From IDEA to BUSINESS
Ravindra Datar
Growth Mentor | MSMEs | Start-ups | Marketing Strategy | Structured Mentoring | Exponential Revenue Growth | Event Speaker
I am regularly approached by many youngsters and "not-so-youngsters" with some bright (according to them) idea that they believe is God's gift to mankind with them as the medium.
In most cases they believe the idea has a HUGE potential and some of them are also willing to give up their stable jobs to set up business based on their billion dollar ideas.
I usually ask them the following questions, which I am sharing as I believe these will help many such business aspirants with dreamy eyes to wake up and work out the hard facts before taking the plunge; and more importantly, to ensure the flood of such aspirants reaching out to me recedes to a few who have actually answered all of these questions and then still want to take the plunge.
- How is the product / service (referred henceforth as offering) useful? What problem does it solve? What new benefit does it offer?
- To whom is your offering useful? There could be multiple segments of potential "Whom"s too, and "How is the offering useful?" may have a different answer for each of these "Whom"s.
- How many such 'Whoms' exist on this planet? Approximately?
- Where do they exist?
- Is the number of such "Whoms" expected to grow or recede in the foreseeable future (approx 5 years at least)?
- What is currently addressing their need for which you feel your offering will be useful?
- How is your offering better able to address that identified or unidentified or unexpressed need?
- Will they be willing to pay for your offering to address that need? Is that need significant enough for them to pay for your offering?
- How much do you expect them to pay for your offering?
- Will what they pay be enough for it to be a profitable and sustainable business for you?
- To answer 10. above, have you worked out the cost structure and how it changes by volume, scale and breadth?
Whatever your product/service idea may be, do test it against ALL of the above questions in the very least before you decide about taking the plunge into making a business out of the idea.
I don't mean to discourage entrepreneurship, but am pained to see many youngsters jumping into the "start-up season" without proper preparation and hence smashing their dream boats on the rocks of reality. Intention of this article is to help such aspirants evaluate the idea first and then take the plunge for a better probability of success.
If your idea survives the above questions and if you need help further in business planning, structuring and growth, feel free to reach out to me via the "Contact Us" page at Business Mastermind Advisory Services LLP (www.businessmastermind.in)
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#Open To 'Worth'| Vice President | RIL | 25+ Yrs of Bioprocess Development and Biomanufacturing Exp | 30+ Team Size Management | Commercialized 15+ Biologicals| Strategy Innovation & Management| 'Alternatives' Enthusiast
6 å¹´How does one convince an investor for an idea that needs long gestation-10 years of development to create a product, in addition to high capital investments (Typical Biotech scenario)
Futurist, Empowerment & Happiness Coach, Keynote Speaker -Author
6 å¹´Great opportunity u have to create a positive impact on their minds about entrepreneurship. Yes, you may have to guide them tactfully as they are raw n haven't seen the real world! But we can guide them to build their dreams. If he lost courage, we would lose an entrepreneur n hundreds of probable jobs that could have been created by him.
.NET Specialist
6 å¹´Great Insight! But I am baffled...The Questions are great...but how does one seek definite answers! How to estimate the size of the market opportunity? How to estimate the product price or customer will be willing to pay. It would be great if you share your thoughts on this. How to take out the guess work out of this and apply some logical reasoning.Thanks.
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6 年If ecommerce bandwagon had followed your advice, they won’t be bleeding so much. The high customer acquisition cost is killing ecommerce industry. The innovative ‘GMV†linked valuation methodology is the result of investor euphoria. The Wall Street money is being used to capture market share by offering discounts. This is growth for the sake of growth, an ideology of cancer. One out of hundred cos will survive. The ecommerce will undergo consolidation phase, the trend is being experienced in few categories. Ravi, your advice is on the dot.
You have put together great guidelines for self assessment...