Do You Have a Startup Idea? The 10 Questions Below Will Determine its Viability.
If you have an idea already, it’s important to know if the idea is viable before you dedicate time and resources to something that may possibly not work. Thousands of startups are launched every week, but few survive to tell their story. You don’t want your business to be another statistics of failed businesses. Get the numbers right, find out what can work and what will not work, invest some time to do research about your idea and start it right. These are 10 of the important questions you have to answer to determine if your idea is worth pursuing.
Will Your Idea Solve a Problem Or Meet a Need?
The number one key to success in life and business is to find a need and fill it. If you can identify the problem that your idea can solve, then you have found a viable business idea.
Is Your Target Market Big Enough To Create a Real Business?
To last in business, you need to find out if your idea has a large target market. You need consistent flow of patronage to last in business.
Can You Execute The Idea
Your capacity to execute the idea is of great importance. Do not go into a business because others are doing it. Find out, if you have what it takes to launch the business.
What Is The Simplest version Of Your Idea?
The easiest way to start a business is to make it simple. “And the LORD answered me, and said, write the vision, and make it plain on tables, that he may run that reads it”. Habakkuk 2:2
What Makes Your Product Different?
Accentuating what makes your business idea different or unique may be just what you need to jumpstart your marketing.
How Much Money Do You Need To Launch Your Idea?
Can you bootstrap your company? Or are you going to need a small business loan? Might an entrepreneur in the family be able to invest, or should you look for venture capital or an angel investor? Money is a big topic for entrepreneurs, and you’ll want to know your options early on.
Is This a New Idea?
There is nothing new under the sun but you can create a new idea from existing ideas. Is your idea new or unique? You must answer this question.
What Opportunities And Risks Do You Face?
The path to success is to identify the opportunities in your business idea and maximize them. Another important factor is to identify the risks involved and evaluate them. You should be able to know if you can handle the risks.
Have You Identified The Success Factors?
Every enterprise has the requirements for success. If you are able to identify these success buttons, you cannot fail.
How Will Your Business Survive And Grow In The Next Five Years?
So many businesses close within the first 5 years. If you can come up with a strategy that can help you last beyond this period, you are ready for business.
Work with these ideas, and your success in launching a new business will be inevitable.
You Will Succeed!
– Chinedum Azuh is the CEO of Learning Lab Nigeria and an Online Consultant with U.S.A. Learning Annex.
EMAIL : learninglab4@gmail.com
WEBSITE: www.learninglabnigeria.com
FACEBOOK PAGE: www.facebook.com/learninglabnigeria
MOBILE : +2348032069925
One of the greatest mistakes you can make is to launch a new idea without testing it. Many people lose thousands and millions of Naira every year on products they did not test before introducing them to the market. It’s true that the life of an entrepreneur is full of risky adventures but what we shall be discussing is how to take calculated risks.
How do you test an idea? How do you find out if people will buy it or patronize it? We shall be looking at several steps you can take before you invest too much time, money, emotion and other resources.
Be Your Own Devil’s Advocate
The easiest way to go about this is to attempt to disprove the idea that there exists a profitable demand for the product or service. If you cannot disprove this preposition, then by default you have reason to bring the product or service to the marketplace.
Seek Out People in the Same Business
A very important strategy in testing your idea is to seek out people who are already doing the same business and ask their opinions of the product or service. In the multitude of counselors there is safety. Share your idea with them and ask for their honest opinions. Don’t be afraid that someone will steal your idea. There are a thousand and one ideas out there for anyone to use. So be perfectly open.
Confirm the Demand
Before you introduce a new product or service to the marketplace, you need to make sure that there is or there will be a solid demand for it. During my speaking tour in Nairobi, I applied this technique. I produced a copy of the Audio CD of my speeches. The following day, I had an early morning program where I told the audience that the CD will be sold based on the demand and it will be available by tomorrow. Almost everyone paid. It was clear that the product will sell.
Check With Family & Friends
Family and friends are very good targets for market research. Ask your family and friends if they would buy the product or patronize the service. How much would they be willing to pay for it? Listen to their questions, criticisms and concerns. If you can’t answer their questions and concerns in a logical and convincing way, it could be that there is something wrong with your idea.
Create a Selling Promotion
A selling promotion is like an advertisement for a publication, a series of sales letters or emails. In the promotion, you would announce the product or service, and also tell people the particular time it will be available. Then you would give prospective customers the opportunity to pre-purchase at a discounted price with 100 percent money back guarantee. The key here is not to make money but to see if your customers or your marketplace will respond to your product.
Use The Seminar Approach
Organizing a seminar for your potential customers could be a great opportunity to test your idea. It will help you to have first hand information on the needs and concerns of the people. Before I published my bestselling book “There is Money in Your House” I had series of seminars with Churches on the topic. And the response from people was amazing. In fact most people were thrilled by just hearing the title. I didn’t need a seer to tell me that the book will be a market success.
Follow these steps to test your idea before you invest too many resources on it.
You will succeed!
– Chinedum Azuh
Connect With The Author On
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/motivationtoprosper
EMAIL: learninglab4@gmail.com
WEBSITE: www.motivationtoprosper.org
| How do you pitch your idea to investors without giving away too much?
It is not a secret that entrepreneurs jealously guard their business ideas. But today’s innovators are under pressure to open up about their secrets. When you first start talking to investors, you tend to be protective of your new business ideas, but knowing that you need their money you have to sell the idea.You need to do a lot of due diligence on a potential investor before showing up and laying out something that you consider to be confidential. Understand that any investor that’s been around for any extended period of time, generally speaking, has done so because of their integrity in dealing with entrepreneurs.” How Business Ideas Get Stolen Sharing ideas is one of the ways a business owner presents future growth potential to investors and lenders when they are trying to secure financing. It is also not uncommon for business owners to discuss their ideas with employees and other business professionals for a myriad of reasons. In some cases, whether intentional or accidental, the information finds its way to wrong people or those that want make use of the idea. Now, let’s look at how to protect your cherished business idea. Disclose Your Idea In Phases Disclose information in increasing amounts as the deal progresses. Be sure that the balance of power in the deal remains relatively even in terms of oral commitments, commitments through information disclosure, money or contracts. The information disclosure should start with general concepts and progress to detail at the contract stage. Be sure to keep careful notes on what, when and where information was disclosed and who else was present at the meetings. These records can be extremely helpful if you ever end up in court. Always disclose the minimum necessary to close the deal, without being fraudulent or misleading. This allows you maintain the most control over your product or idea, as well as protecting your options for changing the timeline or details later if needed. Once the deal is closed and the contract is signed, both parties should be more committed to the process and protecting information. Confidentiality Agreements Confidentiality agreements can help protect the parties both receiving and disclosing information. A solid confidentiality agreement needs to indicate what information being disclosed is to remain confidential and for how long. While some companies place indefinite time restrictions, it is universally better if you give the third party signers a time frame that they have to honor with their silence in an effort to lessen their burden. Other confidentiality agreement options can include:
Always remember – no business relationship is considered confidential unless a confidentiality agreement is signed by the parties. This is the only way to legally secure your business ideas from theft. I want to encourage you with a statement by Frank Nneji of ABC Transport to MBA Students at PAN African University. He said “The Most Important Part of an Idea is The Execution Power” and this power lies with you (the initiator). With this in mind, go ahead and share your business idea with investors armed with the information you have received from this article. You Will Succeed! – Chinedum Azuh Connect With The Author On FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/motivationtoprosper EMAIL: learninglab4@gmail.com WEBSITE: www.motivationtoprosper.org |
