Bubbling with ideas ??, take a chill pill ??

Now think execution!

It is never about having ideas, it is about flawless execution! If the topic intrigues you please read on.

Great idea + bad execution is a bad idea: An executed idea is visible. A poorly executed idea lacks extended visibility and only gives confidence to naysayers. It still lays the foundation for others to dissect and come up with their own pivot. Hence poorly executing an idea is a really bad idea. It is a missed opportunity for you and an excellent starting point for others.

Bad idea + great execution may be a good idea: When you see an idea well executed it either shifts the paradigm or changes the game. Often we flag an idea as bad but when well executed it creates an opportunity. The meat dress worn by lady Gaga at the 2010 MTV Video Music awards though may have been flagged as a bad idea ( and still may sound like a bad idea), did cause sensation and took her career to a whole new level.

Ideas are cheap, execution costs money. Bad execution equals missed opportunity.

Thinking doing gap: You see a lot of people that claim to have similar ideas. “I was just thinking about it”. What were you doing about having an idea that makes a difference? Mental masturbation fails to produce progeny.

The well-executed idea is a marketing opportunity: Once an idea is well-executed, it is visible to others. They reflect, engage with or are impacted by the idea. This engagement with an executed idea then provides a feedback loop which results in more ideas or idea babies and quickly these idea babies have more babies. Think of black murky water that the world enjoys drinking- I am talking about Cola Cola- an excellent study in execution.

Levels of execution: I find that there are four distinct groups here when it comes to the execution of ideas

1. Ideas that remain ideas and slowly wither away: They die of natural causes. No one wants to do anything with the idea.
2. 2. Ideas that just need to be parked as they are not ready for execution. James Cameron waited to start working on Avatar as the technology was not ready.
3. 3. Ideas that go through half-arsed execution: Inexperience of founders, Lack of soul, lack of buy-in; lack of confidence among the biggest ones as the founders do not know its full potential for the future that has not been created yet. Ideas arrive half dead and are unable to score funding or support beyond a point.
4. 4. Well-executed ideas: flawless but there can still be a problem, a project that no one wants or needs. It could be a minimum viable product held by bandaids and rubber bands but does not work for the customer. It does not pass the minimum merchantability quality test. A well-executed idea is like no one else should be able to do it better. This is where game changers sit.
5. The big question remains. If you are bubbling with ideas — are you going to do something with all the great ideas you have?

Hope you enjoyed the blog. If you did, please share the love.

If you are a startup and would like to challenge your thinking, or just need someone to bounce ideas off, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Onwards and Upwards

(c)Sameer Babbar

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