Build and sell your own product

Stage 1 · Lesson 5 of 7

Reading search demand

Find a problem worth solving

shows what people are actively looking for, in their own words. Use to see whether interest in your problem is growing, flat, falling or seasonal (rising at the same time each year). It also shows which countries the interest comes from.

Type the problem into Google. Read the autocomplete suggestions and the "People also ask" questions. Free keyword tools add a rough search volume, meaning how many searches a phrase gets each month.

This helps twice. It supports or weakens your idea now, and it hints whether search could bring you customers after launch.

Common traprejecting a business idea because its search volume is tiny. Many good products for specific professions are found through communities and word of mouth, not search.

A question to check yourself, an AI practice session and 1 cheat sheet entry come with the full roadmap. Unlock

Resources for this stage

Start with

  • CourseFree
    Startup School

    Y Combinator · Beginner

    Free lessons on how good ideas come from real problems; watch the ideas and talking to users sections first

Keep handy

  • Check whether interest in your problem is growing, seasonal or fading, and where searchers are

  • Search your problem area to see what others built, charged and learned, including failures

Also worth your time

Mark this stage as not done?