they uncovered but didn’t fully solve. A new product development idea can be an old one, but worth revisiting with a better angle or another use case.
Niche specifics
In specialized fields like logistics, law, education, and more, look at how old the leading or fastest-growing product is. The older it is, the more chances there are for improvement. Many tools in these areas still don’t meet today’s user needs, especially around UX, automation, or compliance. Spotting outdated workflows or complicated processes is a good way to find real pain points worth solving – and a strong starting point for your app idea development.
Distinguishing a problem
A good new product development idea starts with a real, validated problem instead of the unbeatable desire of a founder to build a tool they have always dreamed of. To distinguish the real problem, think of the following questions:
Are people solving this problem already, even in a messy way?
How much time or money is this costing them?
Do they even care enough to switch?
If you can't find strong answers, you might be looking at a "solution in search of a problem." So it’s not that idea yet.
A true example for you is a story by Punit Soni, the founder of Suki startup. Before launching his product, he spent six months shadowing doctors and learning how hospitals actually work. He thought he had a hit: a Slack-style app for healthcare. As there was so much communication in a hospital, it seemed like there was a desperate need for such an app idea development. But when he pitched it to a group of nurses, they shut it down fast. They were already juggling Outlook, EMRs, and paper, so it appeared the last thing they wanted was another tool.
Users won’t always tell you what they want, but they’ll show you what’s broken. Your job is to watch closely, ask smart questions, and build from what does hurt.
Turning interests and trends into app ideas
You can hustle all you want, but if you're building against the flow of bigger forces like the economy, global politics, or the climate, you’ll likely hit a wall. The smarter move is to pay attention to what’s happening on a larger scale and figure out how it connects to your ideas for an app.
Global trends
We’re witnessing worldwide turbulence caused by supply chain issues, geopolitical tensions, and drastic climate change. For tech founders, that creates room to build smarter, more flexible systems with AI-driven logistics, localized manufacturing, blockchain solutions, and more.
Recent reports from KPMG and Crunchbase point to a few technological areas that are catching investor attention:
Artificial intelligence with LLMs, AI infrastructure, and vertical AI apps.
Energy & cleantech with investment in EVs, decarbonization, and energy storage.
Fintech – regained popularity of neobanks and lending platforms, especially in Europe.
Defense tech with rising interest in next-gen military and dual-use technologies.
Cybersecurity solutions are in high demand due to AI-related threats and stricter data protection regulations.
Idea application space
You don’t need to chase every trend. The sweet spot is where these trends meet something you know well. If you’ve got experience or curiosity in spaces like mental health, productivity, remote work, or sustainability, start there. Fresh developments in these areas are in demand, with many untapped problems waiting for better solutions.
Next, spend time in Reddit threads, Quora posts, YouTube comment sections, Hacker News, and similar discussions tied to the topic you're exploring. You don’t have to pitch anything; just observe what people complain about, what they wish existed, and where existing tools fall short.
Reverse-engineering
By this point, you might already have rough ideas for an app and a sense of what users struggle with. But how do you avoid building yet another copy? Try reverse-engineering what's already working. Pick a popular app in that niche and take a closer look at:
What people complain about in the 1- or 2-star reviews.
What features keep showing up in user requests?
These gaps are chances to build something sharper, more focused, or simply better than what's already on the market.
Idea generation techniques
One of the biggest problems with the very phenomenon of app idea development is that it’s somewhat blurred. What does the concept entail? How is it formed, and when can the ideas be considered completed? The uncertainty has always spawned a certain fear inside creators. Luckily, in the mid-20th century, Alex Osborn covered all the basic rules to follow when getting people together to generate ideas under the“brainstorming” term.
So, let’s look at structured and unstructured brainstorming approaches startups can use for idea screening in new product development.
Unstructured brainstorming
You gather a team (or just yourself), set a general topic, and throw out whatever comes to mind. Such a flow of thoughts without rules works well early on when you’re still figuring out the shape of a problem or exploring what’s possible. You can jot down ideas on sticky notes, a whiteboard, or a shared doc. Below are some ideas on where to start.
