The first thing I did was find an audience of people where there was a consensus about a specific set of pain points (in this case: client project scope creep &

The first thing I did was find an audience of people where there was a consensus about a specific set of pain points (in this case: client project scope creep & transparency.) I then just reversed their pain to derive a solution. If the pain is "they're cold and wet because it's raining", the solution would be "then shield yourself from the rain." From there, I derived a product. In the above example, an umbrella; in my case, a product that showed clients how scope relates to budget. This all came from taking Amy Hoy's 30x500 (which I really recommend.) It's the way successful products are generally born - at much less riskier than ideas you think up in the shower. If I were starting over, I would have focused more on immediately cultivating my mailing list.