When looking for business ideas, you can follow trends, analyze data sets, unbundle existing offers, look at social media channels to find demand, and many more. You can conduct customer interviews, build an audience, or read dozens of newsletters. Or you can just go batshit crazy and follow that weird idea you believe in.
There is a competitive advantage of being "quirky". This can apply to your whole business model or just elements thereof. Maybe this quirky idea of yours won't be a million dollar business. But for side projects and bootsrappers, just a handful of true fans can be enough. And being labeled "crazy" can be a sign that you're on to something. It's all just a question of point of view. In retrospect, whole new industries come from crazy people.
Here are more examples:
Alas, there is a narrow path between these ideas and losing the ability to take anything seriously. Just look at The Absurd Logic of Internet Recipe Hacks and Tweets from Elon Musk and other celebrities send dogecoin to a record high.
This post originally appeared in Basic Problem issue #18.
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