Thread: I just got run over by a fastlane business idea

I would like to that zendolphin for all the advice he helped me with this morning.

ok well Idea discovered, idea reesearched, idea tested, idea failed. Back to the drawing board.

Originally Posted by gfrye13

ok well Idea discovered, idea reesearched, idea tested, idea failed. Back to the drawing board.

How? Did you ask friends? Craigslist? I'm curious to your research methodology.

Originally Posted by MJDeMarco

How? Did you ask friends? Craigslist? I'm curious to your research methodology.

Wow MjDeMarco I wish I could have got in touch with you at the beginning of my idea. It was right down your lane. But how I tested my idea was to ask myself what problem is this helping, who is my target audience. What vehicle will I use to get it out. Is there already something similar. I also looked at what type of time am I going to have to put into this.

you gave up in 3 days? ..

No I didnt give up. I just didnt see a point chasing a worthless pursuit that was strictly based off a need I thought was there when in actuality it wasnt. What sense does it make to spend thousands of dollars on an idea that should have been stopped in the research phase.

Originally Posted by LamboMP

you gave up in 3 days? ..

Isn't the first rule of building a business don't fall in love with your idea. I was able to objectively see how the need i thought was there really wasn't.

Kill bad ideas fast congrats on only taking 3 days, instead I see many people chase bad ideas for years.

no offence intended, was generally curious what happened in leading to your discovery that is was a bad one (in that short of time frame). What was the idea?

Originally Posted by LamboMP

no offence intended, was generally curious what happened in leading to your discovery that is was a bad one (in that short of time frame). What was the idea?

Sorry for just getting back to you. My idea was for a taxi service that allowed you to kind of do what you can on most travel websites.

1. click on your traveled city
2. locate the cheapest fares
3. book your taxi

Yes I did check out limos.com thats actually where I got the idea. The problem is that taxi's dont work on a fare competition. They are regulated by the Taxi Commission. Also by doing some questioning through Taxi forums and true taxi people. In most big cities Taxi's are everywhere. So having to book one online is not necessary. My idea didnt fill a need. So I didnt just give up on it, I just said I had to go back to the drawing board and find the need in that service and fix that need.

Congratulations on not falling into the trap of "marrying" the idea. You asked great questions, determined there wasn't a need and moved on without letting emotion play a role.

When in doubt follow Rickson's reply to the original post, find 1 customer to pay for whatever it is and you will literally be miles ahead of most who plod along in "development" stage for years, spending tons of cash, many times only to find out there is no audience for the product/service.

Plus the adrenaline rush from the first or first few customers will make it a piece of cake to get it to market and you'll realize that the initial version doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be good enough and can always be improved.

Originally Posted by deepestblue

Congratulations on not falling into the trap of "marrying" the idea. You asked great questions, determined there wasn't a need and moved on without letting emotion play a role.

When in doubt follow Rickson's reply to the original post, find 1 customer to pay for whatever it is and you will literally be miles ahead of most who plod along in "development" stage for years, spending tons of cash, many times only to find out there is no audience for the product/service.

Plus the adrenaline rush from the first or first few customers will make it a piece of cake to get it to market and you'll realize that the initial version doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be good enough and can always be improved.

Thank you for those kind words. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong. But I have learned not to get married to my ideas that seem to come every hour. Of course it's disappointing when they dont turn out like you want them too. But at least you dont waste time or money on an idea that wont give you any ROI.