Committing to an Idea.

Today, we’re talking about committing to an idea. When do you know that you’ve found an idea worth the next few years of your professional life?

1. First, you’ve spoken to dozens, if not hundreds, of potential customers, and many are desperate for your solution. Right now, they’re forced to solve the problem in painful and/or expensive ways.

2. The difference your product offers is clear to potential customers. Your messaging is unlikely to be perfect, but when customers see your product, they should understand why it’s better, and this should be an advantage you can build on.

3. Lastly, you’re excited. Not just about the market in general but the specific solution you’re working on and also the kinds of customers you’re going to be helping.

Best of luck out there.

Today, we’re talking more about committing to an idea — this time asking if your idea is “different enough”?

1. Wow factor —
While you can’t expect your product messaging to be any good at this stage, your idea or demo should create noticeable excitement for your potential customers. Once they see what it can do, they want it.

2. Understanding —
Your product may be quite different from others, but customers need to understand that difference and understand it enough that they want to achieve the different and better outcomes that are now possible from working with you.

3. Sustainable Advantage —
Even if your great idea is genuinely better than what’s currently available, it has to be something you can build on and sustain. If it’s easy to copy your service and get the same outcome for customers, your competitors will definitely do that.

Best of luck out there.

Today, we’re continuing to talk about committing to an idea and now focusing on how much customer research is needed.

1. Volume —
Talking to 5 people is simply not enough, even if they’re very knowledgeable or important potential customers. I would set 50 people as the absolute minimum for each customer profile you’re researching. The best entrepreneurs usually report talking to hundreds of people before they finally commit to an idea.

2. Demand —
If you’ve spoken to enough people, you should have found at least a small group who want your solution, and they need it badly. If you’re not seeing at least 10 customers desperate to try out your product, you may have more research to do.

3. Problematic Existing Solutions —
When you’ve spoken to enough people, you will also have seen different ways the problem is currently solved and why those approaches are problematic. Your idea cannot suffer from all those same issues, it must be 10x better.

Best of luck out there.

Today, we’re talking about if you have enough passion to commit to a startup idea.

1. Like many other people, you may not like your current job. You may really like working with a team on this new company. But that’s not the same as being passionate about the idea or market.

2. Unfortunately, getting away from a bad job is not enough motivation for the 8–12 years it takes to build a big company. That will require bucketloads of passion for an idea and market to drive both resilience and innovation in your hour of need.

3. So, overall, it’s best to wait until you find an idea within a market that you really care about. A customer base that you’re excited to help. Usually, it’s something that dominates your thoughts that keeps you at night. That’s when you know!

Best of luck out there.