You Don’t Need a New Idea. You Need a Better Story.
Feb 02, 2026
Everyone wants to be a visionary.
To launch something from zero.
To own the category.
To be the first.
But here’s a truth I keep learning that challenges your ego:
You don’t always need a new idea.
You need a better version of something people already want that has a sharper story, better UX, and a stickier emotional magnet.
The reason it’s on my mind is that I’m considering launching an innovative product that would define a whole new category.
Nothing quite like it exists yet, so we’d have a lot of work ahead of us to educate consumers and own a new space in their minds.
It obviously has a massive upside potential because we'd have less competition.
But it also makes it easier for someone else to build on our hard work with more speed and less R&D or customer education.
Whether we do it or not, I wanted to share the tension of weighing up that decision and build a case AGAINST my thinking.
Let's start with a notable example:
Google Maps
Google didn’t invent maps.
They bought it. Rebuilt it. And positioned it as the gateway to the world.
Even though they now own that space in people’s minds, they weren’t the first mover.
They purchased it, made something better and told a better story.
You don’t need to have a spare billion dollars to do this either…
You can look for trends, find tension and build on ideas that already exist.
The key is to create a better UX and tell a better story to a specific audience.
So, let’s look at an idea you might be sitting on.
Do you start from scratch?
Or start from traction?
Here’s a lens I used to help decide:
Start Something New If…
- You're creating new behaviour or markets
- You're uniquely placed to educate a new market
- You're playing the long game and have a funding runway
Reposition Something Existing If…
- You can upgrade UX, add emotion, and build community
- There's existing demand, but poor brand fit
- The product works, but the story is weak
Most businesses don’t fail because the idea was bad.
They fail because the idea was hard to explain, boring to engage with, or emotionally flat.
And that’s fixable with a tiny bit of creativity.
So before you burn time chasing completely new and innovative products, ask yourself:
Could I build a cult brand around something that already exists but is tired?
- Look at the dinosaur industries
- Boring but essential products and services
- Problems that need fixing but that others ignore
You might not need to create the next big thing.
You might just need to say it better, show it better, and make it resonate deeper than the last people who tried.
I hope this helps.
