A dad can’t find a bakery to make a birthday cake that can accommodate his daughter’s allergy-related needs. Two freelancers realize they need a way to organize all of their client contracts and can’t find software that adequately handles their use case. Necessity is often hailed as the mother of innovation – but not all ideas come from necessity. Unfortunately, in our experience, often media coverage of the ideas that powered amazing businesses and projects often stops at a very superficial level. The founders noticed a need and boom – idea. Often the ideation process has a much longer, more complex story and so we’ve asked some entrepreneurs and creatives we admire to go into detail about their ideation stories.

Kathleen

Tienda Salsita started out of my home kitchen in 2018, but the seed for the idea was planted in 2017 when I was living in Mexico. I was completely captivated by the way salsa wasn’t just a condiment—it was an essential part of every meal, deeply tied to culture, memory and tradition. I learned to make salsa the way it’s supposed to be made: fresh, using a molcajete, with simple but high-quality ingredients. I did not seek to start a food business – I always believe the salsa business found me. Read more>>

Sheena Lad

Tell us the story of how you came up with the idea for your creative services business? Paint the picture for us so we really understand the context, circumstances, the emotions etc. Walk us through how you knew this was a worthwhile endeavor – talk to us about the logic of why you felt you could succeed?

I spent the past 20 years wearing multiple hats, as creatives often do. I loved helping people with their businesses because I found so much joy in seeing them succeed and I had the skills (branding, photography, management) to do that, but that didn’t necessarily pay the bills. I reached a point where I just wanted to hone in on one area, really master it and at the same time be able to pay the bills. Read more>>

SAMIRA MAHARAJ

My entire business journey has been through a process of self discovery. It began back in 2012 when I had my first ever spiritual awakening. Unlike the journeys I now guide my clients through, my origin story was not so pretty. Experiencing the loss of my partner at the time was a heavy experience that pretty much opened my third eye through the shock of finding out. Although this was a horrific time for me, I was simultaneously having very beautiful experiences as my psychic gifts began to activate in ways I had never felt before. Read more>>

Christopher Perkins

It all started on a particularly challenging afternoon when my wife was trying to groom our poodle, Olive. She’s a ball of energy, and every grooming session felt like a battle of wills. The brushes were clunky, the shampoos were heavily fragranced and irritated her skin, and don’t get me started on the detangling sprays that left her fur sticky instead of silky. After an exhausting session, I sat back and thought, “Why is this so hard? Shouldn’t grooming be as enjoyable for her as it is for me?” Read more>>

Cori Lowe

Fashion has always been a powerful form of self-expression, but I found myself frustrated by the lack of versatility in the industry. Everything seemed to fall into one of two extremes, too sexy or too modest, with no middle ground. I wanted styles that could adapt to different settings and occasions without forcing women to choose between revealing or conservative. Read more>>

Raeden Gibran

The first version of WAVCARDS was born in one of my best friend’s college apartments. We were both entering our senior year, preparing to pitch our thesis projects, and decided to get a head start by brainstorming ideas. I was stuck. I considered a podcast, a photography exhibit, maybe a sound installation—but none of them sparked real excitement.

In search of inspiration, I scrolled through my notes app, where I kept a list of random inventions and business concepts I’d jotted down over time. One idea stood out: “Cards Against Humanity but for music.” It felt engaging, innovative, and aligned with my skill set. Read more>>

Tiffany Wei

I’ve always had a passion for styling and creating beautiful things, but for many years, my priority was raising my four children. I stepped away from my marketing career to focus on being a stay-at-home mom. However, during those years, I will entertain friends, family , my children’s friends and enjoyed styling food to make it look pretty. As my kids got older, I started thinking about re-entering the workforce and pursuing something that truly sparked my creativity again. My dream was to be my own boss, that I can do something that I love, and still give me flexibility to be with my family.  Read more>>

Anna Efremova

The idea of printing children’s drawings on T-shirts came to me naturally—from my life with my kids. I’m a mom of two boys, and we love to draw! At some point, I realized that children’s drawings aren’t just doodles; they are real works of art, full of emotions, imagination, and a unique perspective on the world.

It made me sad to think that many of these drawings just stay on paper or get lost over time. That’s when I thought—what if we could turn them into something more lasting? That’s how the idea of printing children’s masterpieces on clothing was born, so parents and kids could wear them with pride. Read more>>

Bijan

I have my sensors on, regarding the wealth of information surrounding us. Depending on the objective at hand one’s sensors will zoom into that realm and get inspired. Read more>>

Brooke Stance

The story of how Deliberately Adopted Floral & Design came to be is one of faith, family, and a desire to build meaningful connections. During the global pandemic, everything felt uncertain, but it clarified that we wanted to start our own business with a heart to serve others. My husband Jordan, and I covered a wall with sticky notes, brainstorming potential business names. My marketing experience in the small business and nonprofit sector over the past 10 years has given me a unique passion for storytelling. Everyone has a story, and I’ve always been driven by the belief that those stories matter. We kept coming back to “Deliberately Adopted,” inspired by our last name, Stance, which means “to deliberately adopt.” Read more>>

