1. Talking with your potential users looking for problems - warning: it's gonna be hard but with a very high ROI.
2. I've recently used Google Consumer Survey - you can get a $150 coupon by sending an email request to: pmcdonald@google.com
3. I'm now working on a survey to send to people I know that will be willing to fill in many questions.
In general your time should be spent:
50% problem team - finding more facts about the problem you are solving.
50% solution team - building a very minimal product(aka mvp) based on current data problem team has discovered.
This kind of work should get you into a feedback loop where you not only research but also test - these two together should make you move faster and wiser.
Just to clarify - are you suggesting that small businesses can take on problems that some of those large businesses are having?
Wouldn't that require a lot of insider information as well as connections within those companies?
I guess my question was a lot less daring - how would one approach task of finding problems/needs within reasonable reach of his own social or geographical vicinity, such as identifying a small-to-medium businesses niche and approaching those, based on the assumption that it's easier to approach this kind of businesses.
In general your time should be spent: 50% problem team - finding more facts about the problem you are solving. 50% solution team - building a very minimal product(aka mvp) based on current data problem team has discovered.
This kind of work should get you into a feedback loop where you not only research but also test - these two together should make you move faster and wiser.
feel free to ask more.