Measuring my CENTS Commandment

[Alvintanto]

Hi all, excuse me if this is the wrong place to ask. Move/delete/warn if found so.
I'm starting a business in the chemical industry, a very niche one.
I don't think you are into details, but what I do is make liquid chemical products by mixing them (not vape/ejuice) for the manufacturing industry.
I live in Indonesia and I'm aware of the market scarcity here for my product. That's why I'm thinking of selling it abroad (Canada/Australia/Japan/India/Sweden).
The ingredients are imported from China, and some are found locally in Indonesia.
My competitors in the field (globally) are in the dozens, offering pretty much the same thing, but with more established brand names.

I can make a Value Skew in a lot of areas, but the product itself is more or less static. I can add unique colors/packaging/extras, but nothing radically different, just fresh.

Following the CENTS Commandment, I've compiled my own CENTS list.
However I still need to answer a question :

Is my CENTS proposal good enough to justify going into this business? What do I need to answer this? Is this question even relevant?
Or Am I missing a chapter or two from the books? @MJ DeMarco

Attached is a photo of what my chemical is used for. You can PM/mail me for answers.
Alvin

 

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[NMdad]

If your actual product is essentially a commodity, then your value skew areas will probably be in things like service, reliability/speed of delivery to customers, etc.--not price. For example, Zappos sells shoes but has amazing customer service.

Could you become the Zappos of your niche?

 

[100k]

Sounds like a plan. Move forward and see where the business takes you. If there's a demand then fulfill it.

Is there anything the others are doing that you could do better? Do they offer slow delivery, poor customer service, no online community, no social proof from celebrities/influencers ... you could skew those things.

 

[Alvintanto]

Thank you for the replies.
Yes, I can strife to be better in other areas other than the item itself, it just bothers me if it doesn’t fit CENTS on first try.

However I think that’s just anxiety.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

a very niche one.

What's the TAM, the total addressable market? If you got 100% of the sales, what would that be?

if it doesn’t fit CENTS on first try.

Many business won't and meet varying degrees of CENTS.

Also if this is your FIRST venture, take a look at this:

GOLD! - MINDSET - Is CENTS Destructive to Action?

Over the years I've read thousands of introductions here. A common thread I'm seeing follows the following format: A) I have 3 ideas, X,Y, and Z. B) None of them meet CENTS. C) X is missing entry, Y is missing scale, and Z is missing a mix of both. D) I don't know what to do. The end result...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[SD Entrepreneur]

Hi all, excuse me if this is the wrong place to ask. Move/delete/warn if found so.
I'm starting a business in the chemical industry, a very niche one.
I don't think you are into details, but what I do is make liquid chemical products by mixing them (not vape/ejuice) for the manufacturing industry.
I live in Indonesia and I'm aware of the market scarcity here for my product. That's why I'm thinking of selling it abroad (Canada/Australia/Japan/India/Sweden).
The ingredients are imported from China, and some are found locally in Indonesia.
My competitors in the field (globally) are in the dozens, offering pretty much the same thing, but with more established brand names.

I can make a Value Skew in a lot of areas, but the product itself is more or less static. I can add unique colors/packaging/extras, but nothing radically different, just fresh.

Following the CENTS Commandment, I've compiled my own CENTS list.
However I still need to answer a question :

Is my CENTS proposal good enough to justify going into this business? What do I need to answer this? Is this question even relevant?
Or Am I missing a chapter or two from the books? @MJ DeMarco

Attached is a photo of what my chemical is used for. You can PM/mail me for answers.
Alvin

Might want to check out the CENTS Business And Idea Evaluator Spreadsheet to grade each commandment and help evaluate your idea. Great points by others as well, keep moving forward understanding your competitors and overall addressable market as MJ mentioned!

 

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[Alvintanto]

What's the TAM, the total addressable market? If you got 100% of the sales, what would that be?



Many business won't and meet varying degrees of CENTS.

