Have you got great a business idea and can’t wait to get started
Have you got great a business idea and can’t wait to get started?
… Well STOP! …
The answers to these 3 simple questions will make the difference between a flier or a flop!
Firstly, congratulations! It’s not always easy to come up with a great idea but you’ve done it.
You are probably raring to get your business plan in place, raise some money and launch your product. But wait!! What you do next can make the difference between success and failure.
The traditional route to evaluating your business idea is to put together a detailed business plan with market evaluation, detailed costings and profit projections. But before you get buried under business plans and funding negotiations, not to mention throwing away your own money, resources and energy for the next 6 months, you need to stop and question whether your idea is compelling in the first place.
Will it fly? Is your big idea market driven? Your business plan won’t tell you if the fish (customers) will bite!
However I’ve learnt from bitter experience what separates a good idea from a non-starter. Really it comes down to just 3 questions.
- Is there a market?
- Is there high value to this market?
- Can you get some kind of exclusivity?
If you can answer yes to all 3 of these then you should be onto a flier. Do your homework, find the answers to these questions and save yourselves months of heartache in pursuing an empty dream. Good luck!
Want to know more? Find out how to introduce your innovation into the marketplace so that it spreads like a wild fire.
View the Bush Fire effect for yourself…
Death by Business Plan
Do you ever get that horrible sinking feeling that goes to the pit of your stomach when you’ve got to do tedious bureaucratic stuff that adds no value to anyone least of all you?
So if you’ve got an exciting business idea that you want to get off the ground fast why not completely kill it by filling out a business plan first?
Over the last 20 years or so, I’ve written more business plans that it’s fair to throw at a convicted criminal (ok, maybe bankers put aside). Do you know how many got read cover to cover? Spot on, absolutely ZERO! Now you may say that’s because I can’t do them and you could be right.
However I’ve done them in start-ups, early-trading companies and working for large corporations such as Amex, Cadbury-Schweppes and Cable & Wireless. And a fair share of the proposals actually got funded – but … it wasn’t down to the business plan.
The fact is that for some dumb reason investors, VC’s, bankers and corporations get a lot of comfort out of seeing business plans – glossy, 80-page, pie-chart-filled carbon-wasting pap.
Why? Because they can touch and feel it and believe that unless you’re prepared to go to such lengths you can’t be committed to your proposition.
So here’s what you do if you’ve got a great business idea that you want to take to market.
Firstly, don’t start with the business plan – only do it when you’ve figured out:
Do I have a clear customer proposition?
Do I know exactly who represents my first core market segment?
Is my proposition compelling?
Some see business plans as road blocks on the runway to commercial success. If you’re the dude having to do it then it’s a pain in the gluteus maximus.
So please, do yourself a favour and do the essential stuff first. Because if the customer proposition’s not great and you’re not clear on your first market ‘beach head’ then even a brilliant business plan crafted by Ernest Hemingway isn’t going to save you.
Want to know more? Find out how to introduce your innovation into the marketplace so that it spreads like a wild fire.
View the Bush Fire effect for yourself…
