Is Your Idea Good Enough?

Your idea could be the next big thing or a pile of shit. Here’s how to find out.

Did you know that your mind generates more than 40,000 fresh ideas every day? Well, probably you didn’t, because I just made that up. But, if that statistic looked believable to you, even for one second, then you agree with me that the human mind churns out ideas as generously as a seahorse produces babies.

While ideas are abundant, the sad part is that good ideas are scarce. What’s even more depressing is that most of us are not even able to identify good ideas. As such, a lot of average ideas get executed while a lot of good ones are simply flushed away.

Almost everyone, including entrepreneurs, marketers, writers and hopeless engineers planning to ask a girl out, struggle with one question - Is this idea good enough?

I don’t think anybody in the world has a perfect answer to this question. However, I think I might have developed an approach that works in most cases and would like to share it here.

1. Is your idea likeable?

So, you have an idea and wish to evaluate how good it is. Start with the easy question of likeability. Would it sound good to anyone who would hear it? If the first instinct is to subconsciously like the idea, then you’re clearly on the right track. Usually, ideas that sound useful or amusing, are almost always likeable.

2. Is your idea simple?

I have always advocated the idea of “killing the pitch”. Whether it’s an ad agency presenting an idea to a client, or an entrepreneur presenting an idea to an investor, the approach is always to package the presentation beautifully, lace it with a lot of behind-the-scenes thoughts and explanations and build-up the pitch to convince them that it’s a good idea.

However, when it ultimately goes to the end consumer, the pitch is lost and if the idea is not simple enough, people don’t get it. This is the second trait of a good idea - it needs to be simple enough to understand, without warranting a supportive pitch. I remember working with a graphic designer who would just show us the final design of social media creatives, without uttering a word. If the team didn’t understand the concept within the first few seconds, he would not care to explain, but immediately re-worked on simplifying it.

3. Is your idea valuable?

So, the idea might sound good initially and might be simple to understand, but does it bring value? For this one, you should first define the target audience of the idea - who is it meant for? This is even more important if we are talking about a business idea or a marketing idea, and this is where most entrepreneurs go wrong.

A good practice is to put yourself in the shoes of the target audience and start listing down the value propositions that the idea would bring. In case you do not understand the target audience completely, consult someone who does. This is analogous to a situation where guys who are undecided on buying a present for their girlfriend or wife, often consult their female friends to understand what she may or may not find valuable. Focus group studies happen to be the business counterpart of this situation.

4. Is your idea feasible?

Now, this is the most important aspect of a good idea. An idea is completely useless if it cannot be feasibly executed. A few years ago, I was heading a digital agency, where I would often preside over brainstorming sessions and I had this reputation of rejecting most of the ideas that came up. In a lot of cases, these ideas were clearly likeable, simple and valuable.

While I was branded as the devil’s advocate or the most difficult person to please, it was my job to analyze feasibility of those ideas from a cost and timeline perspective. I also did a second level feasibility check on how likely the client was to approve the idea, based on my understanding of their expectations. In most cases, the ideas that me and my team presented after this brutal filtering, were received very well.

To summarize, you could define a good idea as one that is likeable, simple, valuable and feasible.

Now, let’s test this out with an everyday example. Say, you’re with your best friend, and you exclaim - I have an idea. Let’s go out for a drink! Obviously, the idea is likeable, which gives you the attention of your friend. It’s simple to understand and doesn’t need further explanation that could make your friend lose interest. There’s obvious value for both you and your friend, in terms of having a memorable evening together. So, unless you’re both broke or there's no place you can go to or you’re at work and it’s 11 in the morning, or any other situation that makes the idea infeasible, you would be heading out immediately to convert a good idea into instant success. Cheers!