Unicorn Tears

CHAPTER 4IDEAS ARE CHEAP!

Everyone’s got one. Founders place enormous importance on their ideas, and I understand their excitement. Every great business starts with an idea. However, excessive faith in ideas is the most common reason for startup failure — a failure that manifests itself in there being no market need for your product or service! Founders think their ideas are businesses. Sadly, they’re not. Of the 10 reasons for startup failure, four of them relate to idea failure:

• solving an irrelevant problem (lack of desirability)
• ineffective business model (lack of viability)
• poor execution (lack of feasibility)
• external threats/competition (lack of adaptability).

I don’t want to underplay the power of a great idea. In fact, in this chapter I will talk about ideas I find exciting and why. But I’m going to focus on how to process ideas so they become stronger, smarter and more successful. First, though, the bad news. Everyone has ideas — they are everywhere. Walk into a pub anywhere in Australia and you will be inundated with ideas. It’s far easier for people to come up with ideas than it is for them to come up with profitable businesses. Once you understand this point, you have the magic. When you understand the need to have a process to take your ideas through to a solid business proposition, you will stand out from the crowd of wantrepreneurs who bandy about ideas and little else. The difference between successful and unsuccessful founders comes down to this: successful ...