Also if this is your FIRST venture, take a look at this:

GOLD! - MINDSET - Is CENTS Destructive to Action?

Over the years I've read thousands of introductions here. A common thread I'm seeing follows the following format: A) I have 3 ideas, X,Y, and Z. B) None of them meet CENTS. C) X is missing entry, Y is missing scale, and Z is missing a mix of both. D) I don't know what to do. The end result...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Holy S*it.
Wow.
MJ is that really you? @MJ DeMarco
Gosh the author of my favorite book replied my question haha sorry but holy moly, ‘impressed’ doesnt come close to describe.

Anyway, based on my foresight the TAM is big and enough to Unscript. But I have competitors and they’re teams of dozens and there’s only one of me. Prototypes are done and the only thing now is to gather feedback from real testers.

The thread you linked was new to me. Thank you!
I’ll just do this first, then.

 

[Alvintanto]

Holy S*it.
Wow.
MJ is that really you? @MJ DeMarco
Gosh the author of my favorite book replied my question haha sorry but holy moly, ‘impressed’ doesnt come close to describe.

Anyway, based on my foresight the TAM is big and enough to Unscript. But I have competitors and they’re teams of dozens and there’s only one of me. Prototypes are done and the only thing now is to gather feedback from real testers.

The thread you linked was new to me. Thank you!
I’ll just do this first, then.

This is my second venture. The first one had its issues which I opened in another thread, featuring a question about FTE. Still ongoing venture.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

This is still in beta, but what kind of score do you get here?

Grade My Business Idea: Business Ideas and Opportunities Rated Fast

Grade My Business Idea: Rate your business idea and discover its potential for massive marketplace success. Is your business idea worth pursuing? Or should it be forgotten? Based on the CENTS Framework authored by entrepreneur and best selling author, MJ DeMarco.

www.grademybusinessidea.com

 

[Jon L]

This is still in beta, but what kind of score do you get here?

Grade My Business Idea: Business Ideas and Opportunities Rated Fast

Grade My Business Idea: Rate your business idea and discover its potential for massive marketplace success. Is your business idea worth pursuing? Or should it be forgotten? Based on the CENTS Framework authored by entrepreneur and best selling author, MJ DeMarco.

www.grademybusinessidea.com

Completely off topic, but I got a B ... It would be very nice if I can copy and past the results URL into things and have it link back to the same results pages as what I viewed. (e.g. have that URL include all the parameters I selected when answering the questionnaire.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

but I got a B ... It would be very nice if I can copy and past the results URL into things and have it link back to the same results pages as what I viewed.

You can copy the link to fully retrieve the results at anytime.

 

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[Jon L]

You can copy the link to fully retrieve the results at anytime.

View attachment 26499

That works, but its kind of buried. What would be ideal (and how I usually copy and paste stuff) is by grabbing the actual URL at the top of the browser window.

That said ... its a super cool page. Very useful.

One thing that would help on it, though, is to have a definition on some of the items that show what the scale is. like, Entry Barriers - I'm not sure what a 10 there means. To me, Tesla is a 10, which means that my new product, even though its pretty difficult to me, is like a 3 or 4.

 

[Alvintanto]

@MJ DeMarco I got a D+ and I agree.
I'm being honest to myself and know that it's not the best business idea, maybe even less than mediocre but it should give better results than my previous venture.

I have two options regarding this :
1. Just do it, regarding its progress/results as an incremental lesson.
OR
2. Never settle for ideas that even I deem a D+

The catch is, for option 1, is something I'm comfortable with. Incremental progress is comfortable, yet I know it's also going to give me incremental results, not exponential.
And option 2, after a great idea, usually scares me and is paralyzing. And I have yet to witness firsthand any venture or entrepreneur got successful this way, so even if it's theoritically possible, it's unconfirmed by me. That's why it scares me. I need confirmation that explosive wealth/success is possible.

 

[Alvintanto]

You know what, nevermind.
Just re-read Unscripted and I think it’s better to change the odds.