Choosing The Right Idea

Whenever an idea strikes our brilliant minds (you & me included), the first question that arises is about the certainty of success which is expected. So how do we actually evaluate ideas into can-be-successful and can-NOT-be-successful ones ? Ask yourself the following questions to answer that first question.

1. Let’s face it, is the idea unique ? There can be two ways your new venture can be unique. Either it really unique, as in no one has tried that before (and you’re dead sure about that). If the answer is no, drop the idea immediately if you don’t want to get PWND! The other perpective to this is can be your idea being pseudo-unique. This thing works more than the first. What you actually have is an idea that already exists but you believe you can do it better than the existing products. There are some glorious examples to support this cause. Larry and Sergey did it with Google… now how does that sound. Basically they revolutionalized the search engine industry. A common argument to this can be the that the market is already situated with all kind of refined products that have no room for improvement. But you still have many avenues left, take for example the dating sites. They all work on the same principle … enter the age, gender, interests, area of the girl / guy you’re looking for and an algo finds the right match. Frankly, the users are bored and irritated with this concept and they want something new, something more humane, something closer to their feelings. I listed this here, similarly there are hundreds and thousands waiting out there.

2. Do you have the finances ? Gone are the days when companies like HP were started out of garages. To get clients with deep pockets, you need (at least) an air condition office with loads of pro-looking furniture, a decent reception (and a sweet receptionist, hehe) + a whole lot of devices like a PC for each employee, an unlimited broadband internet connection, a laptop for your own use if you don’t have one already. Also, expect to spend a lot on branding which includes logo designing, and then printing on various media like visiting cards, letter heads, banner, advert-boards etc. This is just a basic idea. Apart from this, be prepared to pay your staff for at least 6 months after you incorporate your company (by the way, incorporation costs money too.)

If the answer is “YES” (|| “yes”) to both of the above, go ahead launch your company. Oh wait. You missed out on the MOST important step. First do a survey (and don’t be shy). Ask loads of potential clients if they want a service like the one you’re about to start. Often, you think you’ve arrived on a brilliant idea, but nobody but you wants it.

Think about all this and if your startup-cluttered mind has some confusion, post a comment, we’ll be glad to answer.