“I have an Idea but lack Experience or Startup Capital…”

This is one of those frequently heard statements that helps a startup ecosystem recognize that gaps remain. Last week, I pushed founders and economists to recognize the distinction between innovation and technology (between startups and businesses), and from that, I was asked for advice too frequently asked, “How can I capitalize on an app idea I think is innovative enough to be successful with zero startup capital or experience?”

Such a question reveals that gaps exist in your city, sector, or community because such a question is one that should easily no longer exist. And yet it does, because the mentors, entrepreneurship classes, or so-called startup programs (incubators), in the peer group in which you find yourself, are clearly not answering well the most fundamental of questions about startups. We can fault entrepreneurs for lacking all the experience or wisdom they should have, or we can be critical of the community in which they find themselves and help founders at least start off on the right foot. In my experience, this question persists because startup programs are run by people without experience, mentors are really consultants or service providers, and the community is full of good intentions, inevitably mincing business advice with startup counsel.

Let’s illuminate how you can demand better of your ecosystem by answering the question differently than most…

How can I capitalize on an app idea I think is innovative enough to be successful with zero startup capital or experience?

First, you change your peer group and sphere of mentors, because you’re clearly misled.

Ideas are shared. The notion that ideas are unique or owned by you alone, is IP b.s. that lawyers and companies try to spin as reality, in order to sue their way into profits. I’ve worked with startups for 30 years and have never heard an original idea.

How you overcome that issue is than you tell us what it is. Don’t ask for advice about “innovative idea!!” because no one can tell you anything credible about startups, given generic input; and since our question asks about an “idea,” it’s unlikely the founder going to succeed anyway…

Because secondly, you MUST have the team capable of building and competing with whatever it is.

This question asked tells us the founder is on their own. And it’s fine that they are, entrepreneurs all typically start out on their own until joined by others, but it’s that the question is asked that again reveals that the ecosystem of advisors in which this entrepreneur finds themselves, is failing. Sole founders almost never succeed because it’s highly unlikely that they have the skills that correlate with success (or time to do them all alone): build, marketing, and find resources

You can’t do it alone. Anyone you’re working with would know that… hence, you shouldn’t even have this question in particular, unless you are on your own, or inexperienced/incapable.

Don’t take that personally, I’m offering here the more harsh and extreme reality because most advice/answers about this kind of thing are soft assists often garnished with false encouragement and an offer to help (if ahem you hire).

Such answers/advice are clearly not helping, because here we are, asking a very familiar and too common question. Simply put, you cannot capitalize on an app idea you think is innovative when you have neither experience nor capital — something is obviously wrong and it’s troubling that no one has told you so.

Let me rip off the band-aid for you since no one else will:

1. You can’t do this yourself
2. You don’t have the experience or skills to do it, so don’t believe the hype that you could or that trying might work
3. People will sell you on their services. Run.

Is that all bad news? Am I being harsh or realistic?

Only if you’re a pessimist with low emotional intelligence. In which case, you won’t succeed either.

If you have the potential to be a successful founder, you’ll take it this advice for what it is: pointing out the reasons you’ll fail, so you’ll stop drinking the cool-aid and instead focus on overcoming those causes of failure BEFORE you waste your time building anything or listening to the false, encouraging advice.

I’m 100% certain this is your circumstance because question ends asking about “startup capital.”

Well, it’s called “venture capital,” and no one ever gets it to start something. All startups (all founders) start by putting in the work necessary to maybe become fundable. No one gets money to start.

Also, something we can expect founders know IF they find themselves in a healthy startup ecosystem with the right peer group and experienced mentors. Hence my first reaction that if you have this question, you need to first change your network of peers.

Why might I explore as advice the causes of failure rather than sharing with someone some tips about what to do if they find themselves in this situation? Again, the question doesn’t provide enough information to know how to actually advise the founder, and given the question, we can know that they are surrounded by the wrong people. What we have to do is first help this founder understand why they’re going to fail so that the harsh reality of getting the right other people in place hits home.

You alone must start, and if you can’t do what is known to be required in the success of a startup, you alone still have to put in the work necessary to attract the other people capable…

• Marketing
• Building it
• Bringing the resources to do so

“But I can’t do those things?Paul, that’s why I’m asking this question.”

I know. That’s why I am answering it the way I am.

Anyone suggesting you get help to make a prototype of the app is either lying, ignorant, or selling you something. That’s NOT how you start when you have an idea, unless you’re an overconfident CTO who thinks they know everything about solution and that if they just build the thing, people will want it.

“If you build it, they will come,” is only true in movies. It’s how idiot founders fail.

If you can’t do the marketing, which we can safely presume since a marketer wouldn’t have this question, you MUST attract such a person to your team by building it or providing the value to others to fill those roles (funding).

If you can’t build it, which we can also presume, since you’re asking about an innovative idea, instead of just building it, you MUST have that person on your team – outsourcing this stage of work is dumb and will cause you to fail.

Leaving us with considering if the founder with the question could have the funding, experience, or customers for it (resources), to appeal to the others needed for this to be successful. But, since questions about ideas often ask about funding, we can conclude they aren’t bringing resources to the table either.

Have you yet caught on to how entrepreneurs in your community should never even have such a question. Unless they are being misled, they can’t be wondering how to get capital for something that is merely an idea for which they don’t even have the skills or experience to start something. If your community is perpetuating this frustration in entrepreneurs, you aren’t helping; despite your good intentions and those of the people involved, you’re hindering entrepreneurship at the expense of entrepreneurs.

If we know more specifically what the founder is thinking and what they’re capable of doing, we can give good advice. Lacking that, founders shouldn’t even have this question because they should be told clearly, they aren’t going to succeed without changing the people who surround them. These are the three things required to succeed as a startup (marketing, developing, and sourcing resources). An entrepreneur should never ask what they do about an idea, unless your ecosystem is failing to guide them.

What we can do is one guess at good advice and that’s that what everyone can at least be capable of is a bit of marketing, since everyone is capable of that (though they might suck at it). Where this starts and how everyone can capably start, is in what I said about the idea: you must tell people specifically what you have in mind.

If you’re afraid to do so, or seek legal protection of the IP or idea, we, again, know you are going to fail because someone who has the skills and experience to overcome competition, could talk about it without fear of a mere idea being stolen.

Everyone can start marketing by launching a website, a newsletter, or a podcast, and by making that successful enough to have a small community of people (followers on social media), who agree with the thesis, and support a solution. There is no right WAY go about this, but everyone can, somehow. The challenge for founders is that usually YOU don’t want to do this because you don’t like writing, talking about your “idea,” or you don’t like social media.

Well, tough, then go learn code and build it.

Every successful venture requires marketing, developing the solution, or sourcing the resources. Pick one and do it.

What you have to accomplish if you ONLY have an app idea you think is innovative enough to be successful but zero startup capital or experience, is sufficient proof and value for the others to join you.

That is, build an audience of people who want what you have in mind, and maybe someone will join you to deliver the solution, or fund it. If you don’t have that, or the app, you have nothing but an idea… precisely worth what the old saying says, “a dime a dozen.”

If no one has yet told you this, it’s time to find new advisors.