"Thinking of an idea is the first step and also the one of the hardest parts of a startup."<p>If you are isolated, maybe. But not if you are already among your customers. They have so many ideas, I can't keep up. And I come up with many more watching them struggle. They're the ones stuck with crappy software, trying to get stuff done every day. They always tell me, "If I only had this, then I could do that..."<p>Because I'm already so close to my customers, my problem isn't coming up with ideas; it's deciding which ones to run with.<p>Got technical skills but having trouble coming up with ideas? Get away from your terminal and out into the field. Problem solved.