Dylan Herzog

The idea came to me one morning, sitting at my kitchen table with a cup of coffee, scrolling through endless forums and articles on home golf simulators. As someone who had spent years teaching kids the game through First Tee-Metro Atlanta and working in judicial administration, I had always carried a passion for the sport. Yet, I struggled to find a way to immerse myself in the golf industry beyond personal enjoyment and coaching. I wanted something that would allow me to merge my love for the game with a sustainable business. Read more>>

Sunny & Anthony Azzarito

In 2019, Sunny found herself at a crossroads. After more than a decade in social work, she was suddenly unemployed—a single mother of two, staring down an empty schedule for the first time in years. Art had always been in her blood, but life had pushed it to the back burner. That was about to change.

A friend tipped her off about a hidden speakeasy opening in downtown San Diego’s East Village. They were looking for a poet to christen their launch week. No hesitation. Sunny walked into the space and instantly knew—this was it. The Acid Vault wasn’t just a venue; it was an experience, an immersive art installation where walls, floors, and ceilings melted into a psychedelic dreamscape. She met the artist behind it, and within minutes, the two were conspiring. A poetry open mic—every week, right here, underground. It had to happen. And just like that, Poets Underground was born. Read more>>

Jerri Penland-Yoffee

One thing I’ve enjoyed so much about having kids is being able to live vicariously through them. Every time I show them something that I loved when I was young it feels like I’m experiencing it for the first time all over again. The look of joy and wonder on their faces is such a gift.

In comes the creation of Raven Lane. My absolute favorite holiday is Halloween. I love dressing up, the weather, the smell of leaves, the decorations and the feel of mystery. So, of course, I have to indoctrinate my kids into the love as well. I had bought my eldest a black styrofoam vampire castle from Micheals in way too early September. As I watched him play with the little spooky characters an idea popped in my head. I instantly ran to my brother, Jay, and we began spinning ideas. Read more>>

Trecia Humphries

I Didn’t! When I woke up around 3 am in June of 2020, the thought of creating a shirt came over me. Of course, a conversation with myself immediately began, (lol). I don’t know how to make a shirt, but I proceeded to walk over to the computer and began or should I say attempted to create one. Read more>>

Tisha Grant

I came up with the idea for The ContractHer out of sheer necessity—my own frustration and struggles with home renovation. After going through a divorce, I found myself in a position where I had to renovate and manage my home on my own. I quickly realized that finding trustworthy contractors was harder than it should be, and when I did hire professionals, I often felt overlooked, underestimated, or flat-out taken advantage of. The industry wasn’t built to educate or empower homeowners, especially women, and I wanted to change that. Read more>>

Gita Vellanki

A Mom on a Mission: How Neeshi Was Born from Love and Necessity

As a mother, watching your child suffer is one of the hardest experiences imaginable. My daughter was plagued by debilitating menstrual cramps that left her curled up in bed for days, a heavy flow that drained her energy and led to iron deficiency, and acne that shattered her confidence. Every month, we braced ourselves for the storm, knowing it would come like clockwork. Read more>>

Filippo Trapella

Food has always been a central part of my family’s story. My maternal great-grandparents had a restaurant in Tuscany, and my grandparents opened a pasta factory in the province of Ferrara. In our home, homemade pasta was never missing from our Sunday table. Read more>>

Kyaisha Jenkins

The story of Victory’s Classroom began in November of 2022, during an extremely challenging period in my life. I was divorced, shortly after had a mini-stroke, and quit my job suddenly due to stress. I started to have this deeply hollowing feeling that I needed more out of my life but I didn’t know what to do about it. Sometime later I started and ended a short-lived relationship that I would continue to struggle with on and off again until I finally found the strength to truly move on. In my desperation to keep moving forward and bounce back from the unfortunate events in my life, I didn’t fully understand how much healing I needed, nor how much my past experiences were influencing my choices and my journey. All of these back-to-back events confused me about the direction my life had taken. It was like the rug had been pulled from underneath my feet. Read more>>

Emily Que

It all started with one big question: Why are relationships so hard, even when there’s love?

One day, I looked at my five-year relationship and realized… things just weren’t the same. The passion, the connection—it was all starting to fade. No matter what I tried, nothing seemed to work. And let’s be honest—when your relationship is struggling, it affects everything: work, sleep, mental health. Read more>>

Cheyenne Williams

I was deep in my own journey of unlearning everything I had been taught about intimacy, relationships, and pleasure. As a mom, a partner, and a woman navigating all the expectations placed on me, I kept hitting this wall. The “shoulds” were loud — what sex should look like, what love should feel like, what a “good” wife or mother should be. But none of it felt… real. None of it felt like me. Read more>>

