This seems to be the biggest challenge for most first-time entrepreneurs: picking the idea to work on. Last week I was speaking to a young man, a recent college grad in a corporate job, who was trying to figure out which space he should focus on for a startup as he really, really wanted to be an entrepreneur. And just yesterday I had a chai with a more seasoned, experienced Stanford MBA who was not only looking for a career change but wanted her work life to have more 'meaning' and was wondering how to go about finding it.
I don't think the two situations are really that different. Here's why. If there's one over-riding requirement for a startup, it is the passion that the entrepreneur brings to it (I've tried to wax eloquent on this subject numerous times on this blog: check out the passion label for more). And you can't start off with what's the 'hot' space to get all fired up about it. OK, you could, but you'd only get fired up about the potential to make money, and wiser folks have determined that money is not the fuel of choice - it's kind of like burning coal, ubiquitous and cheap, but capable of dirtying everything around it and clouding your thinking with the unhealthy fumes. You do take it for granted that you're doing this to make money, lots of it, but there has to be something else that gets you out of bed everyday to rally the troops, slay the dragons, scale the mountains, build the bridges and whatever other heroic metaphor you'd choose for the daily challenges of the startup life.
You can stumble upon an idea of course (there's one that worked!). Whether it is is your corporate job, your volunteer work, your education or just your daily life at home and play, you may run across something that seems fun, useful and with business potential. Ideas are everywhere, but they may not all translate into viable businesses, or, even if they did, may not be the one for you. One of my long-running this-is-going-nowhere ideas is to figure out an useful way to give my business ideas to people who may want to do something with them. And the reason I don't want to hold on to these ideas is that though they're intellectually exciting, I can't see myself getting enthused about executing on them. The reasons are many, but most of all, it's because they don't light a fire in me. But what's ho-hum for me may be a blockbuster extravaganza for someone else. The only downside to the I'll-pick-the-idea-from-the-ones-I-bump-into approach is that it could take a very long time, and cause a massive headache (may not be just figurative).
So my advice was (and is): first pick the area that you're passionate and excited about (or at least care a lot about), be it investment banking, online gaming, cupcake baking or teaching the world to sing. If you're already immersed in that space, you're almost there - all you have to do is go about it with your eyes, ears and mind (pay attention to that bias-prone mind!) open, looking for opportunities. If you feel you're not yet an expert in that area, go learn about it. Get to know the players and pitfalls. If you can't walk the talk, at least spend beaucoup hours watching those who do. And somewhere along the way, you, with your entrepreneurial bent and blazing desire to do something in this particular field, will have the longed-for epiphany, and YOUR IDEA, drumrolls and all, will shimmy into the spotlight. And then the fun begins.
No comments:
Post a Comment