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Hello all. How do you know if your business idea is truly creating value?

Idea threads

kz-bass

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I like to jokingly call myself a career student. I’m in my late 20s, have a doctorate in physics, and currently work as a software engineer. Having finally joined the work force, and a relatively low paying job (compared to my contemporaries), I began to realise that even though I might grow, and ‘earn’ pay raises, the amount of time and value I put into peoples companies as it stands, will never truly be proportional to what they pay me as a salaried employee.

The straw that broke the camels back; so to speak, was reading UNSCRIPTED . I found myself nodding so vigorously while reading, that I got a neck sprain (I’m fine now). However I really got me thinking, and I began to reconsider my definition of freedom and financial success.

I don’t however, want to be an entrepreneur for the sake of it. I do believe that the fulfilment comes from creating true value. I agree with MJ where he said that you don’t have to love or use the product you create, but you want to ”impact millions to make millions”.

I have a few ideas for creating software services that could be useful in couple of industries. I’m not currently at liberty to drop everything and throw myself in head on, however, being a single man with no dependants, I do have some free time to pursue these avenues. These ideas already have established tools, that probably perform better than anything I can create in the short term. I have read in a few places that one should not be afraid to go into an industry that already has players, but how important is it to INNOVATE when you are a new player? What if one isn’t able to create something that is very different from what is already available? Are there any other considerations? Or do I just need to go back to the drawing board.

I have heard many good things about this forum, and I’m very happy to be part of it. Hello everyone.
 
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The-J

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Ask your customers, they'll tell you.

The only thing that matters is that the market is happy. And not "Oh I just bought and I'm excited" happy, but "This product/service actually did what I wanted it to do, and more, and my life is better off for it".

So, get customers and let them tell you. And not every customer is going to be happy or get value out of it: the important thing is that most people who buy get value out of it. If everyone says your thing sucks, then it sucks and you need to change it.

Also, to a market, innovation is just "I've never experienced this before", not "It's never been done before". Apple innovated by selling an iPhone that was just a little bigger (aka the iPad). Google innovated by providing a search engine that worked slightly differently than Altavista. Mozilla innovated by making a web browser that was free and open source, allowing developers to make the web browser THEY wanted. None of these things were new.
 

Evan G

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I like to jokingly call myself a career student. I’m in my late 20s, have a doctorate in physics, and currently work as a software engineer. Having finally joined the work force, and a relatively low paying job (compared to my contemporaries), I began to realise that even though I might grow, and ‘earn’ pay raises, the amount of time and value I put into peoples companies as it stands, will never truly be proportional to what they pay me as a salaried employee.

The straw that broke the camels back; so to speak, was reading UNSCRIPTED . I found myself nodding so vigorously while reading, that I got a neck sprain (I’m fine now). However I really got me thinking, and I began to reconsider my definition of freedom and financial success.

I don’t however, want to be an entrepreneur for the sake of it. I do believe that the fulfilment comes from creating true value. I agree with MJ where he said that you don’t have to love or use the product you create, but you want to ”impact millions to make millions”.

I have a few ideas for creating software services that could be useful in couple of industries. I’m not currently at liberty to drop everything and throw myself in head on, however, being a single man with no dependants, I do have some free time to pursue these avenues. These ideas already have established tools, that probably perform better than anything I can create in the short term. I have read in a few places that one should not be afraid to go into an industry that already has players, but how important is it to INNOVATE when you are a new player? What if one isn’t able to create something that is very different from what is already available? Are there any other considerations? Or do I just need to go back to the drawing board.

I have heard many good things about this forum, and I’m very happy to be part of it. Hello everyone.

I really enjoy the advice of many people on this forum. A favorite recently came from the Podcast that Kak does. I am paraphrasing here but "The single most important thing is to just start". Get out there and draw out your idea. See what people here, in your industry, in other forums think. Try out a prototype and see how people enjoy it. The market will tell you what it wants.

What if one isn't able to create something that is very different from what is already available?
Well...you don't have to. MJ has used an example of a supplement product before. A supplement product used a healthier alternative to color their product. Super different? Nope. Enough to steal some market share from their competitors? You betcha.
 

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