Giosue “Josh” D’Esposito

Kieran and I often tasted coffees together and realized how much more rewarding the experience was when shared. We loved discussing flavor profiles, brewing methods, and the stories behind each coffee, and we felt that this kind of curated experience was missing in the Bay Area. Specialty coffee is often enjoyed in isolation or as a quick transaction, but we wanted to create something more intentional—an opportunity for people to slow down, explore different coffees side by side, and appreciate their nuances. That’s what inspired Komakase, a pop-up designed to guide guests through a multi-course coffee tasting, with thoughtful pairings that complement and elevate each cup. Read more>>

ANGEL ESTRADA

A couple years back when I was still relatively new into my culinary career. I accompanied my friend to the Bronx to pick up some edibles for him and his partner for a party they were going to. It was quite the ordeal with the trains being out of service and then getting back took about 2 hours. The following day my friend had the Edibles and they were terrible taste wise and feeling wise. He was quite upset over the low quality and sarcastically asked if I could “Chef something up” Read more>>

Zana Hussain

It was during Covid and I wasn’t able to work for about 4 months and out of pure boredom I decided to create an food/travel account as I was always taking pictures and videos food it started to take off. Read more>>

Arson Sefi

I first came up with the idea for my services after I was contacted by a random person on social media to do a photoshoot because they liked my digital art work. This person wanted me to photograph them and then make a character design/ digital illustration of them from the photos I took. This made me happy as no one had ever asked me to draw them. I got excited and ended up buying my first Sony camera in 2018. I did my first shoot in February and captured plenty of photos to edit and work with. I really enjoyed the organic process of taking photos and genuinely trying to capture someone’s character or essence with my camera. That same first year I started doing video, nude photography and high fashion work, earning my first magazine publications and producing my first music video. Read more>>

Scott Campbell

In 2012 I had a 3x CABG, triple bypass. In 2017 I was diagnosed with benign thyroid nodules. At that time I saw a naturopath who started me on an anti-inflammatory way of eating. That meant the sugary sweets had to leave the house. I was craving chocolate one night and had cocoa powder but needed something to eat it with. All I could come up with was some leftover sweet potato and a VitaMix. Viola! Chocolate Fudge Pudding was born. Read more>>

Katie Brower

I was that little girl growing up that always loved being hands on & wanting to feel like I could help someone in some way. I always would give my family members pretend hair cuts and shoulder massages and had so much fun playing. Growing up in an active family meant I was put in a mixture of sports growing up, finding my way. I stuck with volleyball from 9 years old and I went off to college on a volleyball scholarship; majoring in art and photography and minoring in sports science. From the years of rolled ankles, sprawling for hundreds of digs & colliding with players- I knew recovery was important but it was never talked about like it is today. Fast forward to college grad life, as any young adult i wasnt sure what exactly I wanted to do or be when I grew up. All I knew is my passion for sports and helping others remained. Read more>>

Quentin McAdoo

In 2019, after witnessing widespread burnout and stress among my peers, I became interested in creating a business focused on wellbeing. A colleague introduced me to salt therapy, and after visiting several caves, I considered opening my own brick-and-mortar location. While people loved the concept, they noted it wasn’t particularly unique.

That’s when inspiration struck – what if I could bring the salt cave to people instead? After consulting with Good Vibes, I refined my vision: not just portable, but truly mobile – a salt cave on wheels. This addressed a clear gap in the market: accessibility and convenience for on-site self-care. Read more>>

Kelli Cooke

I have always loved reading, to me there is nothing like soaking up a cozy romance or diving into a book that makes you feel. But I also have always had a passion for romanticizing life and part of that means leaning into my creative abilities and taking on new projects like writing a novel. When I started this journey to become an author, I did it because I wanted to bring others joy, help them navigate difficult times throughout life, and provide a realistic viewpoint on love. Other than that, I basically just jumped in with both feet and my laptop to write. Read more>>

Chase Crouse

I am a husband and father of 3, soon to be 4! I come from an academic and faith based professional background and kind of fell into the fitness industry because I always liked sports and exercise, and it seemed like a cool side gig to help pay the bills.

For years I worked in ministry, then eventually tech sales, while building up my company on the side. Pouring most of the money we made back into the business to help pay for things like infrastructure and marketing. This allowed me the time to build our model on a MRR model instead of the normal high ticket model that most online fit-pros use. We intentionally did this because we knew we wanted to work with people from all walks of life, and not just those who could drop 5-10k for an online coach. Read more>>

Kate Ziuz

My business was born at the intersection of personal experience, professional expertise, and a deep understanding of a challenge many women face—but rarely speak about: projecting the confidence and authority they already possess. Read more>>

Natalie Meza

The idea for my business came from a mix of my entrepreneurial dreams, personal experiences, and a desire to make a meaningful impact. From a young age, I always knew I wanted to own a small business. I majored in entrepreneurship in college with that goal in mind, and I was driven by a deep desire to create something that could support my family—particularly my parents, who sacrificed so much for us. After college, I worked in management at a major retailer while navigating life with my college sweetheart, and during that time, I dreamed of opening a children’s clothing boutique in our community. Read more>>