You haven't mentioned what style of business you want to start. That makes a huge difference in what your approach should be. My experience is starting more tr

You haven't mentioned what style of business you want to start. That makes a huge difference in what your approach should be. My experience is starting more traditional small businesses (i.e., bootstrapping without VC money). If that's not what you have in mind, my comments may not be valuable to you. First, forget LinkedIn. It's worthless for this sort of thing. When I've done with good results is to go where my potential customers are. Identify the demographic you're wanting to address ("everybody" is a wrong answer -- in general, the more specific and narrow, the better) and find out where they hang out. I don't mean just online, but if they have physical gatherings, go to those too. Don't go there to sell or overtly interview "prospects". Go there to become part of that community -- you'll learn about all the invisible pain points they have, you'll develop a presence in that community, and you'll learn what it values. All of that is critical to success. By the time you're actually trying to find customers, you'll be "one of them" and finding them will be much, much easier. You'll at least know where they are and how to talk to them.