Freewriting
Set a timer and write everything that comes to mind about a topic you’re exploring. Say it’s a mobile app ideas related to mental health. Start writing: “People feel isolated… maybe something to track mood… what if there was a check-in tool?” No editing, no stopping, just your thoughts to be thought over later.
Mind mapping
You start with a central idea and draw branches as your thoughts expand. Do it without strict rules, simply following the flow. It’s a great approach for visual thinkers and messy idea sessions. For example, if you’re exploring a remote collaboration idea application, the branches will be:
time zones → async work → notification control → focus mode → burnout → wellness features.
“What if...” question generation
Throw logic out the window and ask bold questions. It’s open-ended and helps challenge default assumptions. For example:
What if meetings didn’t exist?
What if we could only use voice and not typing?
What if every user interaction lasted under 5 seconds?
It can show you directions that you can later explore.
“Imagine the opposite” exercise
Instead of asking what would make a product better, ask what would make it worse and then reverse-engineer. For instance, you’re building a focus app. So try asking:
How would we make someone completely unfocused? Answer: nonstop alerts, flashing colors, random reminders.
So, your ideas for an app could include blocking notifications or fading colors down when the focus mode is on.
Structured brainstorming
Unlike unregulated ideas, which are typical of unstructured brainstorming, the structured methods follow clear steps or frameworks to help you:
Stay focused
Think in different directions
Include everyone’s input
Come up with higher-quality, more usable ideas
You can try it through:
SCAMPER
A great systematic way for feature ideation or repurposing your existing developments by applying seven prompts:
Substitute – What can be replaced? e.g., What if we replaced text-based to-do lists with voice or gesture input?
Combine – Can we merge functions or ideas? e.g., What if we merged a task manager with a mood tracker?
Adapt – What else is like this? Can we tweak it? e.g., Can we borrow rewards features from gaming apps for work tools?
Modify (or Magnify/Minify) – Can we change size, shape, or scope?
Put to another use – Are there any other problems it could solve? e.g., What if freelancers used it differently than corporate teams?
Eliminate – What can we strip away to make UX easier?
Rearrange/Reverse – Can we change the order or structure? e.g., What if tasks were assigned after you start the day, not before?
Pain/Gain matrix
On a 2x2 grid you map out potential app ideas based on the problem's pain and the solution's value. For example, you brainstorm some mobile app ideas. Out of them, “Tracking freelance payments” falls into the high-pain/high-gain quadrant, while a “gratitude journal” lands in the low-pain/low-gain quadrant. The matrix helps you focus on what matters most.
Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD)
JTBD approach focuses on what users are trying to accomplish instead of what they say they want. It helps you uncover the real motivations behind user behavior and less obvious needs. The core question to ask is:
“What job is the user hiring this product to do?”
In her article for First Round, product leader and startup advisor Sunita Mohanty shares a lightweight JTBD framework to sharpen early product thinking.
JTBD statement to frame user needs:
When I… (context)
But… (barrier)
Help me… (goal)
So I… (desired outcome)
JTBD idea generation in new product development in 4 steps:
Define your audience
Get specific about who you’re targeting to avoid vague insights.
Do market research
Understand what solutions they currently use (even hacked-together ones) and where they feel friction.
Talk to users
Use interviews or surveys to uncover:
Context + motivation (emotional + functional)
Struggles/barriers
What they currently “hire” or “fire” to get the job done
Prioritize jobs
Look for recurring themes. Prioritize unmet jobs with high demand and low satisfaction from current tools.
For example, instead of building another generic note-taking app, you first realize users want to capture ideas during calls without switching tabs. So you'd better start with an in-call note widget, not a comprehensive note app.
Design thinking
You're thinking about how to invent an app and want to test some ideas before building at the top of them. The five-stage approach called design thinking can help you find ideas rooted in actual needs. Let's take, for example, a remote work app idea development:
First, you talk to remote workers and realize that many feel overwhelmed during long video calls. You emphasize.
The real problem isn’t meetings, but that they feel mental fatigue from constant screen time. You define.
You brainstorm ways to reduce that fatigue and put them down. You ideate.
As a result, you may build a quick browser extension that hides your own camera feed and adds subtle break timers. You prototype.
