Analyzing the business and software idea thought process
Recently I have been working on a few ideas, trying to prototype them and deploy them to see how well they catch on. I also recently read an article on Forbes: Is Your Great Idea a Real Business? Paired with an article that I read on Micro-ISV by Bob Walsh, I have come to realize that I spend a lot of my time thinking about how I go about working towards getting “that idea…” the million dollar idea that is going to set me for life, because I’m going to think about The Thing that everyone needs but doesn’t know it yet!
Well, it hasn’t come to me yet. Furthermore I don’t think that I am gaining ground towards finding that special idea. As a matter of fact, I think that I am working against myself in trying to find that idea. I am somewhat convinced that there are opportunities that are sitting in front of us, but we can’t see it. Sometimes we are thinking about how to take over the world with a simple application that everyone needs, a la Google.
First, the scope of the business: both the Forbes article and Bob Walsh describe the ability to establish oneself in a smaller niche market and taking a bigger share of it, versus taking an insignificant part of the global market. We’ve all been around situations where taking smaller bites of things end up making a much larger task (like taking over the world) easier, and such is the case with launching a business for oneself.
I have to be careful, because I do not want to imply that thinking big is bad or that thinking small is the only way to get big. I think we all have ambition and want to succeed as best as we can. Its just a matter of what steps we take when.
Second, business definition is a very important aspect of the success of any business. For example, if I were to try to sell super bouncy balls to left handed 1st generation American born Mexicans (as my fictional niche), I would have to make a pretty quick and simple explanation as to what my product/service was so that my target audience understands. Writing up a huge business plan and having every one of my potential customers read it wont work. The inability to explain easily what you do to a potential customer, or even to yourself can probably prevent an idea from working.
Finally, fear is the other thing that may be keeping good ideas and opportunities from fully materializing into a prototype/beta launch. Fear of failure, fear of having to leave your current day job to work on this full time and having to worry about paying bills, fear of not being excited or engaged a year down the road… All these and many other types of fears can probably kill an idea really really fast. Fear may be the thing that keeps blinders on you to keep you from seeing opportunities that are basically right in front of you.
So the question for me is, what am I really going after? Am I single handedly trying to be the next Microsoft/Google/Apple or am I trying to start my own business so that I can pursue some dream? Am I attempting to take a big bite out of a specialized market or a tiny bit of a global market? Do I exactly know if my idea will work? Can I explain it simply? How much convincing do I have to do in my market to have people buy? And finally, am I scared? Am I paralyzed beyond my ability to see that I am scared to pursue these opportunities?
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