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The first step of building a startup is picking an idea to work on. Of course there is no way to say with certainty if one idea is a good choice or not, but at least it’s possible to highlight some characteristics of ideas that are likely to work if executed with passion, skill and many years of dedication.
Note: If you aim to build a unicorn, I have no advice for you. These are rather pragmatic advice for building a company with real revenue and real clients in reasonable time, which I believe are healthy first goals for most startups.
So, if you want to go with an idea that is reasonable likely to actually work, make sure it passes these tests:
1. There is an existing market
Maybe most important of all, make sure there is a market. If people are already spending money, you can be almost certain they will spend their money on you as long as your create a product that better satisfies the need of that market. The market doesn’t necessarily need to be big, and you don’t need to target everyone in it, just make sure that some people are already paying for similar stuff that you will be offering.
2. There is a clear business model
You should be clear on how you are going to make money. If you don’t know this from the start it can prove to be extremely difficult to add that to the equation later. An idea that doesn’t have a valid business model from day one can’t really be considered likely to work. Some startups may be able to find that model along the journey, but that’s much more high risk. Making some money from early on is very encouraging.
3. It is executable with limited resources
Don’t go with a too visionary idea. Pick an idea that is actually executable in reasonable time with limit resources, because that’s what you will have to work with. The time to validate the idea should not be too long. You want to get the product out there to see some traction. If the idea is too big you may never get there.
Conclusion
These characteristics are just common business sense that is applicable to pretty much any company. It’s important to realise that a startup is no different. Start off with a valid idea according to the points above, pivot whenever needed, and be ready to work extremely hard with a great team for years. Then you should have a good shoot of your idea turning into a healthy startup with time.
3 characteristics of startup ideas that are likely to work was originally published in The Startup on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
April 21, 2017 at 03:40PM
from Anton Holmquist
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