Ideas: Dime or Diamond?
I have heard many chant the phrase; ideas are a dime a dozen. I too am guilty of the same. At least until I started questioning the authenticity of it. Here's my take on ideas and why I will never utter the same hereafter.
People don't wake up with ideas; they wake with a 'moment' or a 'revelation.' This 'moment' goes through a metamorphosis to become an 'idea.' The 'idea' then goes through another transformation to form a 'startup'; and so on. At each stage, there are multiple challenges, risks & uncertainties. The distance between a 'moment' and 'idea' varies from individual to individual. It depends on their access to resources, knowledge and support structures.
Most 'moments' don't turn into 'ideas.' Some times, simply because they were just moments; so they die a natural death. Similarly, most of those 'ideas' don't become 'startups.' Going from a 'moment' to an 'idea' and from an 'idea' to a 'startup'; is a life-altering experience. Most of us are invisible to this process. We say a startup is a journey, but the focus is on the end result. We don't celebrate the effort, mistakes or the learnings arising from the failure. We celebrate success and the champions who were visible; not the army that stood behind or led the charge.
I sit on several startup boards. Doing so allowed me to realise that ideas aren't a dime a dozen; they are as rare as a diamond. We emphasis so much on the product-market fit that we ignore everything else. Most importantly, we ignored the idea-founder fit; the incidents that led to the 'aha' moment. So we preach about product-market fit to someone who's still trying to frame their 'moment.' In doing so, we're prioritising external validation. I believe the first step is to establish internal validation. Of the millions of moments, a person would have, why should he or she follow THIS moment? As a mentor, this has been my most important lesson. Most entrepreneurs can't explain WHY they're obsessed with the problem. When you don't know your WHY, you imagine a vision which sounds good.
When you shift your mind towards the origin of the moment, ideas begin to a lot like uncut diamonds. Diamonds come in so many types, shapes & sizes. But it's the lapidarist that shapes them into something beautiful and valuable. These skills are developed over the years by doing, not by looking at from the sideline. The amount of mistakes correlates to your skills. The 'idea' lies far away from the 'moment', and the 'startup' is even further away from the 'idea.' Your objective is to move it forward. However, remember that you can have a movement without moving forward. So find the people who can help you harness the skill you need. Don't seek external validation; validate yourself.
Disclaimer: All my startup board positions are pro-bono and based on invites. I don't take any remunerations no am I compensated with stock. I provide independent, strategic direction. The final decisions are that of the founders and shareholders. Furthermore, these are my independent thoughts.