sam altman just dropped a blog post on why we're entering the era of the "idea guy" so, i wrote down 19 ways to come up with startup ideas in the AI age: 1. ask chatgpt: "give me 10 tedious workflows a [job title] does that ai could automate." rinse and niche down. 2. scroll your own chatgpt history. if you're repeating the same prompt weekly, that's a product hiding in plain sight. 3. search: site:reddit. com "is there a tool that" + your niche. you'll find users begging for tools that don't exist. 4. audit where you copy/paste between tools. that friction is a startup idea. 5. read ai tool youtube comments. people write what they wish the tool did, that's your roadmap. 6. join industry discords/slack groups. look for "does anyone have a tool for..." complaints. (can set up an automation for that on n8n) 7. use ideabrowser.com to find validated startup ideas from fb groups, subreddits, and google trends. use the ai agents to validate your own ideas (launch pricing rn @ideabrowser ) 8. study your calendar for recurring meetings with repetitive prep work. if you're copying templates each time, that's software. 9. browse fiverr for "i'll use chatgpt to..." services. those manual workflows are apps waiting to be built. 10. talk to local business owners about their daily excel updates. that's an ai agent waiting to be built. 11. browse g2 for top-rated legacy tools without ai. build the ai layer. 12. ask agency owners what clients beg for repeatedly. if it's annoying and repetitive, it's worth turning into software. 13. read comments on popular (70k+ views) youtube tutorial videos. look for friction points and niche applications for software ideas. 14. find multi-step tutorials using 8+ tools. build the one-click version. 15. scan linkedin job titles in growing industries. ask: "what would make this person 10x faster with ai?" 17. look for exploding job titles on linkedin. ask what workflows they're stuck doing manually. 17. find 2-star shopify/wordpress plugins with high usage. low stars + high usage = people care but experience sucks. or clone them with AI, focus on diff geographies and undercut on pricing. 18. join niche facebook groups and look for workflow hacking in comments. build the tool they're manually creating. 19. browse upwork for repeated ai + grunt work gigs. if multiple clients want it manual, it's ripe for productization. sam altman gets it. your biggest bottle neck is the right ideas (startup ideas/growth ideas). happy building. im rooting for you. we're all idea guys/gals now.