Starting from a problem I actually had

Most of what I build starts the same way: I get annoyed at something small, and building a fix is more interesting than living with it.

Cupd started because I kept forgetting the name of a coffee I liked. StudyNI started because revision advice for CCEA students has always felt like it was written for someone else's exam board.

Neither of those started as 'a startup idea.' They started as a problem, then a rough prototype, then a decision to keep going. I think that order matters more than people give it credit for.