Empathize
Before you start ideating, truly understand who you are doing it for.
When you develop new products or solutions, you are typically doing it for multiple stakeholders like end users, customers, project owners (companies) or investors - or other external stakeholders. So start by deeply understanding the needs and interests of your stakeholders:
... who will be the daily user of your solutions.
...who is the one actually making the buying decision (if it is a product supposed to be sold).
.. a company or organisation that is going to further develop and implement you solution. Either as a product or solution for sale or as a solution for internal use in their business processes.
... or other external partners who are asked to invest time and money in your project. Typically if your project is a startup or other new initiatives.
Tools for empathizing
Empathy tools are most commonely used for empathizing with end users, but they will also help you understand decision makers.
Understand your user as a real person or a character. Not as a target segment.
Users and customers are not alone. Who else is involved in the decision process?
