Posts Tagged ‘Developing an Idea’
Don’t Rest Until You Test!
So, you have a great new product or service that you and your associates love. Early adopters should climb all over each other for a look. But what have you done to test the concept against the realities of the marketplace? Have you developed a prototype, alternate pricing schemes, even a PowerPoint mock-up to show…
Read MoreEverything Changes from Concept to Release
You can take this headline as a rule, not an exception. You’ll recognize the truism, “No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy” first stated by German Field Marshall von Moltke way back in the 19th century. Our variant of the “battle plan” truism is important to internalize. A product at the concept stage contains feature-functionality that…
Read MoreHow to Build Your Small Business’s Reputation from Day One: Part 1
You can say anything you want about Warren Buffett, but one thing is for sure—the man knows how to make money and that is why it is a good idea to listen to what the man has to say. Among other things, he says, It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes…
Read More8 Disciplines for Transforming Ideas into Businesses
Entrepreneurs are people who dream up new ideas, and then commercialize them into new businesses. Most people believe that the hard part is coming up with the idea, and the easy part is turning it into a business. Yet, in my experience as a mentor to entrepreneurs, the majority of failures I see are related…
Read MoreHow to Protect Your Business Idea While You Build the Business
How to protect your business idea while you build your startup. I’ve been kind of hard-line in this space on the value of ideas. I’ve said they are a dime a dozen, aren’t owned, can’t be sold. My personal favorite is this one: A good idea is like a beautiful day. Everybody owns it. I’ve posted here on…
Read MoreThe Billion-Dollar Idea Fallacy
What is wrong, you ask, with thinking your business idea is worth a billion dollar idea? That you have the next unicorn? Nothing… Nothing. That’s a dream. We all dream. We dream of writing a great novel, being a pro athlete, being a movie star, or being Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg. The younger…
Read More10 Businesses You Can Start for $1,000 or Less
Mighty oaks from little acorns grow. – Traditional English proverb. I’m willing to wager that many of you reading this have a regular routine of stopping by your favorite local barista each day to pick up a flavorful coffee drink. If that’s you, according to one estimate I saw recently, you’re spending some $800 a year…
Read MoreHow Kickstarter Can Give You New Business Ideas
Before I explain the theory behind this idea, as a bit of a disclaimer I do enjoy prowling through Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Largely out of curiosity, but I am often left in awe. I love seeing how a new product progresses with a launch, and genuinely enjoy seeing new companies do well. I find it…
Read MoreGet Inspired! 5 Tips for Tapping into the Creative Side of Your Business
Staring at a blank page is intimidating. Trust me, I know. Starting this blog post was equivalent to meeting the parents for the first time—except worse because it didn’t invite me over for dinner and drinks. As intense as coming up with new ideas can be, it is extremely necessary for the progressivity of a…
Read More7 Due Diligence Steps Will Validate Any New Venture
In my experience, consummate entrepreneurs tend come up with more startup ideas than they can ever implement, and some of the ideas may not even make business sense. But how does any entrepreneur know which ideas to implement, and which ones are best left behind? After all, most great breakthroughs, like a computer in every…
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