A few teams try it, and you collect feedback to find out whether this idea works. You test.
That's now a solid direction for a wellness-focused remote work tool.
Idea screening
So, you now know how to develop an app and may even have several mobile app ideas that are well-documented and thought out. But you may still realize that the business idea you’ve dreamed up is full of assumptions that need validation. It’s high time we appreciated the importance of idea screening in new product development.
Testing problem/solution fit
Real-world idea screening in new product development starts with finding someone who needs your product and shows interest in it.
A few ways to do that:
Put up a landing page with a short explanation of the idea and a waitlist form. You may offer early-bird pricing or exclusive access even without the actual product. If people are willing to pay or at least seriously commit, that rings a bell
Show a rough prototype to a handful of people who match your audience. Use Figma, even slides, and then ask questions and listen more than you talk.
Quick tests on PickFu, Reddit, or LinkedIn allow you to compare two headlines, ask for opinions, or even run polls. The point is to see what people react to.
Once you have feedback, evaluate your new product development idea through these lenses:
Functional needs: Does it solve a clear, real problem that users will actually use it for?
Emotional needs: Does it connect emotionally and encourage users to share it?
Breakthrough UX: Does it offer a unique, almost magical user experience? Not essential, but a strong plus.
When your ideas for an app simultaneously satisfy people's functional and emotional needs while having a groundbreaking user interface, that’s the recipe for an outstanding company.
One more important question remains: Is the market big and underserved, or does it have growth potential for funding and acquisition?
Analyze TAM/SAM/SOM
Here are the metrics to help you take the guesswork out of market-related questions:
Total addressable market (TAM). Estimate the total number of people or businesses worldwide who might need your product. For example, if you're building a tool for remote team check-ins, your TAM could be “all companies with remote workers.” Calculate it by looking for industry-wide reports on Statista, PitchBook, or in industry associations, or try the calculation like:
number of potential clients × average annual revenue per client = TAM
Serviceable Available Market (SAM). Narrow down the group you can serve based on your current model, region, or technology. Try using filters from databases like LinkedIn, Crunchbase, and similar business directories. For example, if your tool only supports German and is integrated with Slack, your SAM could be “Slack-using teams in German-speaking markets.”
Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM). This is your realistic short-term opportunity based on how many customers you can reach and serve in the first 6–12 months. If you expect 500 signups from a launch campaign and convert 10%, your SOM could be 50 customers.
Don’t get too serious about perfect accuracy, as you need a general idea with respect to your current team and budget.
Identify and evaluate your competitors
If you’re exploring app ideas to make money, knowing your competition inside out is a must. You have to learn their fortes and where they’re missing. Try the following:
Google the problem the way a user would. What products show up first?
Dig through App Stores or Product Hunt reviews. What are people praising or complaining about?
Use tools like G2, Capterra, Reddit, and similar to see real user feedback.
Make a simple table: who the competitors are, what they offer, and what your angle is.
If your idea doesn’t clearly do something better or differently, go back to the drawing board.
Go with an MVP mindset
Once you know there’s a problem and the space isn’t too crowded, focus on the core. A smart approach to app idea development is asking: What’s the bare minimum I can build that truly solves this problem for someone? It shouldn't be a feature list so far, but rather just one clear win.
Strip it down to one user type, use case, and key action.
Build just enough to test if it works and if people would use it again.
Don’t waste time on nice-to-haves until you've proven the core value.
At Overcode, we offer a practical guide on MVP software development, so you can read it for further details.
Evolving an idea into a project
Let’s look at what it takes for an idea to evolve into something specific.
Turning a single idea into multiple use cases
If your idea has demand based on TAM/SAM/SOM research, it’s time to look sideways or adjacent markets or user types. Start with your core audience and ask: Who else faces similar problems? For example, if solo travelers responded well to your itinerary app concept, you could expand the same app with shared itineraries for group trips or admin tools for travel agencies.
Validating features before building them
Test each new feature against your target audience before coding. Use mockups or clickable prototypes to ask users, “Would you use this?” Fewer surprises lead to shorter sprints. Iteration cycles will help you move through the validation steps more efficiently each time.
