When do you exactly quit your idea?

[Maxboost]

I don't think MJ really covered this topic in his book. Say for instance you follow his commands CENTS or CENTS and your idea fails. How much time do you give it? There have been times where companies have gotten a great products, think Turbo Graphic 16 and the Sony touchscreen phone, but I guess the market wasn't ready for it.... When should you exit out and work on your other ideas? Should you have more than 1 idea going? I apologize if it has been covered in the book, just can't recall right now..

 

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[TonyStark]

I like to quit my ideas a couple of times a day and if I come back to it and it's still there then it's a good idea; if not, then no.

 

[Kubaoo1]

If I think that an idea isn't already that good but I thought it was quite good I think a few days how to improve if possible. I quit out of if there are no possible improvements or there are bad results in sale despite the good presentation etc

 

[Gigi Rodgers]

I don't think MJ really covered this topic in his book. Say for instance you follow his commands CENTS or CENTS and your idea fails. How much time do you give it? There have been times where companies have gotten a great products, think Turbo Graphic 16 and the Sony touchscreen phone, but I guess the market wasn't ready for it.... When should you exit out and work on your other ideas? Should you have more than 1 idea going? I apologize if it has been covered in the book, just can't recall right now..

It all really comes down to why you're doing it.
If you're doing it for the money, you'll quit and it'll be easy to quit.
If you're doing it:

• For you're family
• To prove to yourself that you can do this
• To help someone (or people) that are counting on you
• To truly ease a pain

Then you won't quit - but you will re-evaluate and pivot.
You'll break down the problem into micro parts and test it like a scientist until it works.
You'll get people to test your product/service and take their suggestions in and improve.

If after all the tests, and suggestions from people, and it feels more like you're trying to shove it down the market's throat - shelf it and go to another idea.

But it all comes down to the why.

 

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[NC_Carlos]

This is a really hard question to answer and I struggle with this myself. The answer usually ends up being a "it depends".

but you will re-evaluate and pivot.

Another way to rephrase what @Gigi Rodgers stated is what @MJ DeMarco said in Unscripted "act, access, adjust". You might start selling lemons but the market wants oranges instead. The idea of selling lemons hasn't technically failed but evolved due to what the market wants.

You will not know if your idea will work until you execute.

There have been times where companies have gotten a great products, think Turbo Graphic 16 and the Sony touchscreen phone, but I guess the market wasn't ready for it

How do you know these were failures? Sony is still around with many great products. IBM has completely done a 180 and moved from doing hardware to software. Has IBM failed? I would say no - they acted, accessed and adjusted.

I don't think there will ever be a period of time that will tell you when to move onto the next idea. After reading Unscripted I realized I was too focus on chasing money and I was constantly idea hopping. I now realize that by adding "value" there will be a higher probability of sticking with the idea.

I wouldn't focus on "when should you exit out". Instead focus on how you can add value. You will know when to move on based on the feedback loop (act, access, adjust).

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I don't think MJ really covered this topic in his book.

I did cover it in UNSCRIPTED . (HINT: It's on page 324 in the print book.)

And it goes beyond act, assess, adjust.

 

[Christopher777]

I don't think MJ really covered this topic in his book. Say for instance ...

The only way to find out is to be in the arena, trying things and figuring things out. You'd know what to do next the instant you are running the process as opposed to speculating about it.

It's a twisted question man. Like a pretzel. On top of spaghetti.

Nobody tries an idea wondering when to quit it man. Your example was a company product that a big company decides on--inside a boardroom.

If you were truly aiming to solve a problem you'd probably try out a lot more than a couple of ideas.

You don't want to be chasing money or be purely for profit here. You're solving problems. And very often the thing you're helping others solve is something that has impacted you personally in the past.

You don't invent ideas. You sort of "discover" them.

 

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[Maxboost]

I did cover it in UNSCRIPTED . (HINT: It's on page 324 in the print book.)

And it goes beyond act, assess, adjust.

Thanks MJ, I'm thinking about testing the waters with my idea in a couple of months but I don't know when I should quit and move on. I expect it to fail but the learning experience would be invaluable. I bought your book and its been great motivation

 

[Christopher777]

Come to think of it, I might just invent a spaghetti pretzel one of these days. I wonder how much time I should give it before I put it back on the shelf...hmmm,

 

[samuraijack]

Thanks MJ, I'm thinking about testing the waters with my idea in a couple of months but I don't know when I should quit and move on. I expect it to fail but the learning experience would be invaluable. I bought your book and its been great motivation

you didn't even try it yet, and you already made a thread about when you should quit???

This is an example of "cart before the horse"

 

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[mike24601]

Come to think of it, I might just invent a spaghetti pretzel one of these days. I wonder how much time I should give it before I put it back on the shelf...hmmm,

Well, I'd eat it..

 

[Christopher777]

Well, I'd eat it..

Thank you. That's, you know, heart-warming.

I'm still scared that you're the only one that would eat it. I'm scrapping the idea now. At least I gave it a few hours.

Maybe i'll switch to my chocolate brown tissue paper idea. Hmm. This time i'm giving it 5 days.

 

[SquatchMan]

Thanks MJ, I'm thinking about testing the waters with my idea in a couple of months but I don't know when I should quit and move on. I expect it to fail but the learning experience would be invaluable. I bought your book and its been great motivation

Quit right now if you expect it to fail.

I've failed a lot... but I've never expected to fail. Every business was a million dollar idea when I started.

 

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[Maxboost]

Quit right now if you expect it to fail.

I've failed a lot... but I've never expected to fail. Every business was a million dollar idea when I started.

I knew someone was gonna challenge me on this one LOL. What I meant to say is that the App Idea I have does solve a need/problem in a niche market but there are many things that I do not know which I am trying to solve such as marketing, user experience, beta testing, SEO, etc. This inexperience will most certainly kill the idea. My execution plan needs MASSIVE work. I have been searching the site and found a lot of great advice and ideas. I am being realistic and I know that I most likely won't hit it out of the ball park the first try but I am hoping I will..Worse case scenario for me is that the idea doesn't work and I learn a ton for my next app idea.