You know the drill. You have a good idea, you are pretty excited about it. Sure, you would be lying if you said you had it all figured out, but you are smart enough to know you have something.
Then it starts. All of those joe-shmoe monday morning quarterbacks start doling out advice. Time after time, you get the same advice: “It’ll never fly”.
Let me tell you something, unless the best of the best are telling you that, then you should just turn away. Any successful startup has to start with an audacious idea. If your idea isn’t just crazy enough, it will never amount to anything special.
Audacious
1 a: intrepidly daring : adventurous
2: marked by originality and verve
My favorite startups have all started on the crazy side of nutty. You can look at the now-established former starts that began as simply out there ideas. Amazon.com was going to sell books, by mail order, via the internet, in 1994. I can promise you, more than a few people probably rolled their eyes when Jeff Bezos pitched them.
At about the same time, eBay was planning to build a marketplace for what ended up being millions of people and Google reinvented something we thought was a well served market.
The dream is audacious, not the product
Your vision is what must be audacious. If you can’t make me step outside my comfort zone, help me dream in to the future and to see a world that needs what you are building, then I just won’t get excited.
The flip side of that is that your product, the thing you are building, must be pragmatic. You have to understand your immediate market and why they are going to buy from (or use) you now.
Keep marching
The reality is, if you believe you have a great idea, then you are the only one who can prove yourself right or wrong. Everyone else is just watching from the sidelines and helping out where they can. The burden to perform is on your shoulders.
The difference between your bright idea and a the ideas of a dozen other people is that you will get down to it and deliver. Build the product, test the market, sell. GOTO 10
I’ve been working on a start-up on my own for the past 4 months.
I go through phases where I find it tough to keep motivated and focussed- Something I understand to be quite normal for entrepreneurs.
Either way, this post just gave me that little necessary push to get back on track today. Thanks!
I’ve been working on a start-up on my own for the past 4 months.
I go through phases where I find it tough to keep motivated and focussed- Something I understand to be quite normal for entrepreneurs.
Either way, this post just gave me that little necessary push to get back on track today. Thanks!
Hey Lauren — I know that feeling. I think the trick is to learn how to deal with it more quickly. Instead of being in a rut for a week, you get it down to an hour or two. It comes with the territory though, and it won’t completely go away. Once you start working with more people, partners or employees, it also gets a bit easier.
Hey Lauren — I know that feeling. I think the trick is to learn how to deal with it more quickly. Instead of being in a rut for a week, you get it down to an hour or two. It comes with the territory though, and it won’t completely go away. Once you start working with more people, partners or employees, it also gets a bit easier.
“The dream is audacious, not the product” – I like that line :)
“The dream is audacious, not the product” – I like that line :)
I agree with everything you said. You really need to see the vision – then the hard work is moving towards it.
I agree with everything you said. You really need to see the vision – then the hard work is moving towards it.
There are those who dream for the love of dreaming, and then there are those who dream for the love of doing.
There are those who dream for the love of dreaming, and then there are those who dream for the love of doing.
Great post Jevon.
I agree – entrepreneurs shouldn’t let comments like “It’ll never fly” convince them to give up. Good ideas usually start out as crazy ones, and most people have trouble seeing the brilliance in crazy ideas. But I also don’t think entrepreneurs should completely ignore these negative comments either. I sometimes hear people who run startups saying things like “they just don’t get it”. They use this comment to write-off anyone who doesn’t tell them what they want to hear.
I think most feedback is useful when you are starting a new business, even the negative kind. If people tell you your idea won’t fly, that’s an opportunity to ask them why and then to use their POV to help make your business better. Don’t let them talk you out of your startup but do use their advice to make it better. That’s my advice anyway ;)
Great post Jevon.
I agree – entrepreneurs shouldn’t let comments like ?It?ll never fly? convince them to give up. Good ideas usually start out as crazy ones, and most people have trouble seeing the brilliance in crazy ideas. But I also don’t think entrepreneurs should completely ignore these negative comments either. I sometimes hear people who run startups saying things like “they just don’t get it”. They use this comment to write-off anyone who doesn’t tell them what they want to hear.
I think most feedback is useful when you are starting a new business, even the negative kind. If people tell you your idea won’t fly, that’s an opportunity to ask them why and then to use their POV to help make your business better. Don’t let them talk you out of your startup but do use their advice to make it better. That’s my advice anyway ;)