Knowing when to double down, pivot, or abandon
While you're still in the idea stage of your startup, be crystal clear about whether your ideas guide you in the right direction:
Double down on idea application when people want what you’re building, even in a rough form. Your green light is when they sign up, ask follow-up questions, or try workarounds to get more.
Pivot when you notice users being mildly interested but not in what you thought was the main value. They will keep talking about a side feature or just don't get the problem you’re solving.
For instance, you pitch a smart itinerary planner, but users tell you they want to share travel docs or figure out visa rules. Maybe that’s the product, so try shifting the focus within the same target group.
Abandon if nothing lands. You’ve tested, emailed, and launched pages just to receive no traction. With no sign of curiosity from the target audience, it's time to move on.
Using customer feedback loops pre-launch and post-MVP
If you’re wondering when the validation process ends, the short answer is it doesn’t. Customer feedback is a continuous process you’ll rely on to minimize guessing each time you add new features or expand use cases.
Start by establishing a feedback loop early using prototypes, landing pages, or lightweight beta versions to help you test ideas before any serious commitment. Also, run short surveys, talk to users, or watch how they interact.
Once the MVP is live, be ready to monitor and measure drop-offs, repeat behavior, or complaints. Combine that with direct feedback through messages, support questions, and interviews.
Turning a project into an app
Once you’ve shaped the idea, the next decisions will concern how you will build it, how much of it should be developed upfront, and what you need to show to attract a co-founder, early hires, or investors. This section walks through the practical answers.
Do it yourself vs. outsource development
The question of how to invent an app is now logically followed by how to build an app. The answer comes with several options:
You might consider building an app yourself if you have strong engineering skills. But who will then pitch to investors, talk to users, handle marketing, or plan to scale? It’s hard to be a jack of all trades. While many startups were born this way, it rarely works long-term, as founders have more strategic priorities.
Hiring employees is another route, but it’s always more time-consuming and expensive. Recruiting, vetting, onboarding, setting up infrastructure, and managing salaries and bonuses take time and money, which early-stage startups often can’t afford.
Outsourcing is a good alternative. A seasoned tech partner has worked with dozens of startups, has access to vetted talent, offers 45–65% lower labor costs, and ensures faster time-to-market. Plus, it’s easier to scale. Just make sure you choose a partner with a real track record (check Clutch, for example) and clearly define responsibilities upfront.
Create a concept brief for developers or partners
Whatever development approach you choose, a clear concept brief helps align the team and avoid costly app idea development mistakes early on. Keep the document simple: spell out the core problem, target audience, and what matters most in version one. Focus on what the app should do, not how it should be built. You can also include references to apps with similar logic or UX. You can use the checklist below from Overcode:
One-sentence summary
What your app does and who it’s for.
Problem
What user problem are you solving?
Target users
Who will use the app? Mention user roles if needed.
Core use case
The main thing users will do with the app.
Must-have features (3–5 max)
List only the features needed for the first version (MVP).
User flow outline
Short, high-level steps from start to finish.
Technical notes (if you already know any)
Known platforms, APIs, or integrations to consider.
References (optional)
Apps or UX patterns you like (with a short note on why).
Building a POC for pitching investors or engaging co-founders
While helping startups with their app idea development, we’ve seen time and again that having a proof of concept (POC) makes a difference before seeking serious investment. If your idea is still squishy and moldable, investors or partners won’t know whether you’ve tested assumptions, talked to users, or thought through how your product should work.
Your target here is not to build a full product but to show progress. Start with a clickable mockup in Figma or a simple no-code version using tools like Glide or Softr. Focus on one core use case. Talk to 3-5 potential users and ask them to walk through it. Capture what confuses them, what they expect next, and what they’d use.
Finding a new product development idea means truly understanding your users’ challenges, testing your assumptions quickly, and focusing on what really moves the needle. Keep things clear and simple, listen carefully, and don’t hesitate to adjust your course when needed.
Idea → Project → App.
This app idea development approach lets you test real demand early, refine your vision, and avoid building something nobody wants. At Overcode, we’re here to help you move your ideas towards the app with the right balance of price, quality, and technology.
