I wish I could find a new amazing idea every week. Wouldn’t that be fun. But good new ideas are rare.
I want to build a robot that will do my laundry and cook for me. That’s an idea. But it’s not a very good one. How in the world do you execute that. It’ll happen. But you’ll run out of money before it’s commercially ready in 15 years.
We’re looking for good ideas with a good team. The idea needs to be executable in the nearish future. And the team would ideally have some startup experience. Without that experience it’s a steep learning curve. If the idea person or inventor doesn’t have that experience, might be good to find a partner who does.
It also has to be the right timing for an idea. That’s almost half the battle. If you time an idea correctly, the wave will cover a lot of inexperience or mistakes. How do you know it’s the correct time? That’s hard to know. You often won’t until you’re multiple years into a startup. You really need to find that famous customer market fit.
But there will be indications of good timing along the way. One indicator is that potential partners and clients actually call you back. They want things to move forward. If you’re constantly harassing them with minimal initiative on their part, that’s not a good sign.
The other way to know is that channel partners are eager to sell you. If they can sell you, then you’re on to something. Or if customers find you on Google naturally, that’s money.
I’ve never been a part of something that felt like perfect timing. Maybe no one has. But some startups definitely time it right and are able to ride the wave.
The key is to find even a small wave for your idea/product. Most of the time it’s a grueling uphill battle. But when you find even a small wave it feels easier. You’ll know it when the sales cycle moves faster or people search you out.
Here’s to the big wave.