attitude to investors: If it’s so easy to come up with good ideas, then you fucking think of them.
It’s easy to play devil’s advocate when it comes to the evaluation of ideas. I had a partner in a high-tech enterprise software startup who was fantastic at playing this role. They thought they were doing me a favor thinking up every possible reason why my ideas wouldn’t work. “It's too narrow.” “It's too ahead of its time.” “The product is too expensive to produce.” This partner never came up with any ideas of their own. I don’t mind someone providing feedback on my idea, but please don’t just knock it down. Try to improve it or provide some solid advice. I got tired of coming up with all the ideas, and that partnership, luckily for me, ended.
Don’t downplay the power of idea generation. The process of coming up with a great idea is fuzzy, unpredictable, chaotic and at times difficult. Your mind is a complex, adaptive, non-linear system. There are days when my mind flows freely with so many ideas that I have difficulty writing them all down. But on some days I have to get into the “idea zone.” Read Myth 17 to find out how you can do it also. Inspire your mind, and guard it carefully.
Treat your ideas with the utmost respect. Ideation is an unpredictable process. It’s hard to predict when you’ll come up with that “big idea.” I enjoy thinking of big ideas, and I hope that you enjoy the process too. But ideas are only the beginning of an entrepreneur’s journey. You might have to add, modify or edit your idea to make it workable in the marketplace.
Beware of idea wolves
I funded one entrepreneur who was keen on sharing his ideas with everyone. I had to remind him to be careful about sharing his ideas with people outside his company. You never know who might be an idea wolf. When you share your ideas, you risk having them stolen from you.
Don’t let social media bamboozle you either. You see share buttons everywhere on the internet because social media companies encourage people to share their thoughts, advice and ideas. My advice: don’t be so social when it comes to sharing your ideas before they’re hatched. When you’re well-funded and out in the marketplace — share your idea to the utmost.
Guard your idea like a top military secret
Silicon Valley does a good job of keeping ideas below the radar until it’s time to build the market hype. You see this with startups and established companies. Nobody does it better than Apple. Apple guards its product ideas like the gold at Fort Knox (except for the time one of their employees left the iPhone 4 prototype at a bar). You should too.
Brain Candy: questions to consider and ponder
(Q1) Do you think ideas are a dime a dozen?
(Q2) Is it easy for you to come up with a lot of ideas?
(Q3) How do you put yourself into the idea generation mode? Do you do it alone, or do you generate ideas with your friends, partners or employees?
(Q4) Have investors or your partners told you that ideas are a dime a dozen? How did you react? Did you punch them in the nose, or just smile and ignore them? Did you tell them to fuck off?
(Q5) When you came up with your big idea, do you remember how you did it? Where were you lying, sitting, standing or running? How were you feeling at the time? Did you see the vision of the big idea play out like a movie or was it more like a snapshot?
(Q6) Do you have the confidence to repeat the ideation process over and over again?
Entrepreneur Myth 15 | All you need is a great idea in order to succeed
Experienced and newbie entrepreneurs alike are susceptible to the mentality that a great idea is the only thing they need to achieve guaranteed success. In addition to the great idea, you need entrepreneurial experience, market luck and timing, sufficient capital, quick consumer adoption, press acceptance, and many other variables you may not even think about
It’s easy to play devil’s advocate when it comes to the evaluation of ideas. I had a partner in a high-tech enterprise software startup who was fantastic at playing this role. They thought they were doing me a favor thinking up every possible reason why my ideas wouldn’t work. “It's too narrow.” “It's too ahead of its time.” “The product is too expensive to produce.” This partner never came up with any ideas of their own. I don’t mind someone providing feedback on my idea, but please don’t just knock it down. Try to improve it or provide some solid advice. I got tired of coming up with all the ideas, and that partnership, luckily for me, ended.
Don’t downplay the power of idea generation. The process of coming up with a great idea is fuzzy, unpredictable, chaotic and at times difficult. Your mind is a complex, adaptive, non-linear system. There are days when my mind flows freely with so many ideas that I have difficulty writing them all down. But on some days I have to get into the “idea zone.” Read Myth 17 to find out how you can do it also. Inspire your mind, and guard it carefully.
Treat your ideas with the utmost respect. Ideation is an unpredictable process. It’s hard to predict when you’ll come up with that “big idea.” I enjoy thinking of big ideas, and I hope that you enjoy the process too. But ideas are only the beginning of an entrepreneur’s journey. You might have to add, modify or edit your idea to make it workable in the marketplace.
Beware of idea wolves
I funded one entrepreneur who was keen on sharing his ideas with everyone. I had to remind him to be careful about sharing his ideas with people outside his company. You never know who might be an idea wolf. When you share your ideas, you risk having them stolen from you.
Don’t let social media bamboozle you either. You see share buttons everywhere on the internet because social media companies encourage people to share their thoughts, advice and ideas. My advice: don’t be so social when it comes to sharing your ideas before they’re hatched. When you’re well-funded and out in the marketplace — share your idea to the utmost.
Guard your idea like a top military secret
Silicon Valley does a good job of keeping ideas below the radar until it’s time to build the market hype. You see this with startups and established companies. Nobody does it better than Apple. Apple guards its product ideas like the gold at Fort Knox (except for the time one of their employees left the iPhone 4 prototype at a bar). You should too.
Brain Candy: questions to consider and ponder
(Q1) Do you think ideas are a dime a dozen?
(Q2) Is it easy for you to come up with a lot of ideas?
(Q3) How do you put yourself into the idea generation mode? Do you do it alone, or do you generate ideas with your friends, partners or employees?
(Q4) Have investors or your partners told you that ideas are a dime a dozen? How did you react? Did you punch them in the nose, or just smile and ignore them? Did you tell them to fuck off?
(Q5) When you came up with your big idea, do you remember how you did it? Where were you lying, sitting, standing or running? How were you feeling at the time? Did you see the vision of the big idea play out like a movie or was it more like a snapshot?
(Q6) Do you have the confidence to repeat the ideation process over and over again?
Entrepreneur Myth 15 | All you need is a great idea in order to succeed
Experienced and newbie entrepreneurs alike are susceptible to the mentality that a great idea is the only thing they need to achieve guaranteed success. In addition to the great idea, you need entrepreneurial experience, market luck and timing, sufficient capital, quick consumer adoption, press acceptance, and many other variables you may not even think about
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