Where do good business ideas actually come from?

From something you had to do the hard way. Almost every durable business started as somebody solving their own problem badly and noticing that others had it too.

In more detail

The ideas that fail most reliably are the ones found by looking for ideas — a trend list, a competitor’s catalogue, a gap in a market you have never bought from. You cannot tell a real complaint from a plausible one in a market you do not belong to.

What to do about it

The best ideas usually come from a job somebody already had. You notice a problem because you lived inside it, not because you brainstormed.

A market that already spends money is easier than a market you have to convince exists. Competition is evidence, not a warning.

Test whether people will pay before building anything. A hundred people saying they like it is worth less than one paying.

The mobile app angle

If the idea is a shop, the sequence matters: sell first, prove people come back, then build the app. An app before the customers is a cost with nothing to do.