Tip: Don't just think of product ideas. Think of *business* ideas.
Tip: Don't just think of product ideas. Think of business ideas.
Many people think they have a "great idea," but it's merely an idea for a product. Your product is only one part of your business. A great business idea will also include thoughts on the target market, the channels you'll use to reach those customers, and a viable business model that can sustain the whole operation.
You don't need to have this 100% figured out upfront, but you should at least be giving these things a little bit of thought.
This is precisely the conversation we had at this week's meet up in Vancouver! (Thanks for taking the time to say hello!) I myself got into this because I had a love for creating the product, but now as the product becomes more and more complete, it's time to shift gears to designing it as a business... wish I'd known that from the start :)
Forget the new cool app. Go after disrupting an old industry.
Yes I agree, I like to come up with a 3 year biz plan and then a 5 year plan. I include all the costs that will be required to get things off the ground and rolling. Then I make projections on sales based on market data.
I'm not sure what's wrong, but I can't scroll on this page. I've tried focusing on several spots and hitting the space bar, but it won't budge.
PgUp and PgDn don't work, either.
Weird. What browser, version, and OS are you using?
Can confirm PgUp, PgDn, Firefox too.
Firefox, on current versions of both Windows and Mac.
Edit: Can you navigate via keyboard on ANY browser? I've tried on four and failed. Unfortunately my wrists are just too damaged to regularly use a mouse and these new style of posts is rapidly making IH impossible to use!
Got it, I never scroll with my keyboard nowadays so I didn't notice. 😇Will look into a fix soon. (cc @kalawr)
Thanks! Very much appreciated!
This was one of the best things I got out of going through the Founder Institute. You can read a lot of articles, and as a developer I already knew a lot about building products and refining the UX.
When you have to pass a mentor panel with your pitch every single week, and constantly improve your understanding and business model for the assignments, it forces you to leap across that gulf from product to business. There's no hand-waving or glossing over things in the back of your mind.
The Founder Institute model is designed to really focus on your weak points in your business idea, as you move through the different areas. If you don't have something covered in your weekly assignments or pitch, you get a make-or-break special assignment to really focus you on that pain point (I was only one of two to NOT get such an assignment, in our group of 22 that graduated 8).
Oooh, that's a very cool model, I like it.
Yeah, I recommend the Founder Institute highly for people who want a safe-but-demanding space to test out and refine their ideas.
It's a bit Silicon-Valley-VC-funded-future cultish but the quality of the mentors, structured model and support is superb. Even if you don't buy into or decide not to chase VC funding, you still need that clarity of product pitch and idea.
It's far better to go through stresses and pushback on your ideas in this educational space than whilst you're wasting yours or early investor money.