Find someone (I’m one!) who is sits between nerdery and business requirements. I spend 90% of my time being a sort of nerd-translation layer between dev / design people and clients. I’m sometimes frustrated by being a generalist (especially when I see the insane talent here on HN!) but it does serve a good purpose!
Also: try and unpick some of the successful business ideas (the real big ones!) and work out at a really high level what they do. Dropbox - already mentioned here - as an example, did one thing: kept that folder in sync wherever you went. That’s easy to explain to a non nerd, it’s blindingly useful for anyone in any work or home environment.
I’ve also found that identifying sources of pain is a really good start. Ask your average office worker what they hate most of all and then figure out if you can reduce even some of that pain just a little bit.
Also: try and unpick some of the successful business ideas (the real big ones!) and work out at a really high level what they do. Dropbox - already mentioned here - as an example, did one thing: kept that folder in sync wherever you went. That’s easy to explain to a non nerd, it’s blindingly useful for anyone in any work or home environment.
I’ve also found that identifying sources of pain is a really good start. Ask your average office worker what they hate most of all and then figure out if you can reduce even some of that pain just a little bit.