Hi there!
So you've made a post asking whether or not we here believe your idea to be worth pursuing.
Maybe you're thinking about creating the 'Uber for Pet-Sitting.'
Maybe it's a new vegan barbecue sauce recipe you think people will love.
Maybe you want to help restaurants organize their business and begin franchising their brand.
Who knows! Whatever you've come up with.
Here's the secret about your idea.
This might strike you as counterintuitive.
Your idea is not a bad idea.
Your idea is not a good idea.
Your idea is a MAYBE idea!
Allow me to explain.
____
Let's think of AirBnB. The app that lets you set whatever price you want to lend your apartment out to someone who just might ransack the place or steal everything you own.
On paper - horrible idea and a nightmare for insurance/liability issues!
What if someone walks out with my couch? What if my tenants set the place on fire? Who pays for the noise complaint citation if they throw a party?
In practice - multi billion dollar startup.
Why?
BECAUSE THE EXECUTION WAS AMAZING.
____
The AirBnB team didn't sit around for weeks, calling different entrepreneurs, mentors, advisors, forums, asking if they thought if their idea was worth pursuing.
The guys at Uber didn't sit around calling all of their friends to find out if they would use a new taxi service.
What did they do?
They got out the door and started asking their customers!
____
Don't ask us whether your idea is worth pursuing or not.
The best we can give you is a firm maybe, because there ARE NO MILLION DOLLAR IDEAS. There is only million dollar execution.
Confused on how to validate your ideas? Have a few methods I've collected with the help of the forum.
1. The Andy Black Method - Seriously, go read this guy's post history. Yes, all of it. There's a lot of fantastic information on how you can use Google AdWords to validate your market with a little time, and a little cash.
2. The Ask Method - Based on the book of the same name by Ryan Levesque, the Ask method works on identifying the needs of your audience with a short series of surveys. Best if you already have an email list.
3. The Lean Method - Simple. What is your product? What is the single most basic function of your product? Build that, get it to your target market, and let a small number of people tell you what improvements they would like to make. (Ex. Read into how Twitter got started.)
4. The Foundation Method - One of the most direct, but also time consuming, methods out there. Identify a market you want to improve, call everyone in the market you can find and ask where their pain points are. Once you find a trend, develop a solution, and let people pre-order it. Lots of pre-orders = validated idea.
When you make posts like this, you're simply feeding your "Busy Work Monster" under your desk, and waiting for us to give you the green light so you can feel safe when you execute.
That's not going to happen.
Adurite.
So you've made a post asking whether or not we here believe your idea to be worth pursuing.
Maybe you're thinking about creating the 'Uber for Pet-Sitting.'
Maybe it's a new vegan barbecue sauce recipe you think people will love.
Maybe you want to help restaurants organize their business and begin franchising their brand.
Who knows! Whatever you've come up with.
Here's the secret about your idea.
This might strike you as counterintuitive.
Your idea is not a bad idea.
Your idea is not a good idea.
Your idea is a MAYBE idea!
Allow me to explain.
____
Let's think of AirBnB. The app that lets you set whatever price you want to lend your apartment out to someone who just might ransack the place or steal everything you own.
On paper - horrible idea and a nightmare for insurance/liability issues!
What if someone walks out with my couch? What if my tenants set the place on fire? Who pays for the noise complaint citation if they throw a party?
In practice - multi billion dollar startup.
Why?
BECAUSE THE EXECUTION WAS AMAZING.
____
The AirBnB team didn't sit around for weeks, calling different entrepreneurs, mentors, advisors, forums, asking if they thought if their idea was worth pursuing.
The guys at Uber didn't sit around calling all of their friends to find out if they would use a new taxi service.
What did they do?
They got out the door and started asking their customers!
____
Don't ask us whether your idea is worth pursuing or not.
The best we can give you is a firm maybe, because there ARE NO MILLION DOLLAR IDEAS. There is only million dollar execution.
Confused on how to validate your ideas? Have a few methods I've collected with the help of the forum.
1. The Andy Black Method - Seriously, go read this guy's post history. Yes, all of it. There's a lot of fantastic information on how you can use Google AdWords to validate your market with a little time, and a little cash.
2. The Ask Method - Based on the book of the same name by Ryan Levesque, the Ask method works on identifying the needs of your audience with a short series of surveys. Best if you already have an email list.
3. The Lean Method - Simple. What is your product? What is the single most basic function of your product? Build that, get it to your target market, and let a small number of people tell you what improvements they would like to make. (Ex. Read into how Twitter got started.)
4. The Foundation Method - One of the most direct, but also time consuming, methods out there. Identify a market you want to improve, call everyone in the market you can find and ask where their pain points are. Once you find a trend, develop a solution, and let people pre-order it. Lots of pre-orders = validated idea.
When you make posts like this, you're simply feeding your "Busy Work Monster" under your desk, and waiting for us to give you the green light so you can feel safe when you execute.
That's not going to happen.
Adurite.
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