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The model that turns ideas into businesses Ideas are common. Successful startups are rare. Test your idea with this easy-to-use framework, writes Scott Bales
How many of us see the opportunities around us in everyday life? How many see the opportunities to improve an industry, a business, a new product or service? Statistics show that more than 75% of people see opportunities almost every day. We all have ideas. The difference between the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world and the average person on the street is just the ability to turn that opportunity into an idea, and that idea into a business. Remember that Facebook’s early years weren’t bountiful, they were just cool. But over time, Facebook was able to work on the human desire to build a
social fabric, the connection with other individuals which created something more powerful, more meaningful in society. It directly worked with the core human need of belongingness. The overwhelming reality that confronts all ideas is that more than 99% of them fail. But failure doesn’t have to be on the negative side. With the right culture and frameworks, failure turns into a series of lessons. And, in time, it helps refine an idea to meet a market need. The challenge when we see an idea is how do we document it? How do we structure it in a way that we can share
it, test it, pursue it? How do we believe in it enough so that we will dive head first into the world of entrepreneurship to pursue that idea, even if it’s only part time? One of the simplest ways of making an idea, and testing an idea’s meaning to society, is a simple process of ideation: 1 Who is your customer? 2 What are they trying to achieve? 3 What are they already doing in an attempt to achieve that goal? 4 What pains, barriers, or obstacles are they facing in achieving that goal?
Dialogue Q4 2016
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