Three things turn ideas into businesses. They are simple and essential. We don’t get them right often.
- Prove the need. Determine whether the problem you want to solve or the value you want to add is worth doing. It doesn’t matter how pretty you dress up armadillos if people don’t want armadillos dressed up.
- Prove the product. We now know the problem is worth solving. Does your solution solve the pain in the way your customers would appreciate? Do we need compressed gas pens that can write in space or could we just use a pencil instead? Your product is proven not when people want it, but when they want it enough to pay for it.
- Prove the model. People want our product and are willing to pay. We need a business model that enables our delivery of this product to be sustainable. Can we make enough profit to cover expenses? Is it scalable and repeatable?
We dress new business up in industry attire and buzzwords, but at the core, it really takes three successful experiments to create a business.
Don’t be fooled, the theory is simple, simple is not always easy.
